Is there anyone I can send my Mac to, to change the CPU?

[SRLMJ23]

I have read that certain individuals with soldering skills can change the CPU or even RAM. Though I have no confirmation this is true.

If it is, I would love to put the Intel Core 2 Duo S9600 in my MBA. It runs at 2.53ghz, and is the same exact socket as my current CPU.

The MBA I am talking about is my Late 2010 MBA, not my newer 2013 MBA.

I really love my 2010 MBA, and God, if I could get more RAM in it, I would not have needed a new MBA.

I am looking for honest answers only. I am willing to pay good money for this to happen if this can be done as the CPU is cheap as can be.

Please help! Thank you everyone.

 

[maflynn]

Not really, there are no services that offer CPU replacement. Remember its not just the CPU you'll need to replace. If you go up a generation or different cpu, you'll need to replace other components and the circuitry may be a little different as well.

If you need more performance your only viable and feasible option is to buy a new laptop.

 

[SandboxGeneral]

Agreed with Mike.

Even if you could find someone to do it and put all the right parts in it, it's no guarantee and in the end, it would probably be more trouble than it's worth.

Better off buying a new one if you need increased CPU power.

 

[SRLMJ23]

Thank you gentlemen, I was reading some (I guess I can call it stupid now) saying you can send it away to professionals that can change the CPU/RAM.

I do have the 2013 MBA, but my Late 2010 MBA was my first, so there is a little bit of nostalgia there. PLUS, it runs really really well! I guess the only thing I can do is upgrade the SSD to a high capacity and some outlets claim their SSD's are much faster than stock Apple SSD's. I have no clue if that is true or not. I would imagine that some are somewhat faster, but who knows.

If anything knows anything about that, please let me know. I have been looking at OWC SSD's. Should I look else wear?

Thank you guys!

 

[SandboxGeneral]

OWC has good SSD's from what I hear. I use the Samsung SSD's myself and have had great luck.

I've used the 830, 840 and the 840 EVO and all have been great.

 

[gnasher729]

Easiest way to upgrade is through eBay - sell your Mac, buy a new one, possibly refurbished.

With the MBA, the problem is not processor speed, but the heat that the processor produces. When you look at Apple's website, it says "1.4 GHz, Turbo Boost to 2.7GHz". That means your processor will run at 2.7 GHz until it gets too hot, and then it goes down up to 1.4 GHz. That 2.53 GHz processor would either slow down to 1.4 GHz as well, or if it doesn't then it would likely melt your computer.

 

[PBG4 Dude]

There is (finally!) a second replacement SSD vendor. Transcend JetDrive. 480GB upgrade kits are on sale at Amazon for $349, according to an email I received yesterday. Smaller upgrade sizes are available too. These kits include tools and a USB case for your old SSD.

Disclaimer: I have no involvement with Transcend or Amazon, just looking at possible SSD upgrades like you.

 

[creepynut]

There is (finally!) a second replacement SSD vendor. Transcend JetDrive. 480GB upgrade kits are on sale at Amazon for $349, according to an email I received yesterday. Smaller upgrade sizes are available too. These kits include tools and a USB case for your old SSD.

Disclaimer: I have no involvement with Transcend or Amazon, just looking at possible SSD upgrades like you.

According to their website, they still don't support the 2013 MBA. One of my biggest regrets is picking up mine with 128GB. I had to decide between 8GB RAM and 256GB SSD. Should've waited a bit longer to get both.

 

[flowrider]

OWC has good SSD's from what I hear.

There are any number of posts on this forum pointing out the fact the OWCs SSDs are overpriced, not of good quality, and don't fit well. I'm one to those posters.

There's even a whole thread about it:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1459847/

Lou

My Review of the Transcend JetDrive 520 480GB SSD in a 2012 11" MBA.

My Review also includes a comparison of the JetDrive with the OWC Aura Pro Drive.

I ordered the OWC Aura Pro Drive the day before the Transcend Drives were announced. Before I received the drive, I called OWC to see if they would price match, and the answer was no. So, I thought Shame on Me. OWC's pricing was $449. for a bare drive and $475. for one that included tools and an enclosure for the old SSD. (OWC's pricing has since been reduced to $398. and $419. respectively) I opted for the bare drive. I installed the drive, and as others have noticed, the vertical dimension of the circuit board the components are mounted on is a millimeter or 2 larger than the stock SSD. Others have cut the board, I didn't, I applied a little pressure and it snapped into place. OWCs installation video is, IMO, far better than the Transcend video. Once set up, the SSD seemed to work fine, for awhile, but less than a day later, the drive started giving me problems. I tried repairing it with both Disk utility and Tech Tool Pro, both to no avail. Two days later it happened again. I called OWC and asked for an RMA. They agreed but said I would have to pay a restocking fee and pay for return shipment. I challenged that, saying this was not a capricious return, that the unit was defective and I expected OWC to pay for shipping and refund the full amount. They agreed, and sent me a UPS label.

