Macbook Pro converted to gaming laptop?

[wtfRetro]

Well im getting a macbook pro (mid-2009 , with the black keys) .
and i was wondering if i could make it into a bit more of a gaming laptop.
because it only has a dual core @2.43 ghz.... also does anyone know if it can run more than 4gb ram? apple said it cant but i heard you could...
does anyone know if i could put on of the newer intel processors in it? (i3,i5,i7 , hopefully one of the best i5's / an i7) or get a bigger hard drive for it? or should i just run an external? 9its only 250gb) and also would i need a better graphics card to run MW3 when it comes out?( its currently got a NVIDIA GeForce 9400M ) and if i do where could i get one? im from UK
thanks,
wtfRetro

 

[AmbiguousNinja]

All your problems can be resolved by getting the latest Macbook Pro. Is there a particular reason you're getting the 2009 model? Just FYI, I'm running Portal 2 and Half Life 2 on max settings on my 2011 13" model at the default 4gb RAM with no lag.

 

[panzer06]

Well im getting a macbook pro (mid-2009 , with the black keys) .
and i was wondering if i could make it into a bit more of a gaming laptop.
because it only has a dual core @2.43 ghz.... also does anyone know if it can run more than 4gb ram? apple said it cant but i heard you could...
does anyone know if i could put on of the newer intel processors in it? (i3,i5,i7 , hopefully one of the best i5's / an i7) or get a bigger hard drive for it? or should i just run an external? 9its only 250gb) and also would i need a better graphics card to run MW3 when it comes out?( its currently got a NVIDIA GeForce 9400M ) and if i do where could i get one? im from UK
thanks,
wtfRetro

No, other than ram and hdd MBPs are not upgradable. Unless someone is giving this to you I would not get it. The 9400m is the bare minimum for gaming.

Cheers,

 

[Hansr]

Laptops generally aren't upgradeable except for RAM and HDD.

 

[panzer06]

Laptops generally aren't upgradeable except for RAM and HDD.

Other than dedicated gaming laptops like Alienware, Sager, etc.

Cheers,

 

[negativzero]

Well im getting a macbook pro (mid-2009 , with the black keys) .
and i was wondering if i could make it into a bit more of a gaming laptop.
because it only has a dual core @2.43 ghz.... also does anyone know if it can run more than 4gb ram? apple said it cant but i heard you could...
does anyone know if i could put on of the newer intel processors in it? (i3,i5,i7 , hopefully one of the best i5's / an i7) or get a bigger hard drive for it? or should i just run an external? 9its only 250gb) and also would i need a better graphics card to run MW3 when it comes out?( its currently got a NVIDIA GeForce 9400M ) and if i do where could i get one? im from UK
thanks,
wtfRetro

If you're going to play Modern Warfare, nothing but the current generation MBPs with dedicated graphics will do.

 

[wtfRetro]

Basically the only reason im getting a 2009 one is because theyre really cheap and im on a £300 budget at the moment and the 2011 are like, £800 used... for a 13" with an i3 in it.

 

[chazmuzz]

Basically the only reason im getting a 2009 one is because theyre really cheap and im on a £300 budget at the moment and the 2011 are like, £800 used... for a 13" with an i3 in it.

£300 won't buy you a lot of macbook pro. I paid £550 for my non-unibody one back in January, which was a fair price. That is unless you have an awesome source of cheap MBPs, in which case you should buy all you can and sell them on eBay till you have made enough profit to buy a 2011 one.

 

[JasonH42]

A mid-2009 will run 6GB RAM (mine did). Other than that, as others said above, the HDD is the only other bit you can replace that will enhance the machine. Laptops aren't modular like desktops so you can't generally replace stuff like CPUs and graphics cards. You'll be able to overclock the graphics card - if you run Windows on it - to get a little better performance in games. I don't think it's possible to overclock when running Mac OS though.

 

[Erasmus]

Consider building your own PC desktop. I can't imagine you getting a notebook adequate for gaming for 300 pounds. The components alone are going to be well over that.

 

[dusk007]

If you want to play games and don't have as much money then get a Windows Notebook. A cheap one with a Fusion A6 or A8 CPU puts to shame the gaming capabilities of all but the highend 15" and 17" MBP with 6750M.
The 9400M is worse than the current Intel HD 3000 onboard GPU and that is one that many here still complain about. You can probably upgrade the RAM, but that doesn't help the least bit. The games you can play run fine on 2GB and 4 will give you not a single frame more per second. All it gets you is faster level loading and less problems when running lots of other stuff in the background.