macbook pro concerns

[piser]

I'm a long time windows user about ready to make the jump to a mac.

I haven't bought a new computer for ~3 years, and I tend to make bigger purchases and try to get a lot of life out of them. I've been eying a macbook pro for a while now, and these two things are holding me back:

- 5400 rpm hard drive in the 15" model (I know the 17" offers a 7200 rpm hard drive, but I don't want the 17").

- The ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 graphics card seems a bit old to be in a computer I'm going to have for at least 2 (and hopefully 3) years.

From what I understand, "santa rosa" will have a new graphics chipset, so if the 2nd issue is a big sticking point I would need to wait until next summer. It seems unlikely that Apple would update the macbook pro line before then since they just updated it last fall.

Regarding the hard drive issue, is it possible to manually swap out the hard drive in the 15" model and put in my own? I'm pretty comfortable working inside computers, but I don't want to be donig major surgery.

Thanks!

 

[ghostee]

From what I understand, "santa rosa" will have a new graphics chipset, so if the 2nd issue is a big sticking point I would need to wait until next summer. It seems unlikely that Apple would update the macbook pro line before then since they just updated it last fall.

Regarding the hard drive issue, is it possible to manually swap out the hard drive in the 15" model and put in my own? I'm pretty comfortable working inside computers, but I don't want to be donig major surgery.

The graphics chipset in Santa Rosa won't make a difference in future MBP's, as they will be using an external card rather than the integrated graphics. It is possible that Apple would put a newer card in along with Santa Rosa, although not guaranteed.

Yes, you can replace the hard drive on your own. It's not an easy task. Read this recent thread for a horror story.