Apples biggest mistake..

[comda]

Greetings!

Im writing in this section here due to the sad reason that my Macbook 3,1 is giving me some issues. I used to run it in snow leopard perfectly but after upgrading to lion its being a little stubborn. I used MLPOST FACTOR to install ML but it doesnt seem to want to work with a WPA2 Enterprise connection.

Anyways. My macbook 3,1 has served me 7 years (this boxing week) and i love it. I has a 240GB SSD and 4gb of ram and flies with a new battery. But i want to know just in case this machine finally bites the dust as after my current issues with Lion im debating on returning to SL.

What i want to know is which current macbook pro's are still user upgradeable. Meaning i can upgrade RAm and Hard drive because thats pretty much all you can upgrade in a laptop...

I do NOT want a machine that i am stuck with what it is. Although a laptop is pretty close i still want a laptop from apple that i can up the ram and hard drive. But is there any other machine other than the 2012 macbook pro 13 inch?

 

[masterz13]

Greetings!

Im writing in this section here due to the sad reason that my Macbook 3,1 is giving me some issues. I used to run it in snow leopard perfectly but after upgrading to lion its being a little stubborn. I used MLPOST FACTOR to install ML but it doesnt seem to want to work with a WPA2 Enterprise connection.

Anyways. My macbook 3,1 has served me 7 years (this boxing week) and i love it. I has a 240GB SSD and 4gb of ram and flies with a new battery. But i want to know just in case this machine finally bites the dust as after my current issues with Lion im debating on returning to SL.

What i want to know is which current macbook pro's are still user upgradeable. Meaning i can upgrade RAm and Hard drive because thats pretty much all you can upgrade in a laptop...

I do NOT want a machine that i am stuck with what it is. Although a laptop is pretty close i still want a laptop from apple that i can up the ram and hard drive. But is there any other machine other than the 2012 macbook pro 13 inch?

Unfortunately, the only MacBook that allows you to do this is the 13" non-retina display model. It has some outdated specs compared to the retina though - 2.4ghz Core i5 CPU, 4GB RAM, 500GB 5400rpm hard drive, and Intel HD 4000 graphics. It is very upgradeable since you can access the RAM and hard drive bays, but that is about it.

I can relate to you because I am in a similar situation. I want to get a MacBook Pro very badly, but not being able to swap out the SSD in the retina model is disappointing. However, once you have seen and used a retina display on a laptop, it is impossible to go back to the other MBP.

 

[comda]

I know the Retinas are nice. My Girl Friend has one. But apple is making the same mistakes they where making in the early 90's without jobs by making everything onboard. The only reason im still using my Macbook 3,1 is because of the option to have upgrades. This machine was upgraded from 1gb ram to woping 4gb and from a 120Gb 5400RPM drive to a 750GB 7200RPM to a 240GB SSD. I spent $1400 on this mac and its lasted me 7 years. im not going to spend 2k on something that will outdate perhaps faster then this machine did. Thats sad that that apple is making this mistake. If This is the path apple sticks with like their new disposable mac mini, sadly this macbook will be the first and last apple computer that i will purchase.

 

[lownotelee]

This machine was upgraded from 1gb ram to woping 4gb and from a 120Gb 5400RPM drive to a 750GB 7200RPM to a 240GB SSD.

By upgrading to 4GB, you've hit the maximum amount of RAM that machine is capable of supporting. From here on in, there is no reason to have user accessible RAM.

The Retina machines are capable of running 16GB, so if you get the machine, CTO it with 16GB and be done with it. The Flash storage is installed in a slot, making it upgradable in the future.

im not going to spend 2k on something that will outdate perhaps faster then this machine did.

Why would it get outdated faster than your old machine? 16GB is 16GB regardless of how it's attached to the mobo.

 

[comda]

because its possible for RAM to fail. And if onboard ram fails you are screwed in the terms of that machine. Versus with your tipical machine just swap the bad ram out. And as to upgrades on the spot apple charges way to much for their SSDs and RAM. I can get the same ram and install it my self with a machine for half the cost.

 

[Tim0]

A faulty RAM will probably fail while your MBP is still under warranty, and if it doesn't fail the first year, it will probably be just as good for another seven. The only trouble with Apple-soldered RAM is that it is more expensive than the market.

 

[burne]

because its possible for RAM to fail.

I have over 2000 servers in a number of server-rooms. Many are maxed out as to memory, which means they have 16 or 24 DIMMS in them. Some of the big quad socket machines have 36 DIMMS. These large DIMMS often have 40 chips on them. In the three years these machines have been my responsibility I had RAM fail once. 3 power supplies failed. About three harddisks fail every week.

RAM and CPU are about the most reliable components in your computer, in my experience.

edit: My boss buys them maxed out, because he says the hassle and cost of sending me to the datacenter at night, and all irate phone calls of customers who had downtime is more than the price of the RAM. I'm not quite sure he's good at math, but I'm not complaining. (maxed out is about $4000 of RAM)

 

[Pootan]

because its possible for RAM to fail. And if onboard ram fails you are screwed in the terms of that machine. Versus with your tipical machine just swap the bad ram out. And as to upgrades on the spot apple charges way to much for their SSDs and RAM. I can get the same ram and install it my self with a machine for half the cost.

I know it's not an ideal situation (or if its even possible in macs) but in some mobos you can shut down specific ram slots in bios, or in runtime in some servers. In worst case of course. But I worked in IT with some old pcs and I never saw defective ram, and some were running 512 mb ddr1 well in to 2010. (point being it's very rare, and paying to get it serviced is worth the opportunity cost of unlikelihood of it happening)

 

[lownotelee]

because its possible for RAM to fail. And if onboard ram fails you are screwed in the terms of that machine. Versus with your tipical machine just swap the bad ram out. And as to upgrades on the spot apple charges way to much for their SSDs and RAM. I can get the same ram and install it my self with a machine for half the cost.

