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Upgrade To SSD & 4GB RAM or New Macbook Pro

C

crazyitalian198

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jan 19, 2006
180
9
Ok, so I just inherited a seldom used 13" MacBook Pro. It has a cycle count of 20.


Unfortunately, it was purchased on January 30th. It has 2+ years of Apple Care left.

Unfortunately, its a base model. 2.26ghz, 2gig RAM, 160gb 5400 HD.


But it's in amazing condition. I figure I can sell it on eBay for 800.

What's a better option. Getting a new one (applying the money from the sale) with 2.66ghz, 4gig RAM, and a larger HD or upgrading the current to a SSD and 4GB RAM.



Essentially, will the solid state be a better performance booster than the increase in processor speed? It will save me the hassle of selling the current laptop (eBay is annoying). Plus, I can do the upgrades myself.


Any input will be helpful. Thanks!
 
Keep it, upgrade RAM to at least 4 GB, and grab a good SSD. That'll get you a screaming fast computer.
 
crazyitalian198 said:
Ok, so I just inherited a seldom used 13" MacBook Pro. It has a cycle count of 20.


Unfortunately, it was purchased on January 30th. It has 2+ years of Apple Care left.

Unfortunately, its a base model. 2.26ghz, 2gig RAM, 160gb 5400 HD.


But it's in amazing condition. I figure I can sell it on eBay for 800.

What's a better option. Getting a new one (applying the money from the sale) with 2.66ghz, 4gig RAM, and a larger HD or upgrading the current to a SSD and 4GB RAM.



Essentially, will the solid state be a better performance booster than the increase in processor speed? It will save me the hassle of selling the current laptop (eBay is annoying). Plus, I can do the upgrades myself.


Any input will be helpful. Thanks!
Click to expand...

KEEP IT! I mean hell, you just "inherited it". It was free. All you gain from a new one is a little more CPU which you won't even notice in real world application.

Buy 8GB ram ($98 thru newegg right now) and buy a new HDD or SSD. You can nab a 500GB 7200RPM HDD for around $60 right now.... it'll be night and day faster than what you have in it atm.

A SSD is hard to say, if you go that route you'll need to have external storage or do an optibay kit because you can't get much GB for your money.

I'd vote 8GB ram and 500GB 7200RPM... spend $160 free shipping. And that machine will ROCK! Be faster than a new machine and you only dropped $160. You'll have to spend more than that to make up the diff. of a new machine if you sell.

If you want, get a 120GB SSD for $240. You could essentially max the ram, buy an ssd + optibay, and be spending around $375. Still less than if you bought a new machine. You won't get $800 for it on ebay, say you get $700, ebay eats up $50-$75 for fees, then paypal takes another $30 for free, so you net what... $620 lets say... that's only HALF of what you need for a new MBP 13" ($1200) for the base model. You're machine with the new drives and ram WILL BE FASTER than that base model new machine.

I think it'd be stupid to sell it. It was free. Fix it up, keep it until it dies or at least a few years, then sell it and upgrade when the 13" MBP's don't have C2D anymore.
 
crazyitalian198 said:
Essentially, will the solid state be a better performance booster than the increase in processor speed?
Click to expand...
It's Apples to Oranges as CPU and Drive are separate components. You'll notice a that disk intensive applications will work faster yet things that rely on shear CPU power won't change (like graphics-intensive games).

The biggest difference you'll find is that your mac will boot faster and applications will start sooner. Not enough to make a difference for me but for some I guess those precious "seconds" add up.
 
Yah, I'm not a big gamer nor do I do much intensive process tasks. It's more of quicker application launches, start up times, more processes running, etc.


Thanks for all the helpful comments. I'd say the 8gigs of RAM are happening. I'm still between doing a SSD or 7200 drive.

Will the SSD reduce battery consumption compared to the current 5400 (I'd assume so as there is no physical movement of parts)? I want to keep this machine portable, which is why I don't think the 7200 is a valid option.
 
And what about adding the Seagate Momentus XL? Seems like the smart choice here. It would cost me 400+ for a 240GB full SSD or $100 for a 500GB hybrid.


Any battery life concerns?
 
crazyitalian198 said:
And what about adding the Seagate Momentus XL? Seems like the smart choice here. It would cost me 400+ for a 240GB full SSD or $100 for a 500GB hybrid.


Any battery life concerns?
Click to expand...

That Seagate drive killed my battery. I had a Intel X25-M SSD in my MBP before and was getting 7+ hours, but once I went to the XT it dropped to only 4ish hours. So for me, I regret "saving the money" by selling the SSD and getting the XT.
 
