My MacBook pro questions

[applefanboy4739]

So there's a list for my 13" baseline mbp:

1. Is it possible to remove the optical drive and put another HD into there? Because I would be putting a small 60gb boot drive into there. And would e ssd be worth it to put in there? I don't need the drive because I'm practically all digital just wondering about price.

2. With ram so cheap at the moment should I upgrade to 8gb or wait for it to lower most and get dual 8 sticks?

3. Is the processor able to be replaced? I know the Mac pros processor is replaceable so just wanting to see if it's the same.

Thanks for any and all help

 

[yusukeaoki]

So there's a list for my 13" baseline mbp:

1. Is it possible to remove the optical drive and put another HD into there? Because I would be putting a small 60gb boot drive into there. And would e ssd be worth it to put in there? I don't need the drive because I'm practically all digital just wondering about price.

2. With ram so cheap at the moment should I upgrade to 8gb or wait for it to lower most and get dual 8 sticks?

3. Is the processor able to be replaced? I know the Mac pros processor is replaceable so just wanting to see if it's the same.

Thanks for any and all help

1. Yes optibay is available only by yourself not by Apple and it will void your warranty.

2. Dual 8GB will not be cheap for a while. get dual 4GB.
dual 8GB are $1600 currently.

3. No not the laptop. You cannot replace it so get high end.

 

[applefanboy4739]

Alright kool. Thanks for the help. So I should go for the upgraded processor or will the 2.3 i5 be enough for my web developing and programming?

 

[DWBurke811]

Get the RAM now, the 13" doesn't support 16GB of RAM...


And get the i5.

 

[applefanboy4739]

Ok kool. Thanks again.

 

[gorskiegangsta]

1. Is it possible to remove the optical drive and put another HD into there? Because I would be putting a small 60gb boot drive into there. And would e ssd be worth it to put in there? I don't need the drive because I'm practically all digital just wondering about price.

Yes, you'll need something called optibay. I'd recommend swaping the HDD with an SSD and putting the HDD in the optibay. Be careful though, replacing the ODD with an optibay will void your warranty.

2. With ram so cheap at the moment should I upgrade to 8gb or wait for it to lower most and get dual 8 sticks?

The 13" models would not be able to take full advantage of 16GB of RAM. Intel lists the max supported RAM as 8GB for i5-2410M [2.3GHz], i7-2620M [2.7GHz], and i7-2630QM [2.0GHz quad]. Only the i7-2720QM [2.2GHz quad] and i7-2820QM [2.3GHz quad] are able to take 16GB.

3. Is the processor able to be replaced? I know the Mac pros processor is replaceable so just wanting to see if it's the same.

No. The mobile processors are soldered to the logic board and thus cannot be swapped.

 

[dlimes13]

1. Yes optibay is available only by yourself not by Apple and it will void your warranty.

2. Dual 8GB will not be cheap for a while. get dual 4GB.
dual 8GB are $1600 currently.

3. No not the laptop. You cannot replace it so get high end.

1. I am doing that now and it's great! SSD + HDD, best of both worlds

2. Get the dual 4GB, but see my note below about 8GB sticks.

3. If you plan to keep this laptop for a long time, I'd get the high-end. Cannot be replaced later.



Dual 8GB is not that pricey, try $450: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233217
Or $229 for a single 8GB: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233216

Price is at the point of if you need it, get it. Of course you need a 15/17 inch though. It's not a long-stretch anymore, but once the 16GB kit is $300, I'm all in.

 

[polbit]

Couple comments here:

1. For development, are you sure that the 13" resolution will work for you? 1280x800 is pretty weak when you want to develop. I would either think of the 13" MBA or 15" hi-res MPB.

2. Replacing DVD drive with HD does not technically void your warranty, only components that can be effected by it. Also, it's easy to reverse, so I wouldn't think it's a big deal.

3. Get 8Gb, as you said they are so cheap, even if you upgrade to 16 later, the $50-60 you spent now will be worth it.

 

[ct2k7]

Couple comments here:

1. For development, are you sure that the 13" resolution will work for you? 1280x800 is pretty weak when you want to develop. I would either think of the 13" MBA or 15" hi-res MPB.

2. Replacing DVD drive with HD does not technically void your warranty, only components that can be effected by it. Also, it's easy to reverse, so I wouldn't think it's a big deal.

3. Get 8Gb, as you said they are so cheap, even if you upgrade to 16 later, the $50-60 you spent now will be worth it.

For web developer, the resolution is fine, assuming he doesn't design websites, and only codes them.

I use my 2010 MBA for coding, and it's perfect.

Get your RAM from Crucial, Apple RAM is a rip off. You will not notice a difference in speed, but I always go for 1600Mhz with a CAS Latency of 7 or less - you will most likely never need to know this though.