I've decided to buy a 13" MacBook pro...

[Cradle6]

My question is:

My university's apple store has a deal going on, that for $219, you'll get a hard drive upgrade to 1 terabyte and a RAM upgrade to 8 gigabytes. Is this worth doing?

Also should I buy the 3 year apple care warranty for $250?

Much appreciated.

 

[Adamantoise]

My question is:

My university's apple store has a deal going on, that for $219, you'll get a hard drive upgrade to 1 terabyte and a RAM upgrade to 8 gigabytes. Is this worth doing?

Also should I buy the 3 year apple care warranty for $250?

Much appreciated.

If you need it then yes.

Sure it's cheaper to do it yourself but you're not saving much money.

Is the 1TB HDD 7200rpm or 5400rpm?

 

[RWil85]

My question is:

My university's apple store has a deal going on, that for $219, you'll get a hard drive upgrade to 1 terabyte and a RAM upgrade to 8 gigabytes. Is this worth doing?

Also should I buy the 3 year apple care warranty for $250?

Much appreciated.

I wouldnt take the upgrades from them.

Just saw 2x4gb ram sticks on amazon.com for ~58 and I'm sure you can find a kick-ass HDD w/ the other $160 you'd have left. This is if you do it yourself; but, these upgrades are so easy and there are plenty of tutorials online.

As for the AppleCare, i believe you have 1 yr from the purchase date to buy it..dont think you have to decide now.

 

[elpmas]

My question is:

My university's apple store has a deal going on, that for $219, you'll get a hard drive upgrade to 1 terabyte and a RAM upgrade to 8 gigabytes. Is this worth doing?

I would do it, just because in the future, if you do bring it to Apple to fix a hardware problem, you wouldn't need to worry about swapping out memory/HD. Less work imo.


Also should I buy the 3 year apple care warranty for $250?

Much appreciated.

That's quite expensive...my school's was $183 :X. If it's still fairly new, you shouldn't need to, but look into SquareTrade.

 

[rockyroad55]

If you need it then yes.

Sure it's cheaper to do it yourself but you're not saving much money.

Is the 1TB HDD 7200rpm or 5400rpm?

They don't make 1TB laptop drives for 7200 RPM. The best so far is the new WD 1TB 5400RPM. The best 7200 RPM out there is either the 500GB Momentus XT or 750GB Scorpio Black.

I think it's not the greatest deal. The WD 1TB retails for about $127 and RAM costs about $50 because there are a few deals going around the internet for cheap 8GB RAM. But if you are unsure about taking it apart yourself, I'd go with the deal just to deal with the hassle.

 

[Cradle6]

Honestly the RAM interests me far more than the HDD. Maybe I'll pass on the deal and get a friend to install more RAM. But just to be totally clear, messing with the RAM/HDD doesn't void my warranty right?

 

[RWil85]

Honestly the RAM interests me far more than the HDD. Maybe I'll pass on the deal and get a friend to install more RAM. But just to be totally clear, messing with the RAM/HDD doesn't void my warranty right?

nope - neither voids anything..

I've done both to mine myself..easiest thing in the world..RAM is as easy as clicking it out and popping new sticks in..HDD/SSDs are a bit more involved, but only bc you have to unscrew/unplug and then replace with the new drive in the same manner..piece of cake.

 

[Pyre1582]

The RAM and HDD are user-accessible areas so it doesn't void the warranty.
edit: Ninja'd

Upping the RAM to 8GB is a good choice, I'd go with an SSD rather than the traditional HD but the pricing and such..

 

[RWil85]

The RAM and HDD are user-accessible areas so it doesn't void the warranty.
edit: Ninja'd

Upping the RAM to 8GB is a good choice, I'd go with an SSD rather than the traditional HD but the pricing and such..

there's a 120GB vertex 2 on new egg right now for 190. best money i spent on tech was putting one in my MBP..everything is snappy.

 

[Pyre1582]

Really? I might take a look at that. But first I have to upgrade the RAM on my MBP since I'm still rocking the stock 4GB 1333MHz RAM.

Also, I'd get the Apple Care Warranty. Can never be too sure. *Points at the Battery Explosion thread* Though that's very rare and hardly ever occurs but with manufacturing millions of products, one or two will have some error in it. Not really preventable with any mass produced item. *shrug*

 

[RWil85]

Really? I might take a look at that. But first I have to upgrade the RAM on my MBP since I'm still rocking the stock 4GB 1333MHz RAM.

Also, I'd get the Apple Care Warranty. Can never be too sure. *Points at the Battery Explosion thread* Though that's very rare and hardly ever occurs but with manufacturing millions of products, one or two will have some error in it. Not really preventable with any mass produced item. *shrug*

the RAM i mentioned a few posts up is Kingston ram on Amazon..good stuff. I put the G-Skill stuff in mine, haven't had any issues - been over a year now.

 

[palpatine]

I'd get the RAM, but instead of putting that much memory into the computer, I'd get an external drive. Of course, it depends on what you are planning to do with the computer, but you could get a couple of external 1TB drives for that money. One could work as a Time Machine device and the other could archive old files. Just a thought.

 

[RWil85]

I'd get the RAM, but instead of putting that much memory into the computer, I'd get an external drive. Of course, it depends on what you are planning to do with the computer, but you could get a couple of external 1TB drives for that money. One could work as a Time Machine device and the other could archive old files. Just a thought.

RAM serves a completely different purpose than having 2TB's worth of HDD space on top of the internal HDD?

 

[thinkinblue613]

You can find upgrades online and DIY... But you'll probably save like $30. You're gonna have to open it up yourself and install the OS. So... It depends, do you have the time to DIY?

 

[palpatine]

RAM serves a completely different purpose than having 2TB's worth of HDD space on top of the internal HDD?

i guess my advice was confusing. ram is different than hdd. yes.

from the op's post: "for $219, you'll get a hard drive upgrade to 1 terabyte..."
i don't see a point in spending a lot of money to put 1 terabyte drive inside when you can spend a little to put 1 terabyte outside. you still have 350gb inside, so you come out ahead, with 2.3 tb instead of just 1.

from the op's post: "a RAM upgrade to 8 gigabytes."
yes. great idea.

i suggested that he could take the same 219 dollars and end up with more than twice as much hdd memory. more bang for the buck. i have several external drives myself. it's a great investment (in my opinion).