Purchasing a MacBook 13" 2.4GHz, have a few upgrade questions....

[alphatectz]

I'm finally about to purchase my MacBook but I like to know a few things before I make my move. I've decided to purchase MB 13" 2.4GHz stock but before I do anything will I be able to buy a 4GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x2GB seperate and install it my self or should I have the people at the genius bar do it for me or should I have it preinstalled in my purchase, also if I am able to purchase the 4GB which one should I buy, and from were? My second question is should I also have the 320GB Serial ATA Drive @ 5400 rpm preinstalled on my MacBook 13" 2.4GHz or can I purchase it seperate and have it installed by the people at the genius bar or can I do it my self?

Or is stock the best way to go without any upgrades made to the MacBook 13" 2.4 GHz?

last but not least if you had to choose from either 4GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x2GB or 320GB Serial ATA Drive @ 5400 rpm, which would it be?????

Thanks for all your help in advance.

Feel Free to answer the poll, thanks

 

[marbles]

Buy the macbook stock , Apple charge way over the odds for things like this imo.

you can get RAM from crucial, OWC, newegg, and the HD from OWC or newegg etc etc

loads of places sell everything you need and it is real easy to pop in .

save your money and do it yourself

 

[alphatectz]

Buy the macbook stock , Apple charge way over the odds for things like this imo.

you can get RAM from crucial, OWC, newegg, and the HD from OWC or newegg etc etc

loads of places sell everything you need and it is real easy to pop in .

save your money and do it yourself

ok but does it matter what kind (brand of ram HD) it is?

 

[marbles]

RAM = random access memory.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Random_Access_Memory
HD = hard drive http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_disk

Go for Crucial RAM it has a guarantee http://www.crucial.com/store/mpartspecs.aspx?mtbpoid=EB3FAA4EA5CA7304

No, brand isn't really a concern for the hard drive depending on what you do with your computer, speed is! .

To be totally honest with you though I'd hold off buying either, only because from what you've said it sounds as if your new to computers and if so you will not need to upgrade either for a while, Macbooks are fast anyway

~m

 

[kastenbrust]

Get the stock model and upgrade the RAM yourself, and use Crucial as marbles said, or you'll regret it.

Don't bother upgrading to a 5400 hard drive haha, at least get a 7200 drive or burn your money or give it to me

 

[iknowyourider]

Crucial (brand) ram has a very good reputation. I seem to be getting great service form my WD Scorpio hdd (in my blackbook). I bought a WD Passport portable hdd, robbed the drive, put it in my MB, then put the MB drive in the portable case for a backup / bootable / spare. Not certain if that drive fits the uniboby but I still recomend WD.

 

[alphatectz]

RAM = random access memory.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Random_Access_Memory
HD = hard drive http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_disk

Go for Crucial RAM it has a guarantee http://www.crucial.com/store/mpartspecs.aspx?mtbpoid=EB3FAA4EA5CA7304

No, brand isn't really a concern for the hard drive depending on what you do with your computer, speed is! .

To be totally honest with you though I'd hold off buying either, only because from what you've said it sounds as if your new to computers and if so you will not need to upgrade either for a while, Macbooks are fast anyway

~m

Well i'm new to Mac's, I recently brought my 3g a few months back then I got a 2g for the heck of it. and I know a few friends that have Mac and they love it. Basiclly I love Gadgets LOL. but yea back to the MacBook from what you been posting i should go with the stock and just buy the parts I need and do it myself. im going to use the MacBook mostly for school and what ever else I will need to do, but as for games i have no use for them.

 

[alphatectz]

Get the stock model and upgrade the RAM yourself, and use Crucial as marbles said, or you'll regret it.

Don't bother upgrading to a 5400 hard drive haha, at least get a 7200 drive or burn your money or give it to me

or "i'll regret it" hmmmmmm go on, i'm all ears.........
as for the HD it depends on how much more the 7200 will be compared the the 5400 HD.

 

[alphatectz]

Get the stock model and upgrade the RAM yourself, and use Crucial as marbles said, or you'll regret it.

Don't bother upgrading to a 5400 hard drive haha, at least get a 7200 drive or burn your money or give it to me

or "i'll regret it" hmmmmmm go on, i'm all ears.........
as for the HD it depends on how much more the 7200 will be compared the the 5400 HD.

i'll give you 50 if u hang your self , Jk

 

[marbles]

Well i'm new to Mac's, I recently brought my 3g a few months back then I got a 2g for the heck of it. and I know a few friends that have Mac and they love it. Basiclly I love Gadgets LOL. but yea back to the MacBook from what you been posting i should go with the stock and just buy the parts I need and do it myself. im going to use the MacBook mostly for school and what ever else I will need to do, but as for games i have no use for them.

Not exactly sure what you're saying here but , yes keep it stock for now and see how you get on with it.

If you're new to the Mac OS then a while of settling in is required and as such you will not use up the system resources the macbooks ship with, so save your coins for a while and by the time your 'settled in' you will be looking to go faster, upgrade at that time.

Simple way to see if you need to upgrade the RAM & HD is to open an application that ships with every Mac called Activity monitor.

Applications>Utilities folder>Activity Monitor.

Open that program after say a day of use and see how many page ins/outs you have on the HD, then see how much system RAM you are using.

Be sure to click the tab at the top of the Apps window which says all processes, let us know what it says in the activity monitor and we'll know if you need to upgrade the HD and RAM.

For basic tasks as you describe I don't think it's worth upgrading anything . If it's for bragging rights then ......

Oh , a tip for one new to the OS, set up at least two accounts on your machine, one for every day use along with the Admin

 

[alphatectz]

Crucial (brand) ram has a very good reputation. I seem to be getting great service form my WD Scorpio hdd (in my blackbook). I bought a WD Passport portable hdd, robbed the drive, put it in my MB, then put the MB drive in the portable case for a backup / bootable / spare. Not certain if that drive fits the uniboby but I still recomend WD.

I Agree everyone seems to go with crucial (brand) I will look into that for a later upgrade. Thnx.

 

[alphatectz]

Not exactly sure what you're saying here but , yes keep it stock for now and see how you get on with it.

If you're new to the Mac OS then a while of settling in is required and as such you will not use up the system resources the macbooks ship with, so save your coins for a while and by the time your 'settled in' you will be looking to go faster, upgrade at that time.

Simple way to see if you need to upgrade the RAM & HD is to open an application that ships with every Mac called Activity monitor.

Applications>Utilities folder>Activity Monitor.

Open that program after say a day of use and see how many page ins/outs you have on the HD, then see how much system RAM you are using.

Be sure to click the tab at the top of the Apps window which says all processes, let us know what it says in the activity monitor and we'll know if you need to upgrade the HD and RAM.

For basic tasks as you describe I don't think it's worth upgrading anything . If it's for bragging rights then ......

Oh , a tip for one new to the OS, set up at least two accounts on your machine, one for every day use along with the Admin

Thanks I will still with the stock model, saves me some time and money then from placing an order from apple.com. But I'll do what u sao in the post then I'll see if I can get a screen shot of the usage.
By the way I should be going to get my MacBook this weekend or next week so stay tune for a updated post.

Thanks for your help.


Edit:

Attn marbles:

Thanks forthe help I just went to the apple store and purchased my MacBook. I'll do all the stuff u said to do above and will either send u a PM or just post a reply on here. Thanx again.

 

[marbles]

ye ok