MacBook Pro Question

[The Ironist]

Looking to upgrade my Macbook to a Pro 13", i5 & i7, £300 difference.

Is it worth it?

An upgrade to 8GB is £160 but I don't seem to use the 4 on my current one. No page outs so I assume I've never used it all.

My current one struggles a bit playing HD video to an external screen, not speed but it get's quite hot and the fans start going to about 5000rpm would more of either improve this? Or is this Graphics cards? Which can only be upgraded by moving to a 15".

 

[ChrisR]

I had this dilemma and unless you really really need those extra few ghz and the couple of extra instruction sets the i7 has over the i5 (for instance the AES instructions) then it's not worth it.

As much as I would have liked the AES support I wasn't prepared to spend another £250 just for it, i'll wait a little longer for things to encrypt instead

For a memory upgrade don't buy it from Apple, just go to the Crucial website and get it for £70.

 

[DanFreemanPhoto]

I got the i7, partly because it's not a part you can upgrade yourself and I want to keep this for a long time, so an i7 would help a tad.

DO NOT GET RAM FROM APPLE!

 

[jenic]

I got the i7, partly because it's not a part you can upgrade yourself and I want to keep this for a long time, so an i7 would help a tad.

DO NOT GET RAM FROM APPLE!

I agree with all this.

Buy the best you can afford in options you can't self upgrade later, so use the money you were going to spend on ram upgrading the processor and then buy ram elsewhere much cheaper

 

[Revels]

I bought i5. The difference isn't huge and I won't have it long enough to see the long term benefits.

 

[ChrisR]

I bought i5. The difference isn't huge and I won't have it long enough to see the long term benefits.

This, and even then in 5 years time if you still have it the difference between the 2 will make sod all difference, they'll both be s**t

 

[Christopher]

I went for 27" i7 because I'm a baller. My 15" i5 MBP's for on the go. Ish. It's still heavy.

I wanted an Air but can't take the hit on performance.

 

[The Ironist]

I went for 27" i7 because I'm a baller. My 15" i5 MBP's for on the go. Ish. It's still heavy.

I wanted an Air but can't take the hit on performance.

The screen on that must have set you back a bit.

I considered an iMac but hardly ever in one place so 13" MacBook is perfect. Not overly heavy for when out and about and when I'm back home it's linked up to a 40" 1080p Sony TV (obviously not the quality of an iMac screen but it'll do...)

Thanks for the replies.

I have loved my MacBook for a year and a half now and I'm mainly upgrading for aesthetic reasons. Just thought, I will be keeping it a while, is it worth the upgraded processor? It seems like such a small increase for a 30% extra cost, I know it's cool to say you have an i7 but is it actually noticeable? The answer seems to be no.

Regarding the RAM, do they not come with either 2 slots of 2 or 2 slots of 4 so I would have to buy 2x 4GB RAM as well as paying for 2x 2GB? Is it still cheaper elsewhere? I just hate the idea of opening my MacBook lol.

I don't think it's been answered so will ask again, will either of the above make difference to HD to external screen and keeping the temp down or is that the job of the graphics card.

It may seem like a stupid thing to ask but I don't know masses about the internals of computers and what effect upgrading certain bits has.

 

[DanFreemanPhoto]

The RAM is in two slots.

Just buy 2x 4GB crucial RAM and stick that in. Don't be a pansy about opening up your Mac, it's piss easy.

 

[Christopher]

Yep. Ten minute job.

It even tells you how to do it in the owner's manual.

 

[wozzaa]

Ram is very easy to upgrade as said instructions are in the manual. it is a user servicale part. Won't affect anything doing it yourself.

On the 13" which only uses the Dual Core i7, it isn't worth the upgrade. On a 15" it is.

 

[Ronnie R]

Save me creating a new thread.

Is this the best place to get RAM from for my 13' MBP? It's a Mid 2009 model.

http://www.crucial.com/uk/store/partspecs.aspx?IMODULE=CT2KIT51264BC1067

Seems like a reasonable price as well...

 

[cava83]

Save me creating a new thread.

Is this the best place to get RAM from for my 13' MBP? It's a Mid 2009 model.

http://www.crucial.com/uk/store/partspecs.aspx?IMODULE=CT2KIT51264BC1067



Seems like a reasonable price as well...

It just gets cheaper and cheaper.

That is what I have on mine, same model as yours, bought it a little while ago and was around £70ish or so.

Bargain now.

 

[Pete Nov]

Save me creating a new thread.

Is this the best place to get RAM from for my 13' MBP? It's a Mid 2009 model.

http://www.crucial.com/uk/store/partspecs.aspx?IMODULE=CT2KIT51264BC1067


Seems like a reasonable price as well...

Highly recommended, just changed the RAM on my bros Macbook 13" from 1.5Gb to 4Gb and it's much, much quicker.

Delivery is also very quick, next day delivery!

 

[Ronnie R]

I ordered it before you guys even replied

5% off plus 7% through Quidco

 

[Lozza-p]

I'm thinking about buying a MBP and was gonna upgrade the memory when ordering. Will it affect the warranty if I do it myself?

 

[cava83]

I'm thinking about buying a MBP and was gonna upgrade the memory when ordering. Will it affect the warranty if I do it myself?

No. You'll be fine.

 

[Adam.]

Does not affect the warranty : http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=13946

 

[Lozza-p]

so if ram is easy to do . what about the harddrv#ive or is that just a pain in the ass as everything will need reinstalling?

 

[Lozza-p]

Hard drive I've no idea what I pit in my last post

 

[Christopher]

HDD is also amazingly easy.

Both RAM and hard drive/SSD's are 'user upgradable parts' so they won't harm your warranty.

 

[Revels]

Yeah. RAM is super easy to do.