Just from a quick search;
16GB Crucial RAM (1600MHz DDR3) - US$135 (on sale)
Apple upgrade to 16GB - US$200

so the Apple RAM is ~50% more expensive.

Difference between 128 and 256GB 13" rMBP models - US$200
OWC 240GB Flash storage - US$199.99

US$0.01 cheaper (and you get the original flash card as well).

 

[r0k]

I'm still using my 2008 Macbook... as a "spare" machine. I'm also using a 2010 Mac mini... as a "spare" machine. I guess this makes me a hoarder. My main machine is a late 2011 MBP with upgradeable RAM/HDD that now has 8GB of RAM and a 750 GB SSD.

I'm reluctant to embrace the whole rMBP or MBA way of doing things... but... aren't usb3 and thunderbolt fast enough to make the difference between internal and external components almost moot? Even the new Mac pro has mostly soldered components in that funny cylinder but it has SIX thunderbolt ports. Clearly Apple seems to think upgrades via TB are as good as, or nearly as good as popping new stuff into a socket on the motherboard or swapping internal drives out for bigger/faster ones.

When my next upgrade cycle comes along... in several years... I doubt Apple will be selling anything that is easily user-upgradable. I assume I'll be buying my first rMBP or iMac when that time comes along.

 

[Dominus Mortem]

Greetings!

What i want to know is which current macbook pro's are still user upgradeable. Meaning i can upgrade RAm and Hard drive because thats pretty much all you can upgrade in a laptop...

I do NOT want a machine that i am stuck with what it is. Although a laptop is pretty close i still want a laptop from apple that i can up the ram and hard drive. But is there any other machine other than the 2012 macbook pro 13 inch?

Well, unless you go with the non-retina 13" you are going to be badly disappointed. I understand that you want options, that is fairly natural I think, particularly if you are looking for a machine that you can tweak along the way to keep it relevant. I think most of us here will shake our heads in understanding of this desire.

The market however isn't going in that direction. I believe that this trend toward thinness is the culprit. Soldering items directly saves just a tiny bit of space over having sockets.I also feel that Apple really doesn't want us inside these machines.

So what do you do? Compromise. You don't want to—nobody wants to compromise, we do it because the option we really want is unachievable so we try to find an alternative that makes sense. This is where you are at. I'm sure you can find a PC that is upgradeable. But then you gotta run Windows and that's often a deal breaker for those of us who have grown to love OSX. So if you want OS X then you need to make a decision that is going to be different than the one you made seven years ago.

A lot of people want to hedge the future. You hear that on these forums constantly. You're no different, except you want to make the investment more gradually. Or perhaps you want better repair options. Just because things are soldered in doesn't mean they cannot be repaired, they can. The downside is the expense, in which case Applecare may be a good investment.

If I were in your shoes (I'm not, I can't hold onto a computer for 7 years). I'd get a retina MBP and max out the ram (16gb) and go with a 512gb hard drive. Yeah, it's expensive. Whattayagonnado? Apple' going to get paid one way or the other, you just have to decide how. You want the Apple experience, well that comes at a certain price and apparently all of us sheep are willing to pay it. Don't fret so much though my friend, it's only a computer and it's only money.

 

[phrehdd]

Apple has locked up the laptops, now the Mac Pro is powerful but limited in scope and priced for the pro or rich and of course the Mac Mini has been castrated with only carrying dual core lines of cpu. Since an iMac isn't a good option for me either I'll have to in 2015 move over to the "other" OS and back to PC land for me. Apple has done a great job of creating a market model and forcing everyone into it whether they like it or not.

So until 2015 rolls along, I'll continue in the Apple family and feel like one of the dolts living in a twisted South Park episode.

 

[gnasher729]

I know the Retinas are nice. My Girl Friend has one. But apple is making the same mistakes they where making in the early 90's without jobs by making everything onboard. The only reason im still using my Macbook 3,1 is because of the option to have upgrades. This machine was upgraded from 1gb ram to woping 4gb and from a 120Gb 5400RPM drive to a 750GB 7200RPM to a 240GB SSD. I spent $1400 on this mac and its lasted me 7 years. im not going to spend 2k on something that will outdate perhaps faster then this machine did. Thats sad that that apple is making this mistake. If This is the path apple sticks with like their new disposable mac mini, sadly this macbook will be the first and last apple computer that i will purchase.

Being nasty: How is that a _mistake_ by Apple? It would have been much better _for Apple_ if you had bought a new MacBook after 3 years instead of using your old one for 7 years

 

[Samuelsan2001]

Buy something else then

There are endless threads on here moaning that apple don't make what the poster wants. If you don't like apples offerings buy something else, you will soon realise your mistake, they still make the best hardware and software combination I know. There are however other manufacturers making what you want so buy that, I don't see people moaning that samsung or lenovo doesn't make what they want they just buy an ASUS that does.

Take a look around you'll see it's not just apple all the major manufacturers are going the same way. To make things thin and light and sturdy and less likely to break all mobile devices benefit from soldered Ram and PCie connections.This may not be true in the Imac but that is how it goes when you swap to certain methods of manufacture.

I was slightly worried about the change myself after upgrading my last MBP, but I chose to stay with apple and boy am I glad I did. My 2013 rMBP is a beast I configured it with what I need and expect to get 5 years from it no worries. I live in europe though and we get 5 years standard warranty on everything electronic we buy with a reasonable expectation that the machine works for that long with no manufacturer defects.