When ordering the Transcend JetDrive I was quoted a delivery time of from 2 to 4 weeks. The unit was shipped 3 days after the order was placed and I received it one day later, that's 4 days after order placement! The price of the JetDrive 480 GB SSD from Amazon was $350. + Sales Tax (OWC charges no tax in Arizona). If I could have waited longer, I could have bought it from my memory Supplier, Data Memory Systems and not paid Sales Tax, but Transcend has not yet supplied it's distributers with this product.

Upon receipt of the JetDrive, yesterday, the first thing that jumped out at me was the packaging. The OWC SSD came packed in an anti-static bag enclosed in a thin gauge blister packed piece of cardboard with blue printing. It looked the packaging used by Ace Combs. The Transcend packaging on the other hand was impressive. A heavy gauge white slide out box with a full color picture of the SSD. The box was multi layered and contained the drive, the enclosure for the OEM drive, and the tools necessary for installation. Each layer was a plastic bed with depressions sized to fit the associated parts. It also contained an instruction booklet and warranty information. The instructions are, IMHO, inadequate, and only two pages apply, the other 26 pages being written for other languages.

The tools worked very well, and installation was a breeze. the form factor of the circuit board is the same as apple's so no undue pressure was needed for installation. My old SSD fit into the supplied enclosure with no issues.

I then cloned the JetDrive using Tech Tool Pro from the external Hybrid Drive I had been using as the main drive for my MBA. I foolishly ordered my MBA with only the 64GB SSD.

No issues. Everything is working as expected. In terms of speed. I have not measured the speed, but it feels very snappy. I believe the OWC and Transcend drives to be equal here. Transcend even supplies software to enable Apple's Trim support, OWC does not. There is however, third party software that enables Trim, Trim Enabler. I use that anyway for the SSD I use in my Mac Pro.

In ending, I would urge anyone installing the JetDrive in a MBA to watch the OWC installation video, again, it is superior to the Transcend video, and will make things more understandable to you.

The JetDrive is by far the superior product, and as of right now is $69. cheaper than the OWC Aura Pro. When I bought the OWC product, it would have cost $125 more than the corresponding Transcend product.

That IMHO is Value.

Currently, Apple charges $500. to go from a 128GB SSD to a 512GB SSD in the MBA. So, $350. for a 480GB SSD AND you get to keep your old drive, you can't beat that.

Edit - The Transcend drive seems to run color than true OWC drive. When feeling the bottom of my MBA where the SSD is mounted, the area while warm, is not as warm as it was with the OWC unit.

Lou

 

[PBG4 Dude]

According to their website, they still don't support the 2013 MBA. One of my biggest regrets is picking up mine with 128GB. I had to decide between 8GB RAM and 256GB SSD. Should've waited a bit longer to get both.

No third party supports PCI-E SSDs yet. Totally feel your pain, I have 128GB SSD in my MBA and totally should've gotten a 256GB model.

 

[Boyd01]

Currently, Apple charges $500. to go from a 128GB SSD to a 512GB SSD in the MBA. So, $350. for a 480GB SSD AND you get to keep your old drive, you can't beat that.

You couldn't beat it if they made a version for the 2013 or 2014 MBA, but they don't.

 

[SmOgER]

Easiest way to upgrade is through eBay - sell your Mac, buy a new one, possibly refurbished.

With the MBA, the problem is not processor speed, but the heat that the processor produces. When you look at Apple's website, it says "1.4 GHz, Turbo Boost to 2.7GHz". That means your processor will run at 2.7 GHz until it gets too hot, and then it goes down up to 1.4 GHz. That 2.53 GHz processor would either slow down to 1.4 GHz as well, or if it doesn't then it would likely melt your computer.

You totally misunderstand the turbo boost concept.

The whole idea of turbo boost in MacBooks is to optimize the applications that can't utilize all CPU cores yet have high priority.

For example, let's say we have 4 core CPU and video rendering software that can utilize only 2 CPU cores. If it fully utilizes those 2 cores, turbo boost kicks in to increase the frequency and give the software almost all available (depending TB clocks) CPU resources (despite the fact that in theory it's only utilizing 2 of 4 cores). Now overall CPU computing power won't substantially increase over it's stock values, as turbo boost will try obtain the overall TDP at preset limits. That means if TDP is let's say is 100W (25W per core), turbo boost increases the frequency to give 2 cores 40W each, there is only 20W left for 2 remaining cores (10W each), therefore overall CPU potential will not increase*, only performance per core ratio will change.

* On certain chips manufacturer manages to archieve the higher than specified frequency on the stock TDP, so CPU potential actually can increase a notch. But this varies per chip and differences usually are pretty small.