Keep it and get a SSD. My 13 inch boots up in about 15 seconds and runs programs fast as can be. Obviously, having a SSD is also better in virtually every category except price and size, but buy one and you will never go back to the HDD
 
Since you claim you got it for nothing, you are better off keeping it and buying an SSD. However a 512gb SSD like what Apple uses (Toshiba) will set you back about a grand.
 
Sweet. I purchased a Patriot 240gig Inferno Drive for $449 and 8 gigs of RAM for $139.

I realize I could have gotten the RAM for $40 less, but I rather buy in store. I prefer returning in person.


I'll be installing in a few hours. I'll let everyone know what I think of the upgrades. If you have any last minute cautions for me (or reasons why I shouldn't do this), please feel free to shout them out! Thanks!
 
crazyitalian198 said:
Sweet. I purchased a Patriot 240gig Inferno Drive for $449 and 8 gigs of RAM for $139.

I realize I could have gotten the RAM for $40 less, but I rather buy in store. I prefer returning in person.


I'll be installing in a few hours. I'll let everyone know what I think of the upgrades. If you have any last minute cautions for me (or reasons why I shouldn't do this), please feel free to shout them out! Thanks!
Click to expand...

Not sure I would have went Patriot... but I promise you, you will be thrilled to death when you get it all installed. That machine will ROCK.

Good choice on keeping it. Upgrade and sell it in 2 years time and get a new 13" with a new i processor assuming they have them.
 
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Is the patriot inferno basically the same as the owc mercury drive? They are both sandforce drives with very similar specs.
 
? from left field, why a MBP over a MBA? You wrote that you're not a heavy gamer or do any real processor intensive things, so I'm guessing you're a typical user. Do you need the optical drive?

You spent almost 600 on upgrades + 800 for your old laptop on craigslist = new 13" MBA with 4GB ram, taxes, etc.
 
jenzjen said:
? from left field, why a MBP over a MBA? You wrote that you're not a heavy gamer or do any real processor intensive things, so I'm guessing you're a typical user. Do you need the optical drive?

You spent almost 600 on upgrades + 800 for your old laptop on craigslist = new 13" MBA with 4GB ram, taxes, etc.
Click to expand...

Because he's getting more computer for his money this way?
 
jenzjen said:
? from left field, why a MBP over a MBA? You wrote that you're not a heavy gamer or do any real processor intensive things, so I'm guessing you're a typical user. Do you need the optical drive?

You spent almost 600 on upgrades + 800 for your old laptop on craigslist = new 13" MBA with 4GB ram, taxes, etc.
Click to expand...

Because his 13" MBP will BLOW away a MBA any given day of the week. It's faster with the upgrades IMO, can't really argue that. 2x the RAM and WAY faster SSD.

I dunno, I almost bought a MBA myself but went with a 15" MBP instead.... the MBA just isn't where it needs to be yet.
 
jenzjen said:
? from left field, why a MBP over a MBA? You wrote that you're not a heavy gamer or do any real processor intensive things, so I'm guessing you're a typical user. Do you need the optical drive?

You spent almost 600 on upgrades + 800 for your old laptop on craigslist = new 13" MBA with 4GB ram, taxes, etc.
Click to expand...

Don't forget he has 2 more years of Apple Care and 2x the Ram plus backlit keyboard
 
Ok, on the new machine. Have OS X running flawlessly. The speed of this this is incredible. Boots cold in 23 seconds.


Went Patriot because I could get it in store for relatively the same price as a drive I'd get on newegg. It has a 3 year warranty on it too. Also, I saw some horror stories with the OCZ drives. The Patriot came through solid in my research.


The air was such a tempting buy. But this thing kills it in terms of specs. Only things that would have made the air better are the thinness and screen resolution.





Ok, another question. I'm getting my MBA (Masters of Business Administration...not MacBook Air) and I need Windows. I usually run BootCamp. Should I just do Parallels or VMware now that I have better specs? I have a 240 gig HD, so I figure I can throw 40-50 at Bootcamp if need be. Can VMWare or Parallels create a virtual drive thats expandable (I think Virtualbox does this)?
 
Vantage Point said:
Why not just get the recent version of Office 2011 for Mac instead of creating a partition and logging in and out... For myself iWorks is fine but if I needed Office I wouldn't bother with a partition... Many on this site are praising the latest edition of Office for Mac
Click to expand...

Office '11 for the mac is AMAZING! Way better than any of the previous ones.

I'd just get a copy of that and use it vs making a partition or using a virtual machine.

If you are set on windows though, I'd do parallels vs a partition.
 
yah I have Office 2011. Its a huge step in the right direction, but the statistical add-ins I need are windows only. I suppose I'll try a virtual machine.
 
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