Macbook Pro Ram & Hard Drive Upgrade

Hey everyone,
I have been posting threads like crazy so I apologize for all the questions but this is the first Mac I have actually owned.

I have a Macbook Pro 15.4 - 2.4GHz - 2GB of 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM

I know I can upgrade to 4 GB of ram but I wanted to know where you guys recommend and is there any ram that could void my Apple Care Warranty?

Second I have the 250 GB 5400 HD and I wanted to upgrade that as well. Again are there any specific shops you recommend and have had a good experience with and if I upgrade the Hard Drive does that void my Apple Care?

Lastly if I do upgrade my hard drive is it easy to put all the programs I have installed on the new one or do I have to re-install everything?

Sorry for the length.

This is perfect! Thanks a lot and I assume from all the posts that none of this will void my warranty?

Where can I find OWC's website?

iLog.Genius said:

No, HDD and RAM upgrades do not void your warranty - you just don't get coverage for those parts.

OWC website could be found at http://www.macsales.com

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I cant believe how fast you guys reply this is a great board. Thanks for all the help.

One last thing with the Hard Drive is it easy to copy over all my installed programs to the new HD or do I have to reinstall everything?

iLog.Genius said:

You have options. You can clone your HDD and after the upgrade you can restore that image. (Try searching for this in the forum as I have not done this). What I did was I like to keep everything clean so I just backed up my important files (documents, pictures) perform a clean install and then restore them. Depending on what you have currently installed you can go either way.

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Okay perfect thanks.

There is something I am confused about on the OWC page they list that the maximum amount of ram for my Macbook
is 4GB yet they have a 6GB package as well. Is upgrading to 6 not recommended or something?

iLog.Genius said:

You could go 6GB but you won't get dual channel. Even without dual channel you shouldn't lose out on performance.

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Is it worth it then to just get the 6GB?

iLog.Genius said:

If you have the money. I haven't checked the prices but I believe the price of one 4GB DIMM is up there. I think most would agree that 4GB is more than enough if you don't plan to do any virtualization.

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I use Cinema 4D quite a bit on my Mac Pro at work so Im sure I would see some gains with that. Its about a $20 difference between the:
4.0GB Upgrade
(4096MB Module)
$167.99

and the

6.0GB Upgrade Kit
(4.0GB + 2.0GB Set)
$189.99

Seems worth it.