The MacBook is no MBP...

[Zadillo]

I need to get 2 notebooks: a MB and a MBP. (one for me and one for employee)
Q1?: can they use the same RAM chips. I want to up the pro to 2gb and drop its ram into the macbook to give it 1gb. It would be nice not to have to buy new ram for both of them.

Q2?: can I up the MB to a 7200rpm drive? or is there a reason it's not offered as an option? i want to up both of them to 7200rpm.

And yes, I'm gonna wait a couple weeks to see if they're refreshed, but i'll need them by thanksgiving -- merom or not (I'll kick myself later).

Q1: They do use the same RAM chips. However, based on what you said you wanted to do, you will need to buy 2 1GB chips for the MBP and an extra 512 meg chip for the MB, to be used in conjunction with the one from the MBP. The MB itself comes standard with 2x 256 meg DIMMs, so you couldn't get it to 1GB without that extra one.

Q2: Yes, you can put a 7200rpm drive in the MB. I don't know why they don't offer it as an option; you would probably be better off buying the hard drive from macsales.com or newegg.com or somewhere else anyway, rather than getting it customized by Apple (it will be harder to return the customized MB if you ever need to).

 

[orangemacapple]

doesn't the mbp come with 2x512

Q1: They do use the same RAM chips. However, based on what you said you wanted to do, you will need to buy 2 1GB chips for the MBP and an extra 512 meg chip for the MB, to be used in conjunction with the one from the MBP. The MB itself comes standard with 2x 256 meg DIMMs, so you couldn't get it to 1GB without that extra one.

Q2: Yes, you can put a 7200rpm drive in the MB. I don't know why they don't offer it as an option; you would probably be better off buying the hard drive from macsales.com or newegg.com or somewhere else anyway, rather than getting it customized by Apple (it will be harder to return the customized MB if you ever need to).

everywhere i look the 17" MBP comes standard with 1gb (i assume 2x512). I wanted to pop those into the MB and buy just 2x1gb for the MBP. the specs looked identical chips but i wanted to make sure. they seem to be listed separately in the sites i looked at.

i had planned to pop a couple hitachi drives it them, but nowhere could i find any mention of MB with 7200 option, and i worried maybe it needed the 85 watt power supply.

thank you for your insight. you just saved me a tidy sum on these. wish i oculd afford to send you half the difference as a tip for the info https://forums.macrumors.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif
thank you for the return hint, but i figured that inasmuch. it isn't too hard to revert things back to factory hardware is it becomes necessary (the 5400 HD'a will just be sitting in a file cabinet drawer with a gazillion other apple parts from the past.

 

[Zadillo]

everywhere i look the 17" MBP comes standard with 1gb (i assume 2x512). I wanted to pop those into the MB and buy just 2x1gb for the MBP. the specs looked identical chips but i wanted to make sure. they seem to be listed separately in the sites i looked at.

i had planned to pop a couple hitachi drives it them, but nowhere could i find any mention of MB with 7200 option, and i worried maybe it needed the 85 watt power supply.

thank you for your insight. you just saved me a tidy sum on these. wish i oculd afford to send you half the difference as a tip for the info https://forums.macrumors.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif
thank you for the return hint, but i figured that inasmuch. it isn't too hard to revert things back to factory hardware is it becomes necessary (the 5400 HD'a will just be sitting in a file cabinet drawer with a gazillion other apple parts from the past.

Oops, sorry, didn't realize you were talking about the 17" model.

I can't say for sure, but the 17" MBP might actually have 1 single 1GB DIMM standard. I know at least that the higher end 15" model has a single 1GB DIMM (rather than 2x 512).

A lot of the modern 7200rpm drives actually don't require much more power than 5400rpm drives, which is why you should be fine anyway.

 

[orangemacapple]

That would be great

Oops, sorry, didn't realize you were talking about the 17" model.

I can't say for sure, but the 17" MBP might actually have 1 single 1GB DIMM standard. I know at least that the higher end 15" model has a single 1GB DIMM (rather than 2x 512).

A lot of the modern 7200rpm drives actually don't require much more power than 5400rpm drives, which is why you should be fine anyway.

more thanks
in that case i'd just have to add 1gb to the MBP and of course 1gb to the MB for 1.25gb. somehow i just can't justify apple ram and HD upgrades.

 

[Zadillo]

more thanks
in that case i'd just have to add 1gb to the MBP and of course 1gb to the MB for 1.25gb. somehow i just can't justify apple ram and HD upgrades.

I don't know anyone who can justify it...

 

[maycontainnutz]

MacBooks will never be MacBook Pros.. that's where the Pro differentiates the 2

 

[danielbriggs]

MacBooks will never be MacBook Pros.. that's where the Pro differentiates the 2

Yeah, but is it worth like £550 extra???
They are both good laptops, with the MacBook being miles better value.