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Questions about upgrading to new MBP

BulkHedd

BulkHedd

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Nov 13, 2006
497
18
I currently have a white 2006 MacBook (2.0 Ghz C2D, 2 GB of RAM), which I installed a 500 GB, 7200 RPM drive into.
I am thinking it's time to upgrade so I'm looking at the 13" MacBook Pro.
Apple only offers a 5400 500 GB drive as an option, so what would be the best thing for me to do? I can pay Apple $90 to get a slightly slower drive or I can swap the drives out when I get the new MBP.
I doubt I can just pop my existing drive, as is, into the new MBP so I would probably have to go through some extra steps to install it and move all my data, settings, and apps over.
 
As 10.6.5 has been released after the current MBPs, it should have all the drivers you need, thus it should work if you just swap the HDs.
 
Really? Even with a different processor and graphics card it will just boot up and work?
 
BulkHedd said:
Really? Even with a different processor and graphics card it will just boot up and work?
Click to expand...

It will work just fine.

I used my 2009 MBP with Mac OS X 10.6.5 in Target Disk Mode to boot up a Mac Pro 1,1 (which came with 10.4.x) and it worked without a hitch, Software Update didn't even show any available updates for that Mac Pro.

I also used my iBook G4 with 10.3 to boot up a Power Mac G5 with the same system (10.3) and it worked without a hitch, the only downside was the slow FW400 speed to boot from compared to the 2009 MBP with FW800 and an SSD.
 
I'm glad I came across this thread. I have a 2010 13" and I plan on getting a 2011 13" when they come out. I was thinking about how cool it would be to just put my current drive in the new one. Assuming nothing major changes in the Mac universe next year this should be a pretty seamless thing to do?
 
skiltrip said:
I'm glad I came across this thread. I have a 2010 13" and I plan on getting a 2011 13" when they come out. I was thinking about how cool it would be to just put my current drive in the new one. Assuming nothing major changes in the Mac universe next year this should be a pretty seamless thing to do?
Click to expand...

Yep, be sure to run Software Update though and that you have the current version of Mac OS X on the 2010 MBP, as that will be the version of Mac OS X the 2011 MBP comes with, sometimes even with a specialised version for drivers and such, if the last point release has been a while.

Example: Mac OS X 10.6.6 was released in 1/2011, the 2011 MBPs were released in 4/2011, coming with 10.6.6 and its own drivers. Mac OS X 10.6.7 will be released in 5/2011, therefore the 10.6.6 version you have on your 2010 MBP will be slightly outdated to the version of 10.6.6 on the 2011 MBP, but with 10.6.7 both machines will be on par again.
 
If you want to crank it up a few notches, get a good SSD. I have a 13 and it went from fast to stupid fast. My boot time is little over 15 second, my shut down time is about 3-4, and my programs load at least 3x quicker.
 
NickZac said:
If you want to crank it up a few notches, get a good SSD. I have a 13 and it went from fast to stupid fast. My boot time is little over 15 second, my shut down time is about 3-4, and my programs load at least 3x quicker.
Click to expand...

I would love to but I use my MacBook as my primary computer with all my music, photos and videos on it. I would have to either get a ludicrously priced large SSD or an expensive smaller one and keep most of my stuff on an external drive.
 
My next question is whether to get the 2.4 Ghz or the 2.66 Ghz. Is that little bit of extra speed work $300.00?
 
BulkHedd said:
My next question is whether to get the 2.4 Ghz or the 2.66 Ghz. Is that little bit of extra speed work $300.00?
Click to expand...

The extra 260MHz are not worth the 300 USD, get the 2.4GHz unless you can spend the 300 USD without a blink of an eye. Better use that money and upgrade to 8GB RAM or/and an SSD, but don't use Apple to upgrade the RAM.
Third party vendors like OWC or Newegg are much cheaper.
 
BulkHedd said:
My next question is whether to get the 2.4 Ghz or the 2.66 Ghz. Is that little bit of extra speed work $300.00?
Click to expand...

I agree with the above. Definitely not. The $300 is not well spent on the 260MHz. And the 70 extra GB you get in the hard drive department doesn't make it worth it either.

Spend the money on a $100 8GB ram upgrade and a $100 500GB hard drive upgrade, and pocket the extra $100. Or just pocket all $300 and save it for your next Mac.
 
Ok, well I ordered it. Kept everything standard but added AppleCare and a mini Display Port to DVI adapter. Hopefully it will be here before Christmas.

Now, I'm thinking I want to try and sell my old MacBook on eBay. I figure I ought to be able to get $400 - $500 for it based on similar auctions.
It's a late 2006 model, 2.0 Ghz C2D, 2 GB Ram, and has pretty new battery installed.
I will probably just swap out the two drives and sell this with the 250 GB that comes in my MBP. I guess I can include the Snow Leopard and iLife '11 discs I purchased myself. I still have all my original DVDs too as well as the MacBook packaging.
 
BulkHedd said:
I would love to but I use my MacBook as my primary computer with all my music, photos and videos on it. I would have to either get a ludicrously priced large SSD or an expensive smaller one and keep most of my stuff on an external drive.
Click to expand...

A lot of guys get a kit from OWC to turn that ancient CD thingamabobber into a bay which has a second hard drive and use a SSD for their boot records, apps and most critical data and a HDD for other things. I only use my 13 inch MBP and I use my 120 gig SSD but I am an oddball user as right now I am using 69.87GB exactly so I don't use a lot of space. The 256 gig SSD has really come down in price.

Look at it this way. Save the $300 from the nominal processor upgrade, and purchase a Mercury Extreme Pro and optical HDD kit from OWC (bout the same price)...it is literally going from night to day and will have a gazillion times more impact than an expensive and nominal processor upgrade. Then you can even have a bootable record on two hard drives in your laptop so even if you are on the go and have issue with one, you can simply boot right off of the other which gives you unparalleled protection.
 
Well I got my new MacBook Pro today. It's very nice! I swapped out the HDs and most everything seems to be working fine.
When I power it on it seems to stay on the white screen a bit longer than I'm used to (before the gray Apple logo comes on). Maybe it's my imagination.
Also, my wireless mouse isn't working very well. It's a Logitech VX Nano and I'm thinking that, since I'm right-handed, the aluminum MacBook body is interfering with the radio signal. I like to sit on my couch with the MacBook in my lap and use the mouse on the couch beside me. It worked great with my plastic MacBook but now it seems that if I don't have the mouse right next to me it's sporadic and that's not a good thing to happen while playing a game.

Any thoughts?
 
BulkHedd said:
When I power it on it seems to stay on the white screen a bit longer than I'm used to (before the gray Apple logo comes on). Maybe it's my imagination.
Also, my wireless mouse isn't working very well. It's a Logitech VX Nano and I'm thinking that, since I'm right-handed, the aluminum MacBook body is interfering with the radio signal. I like to sit on my couch with the MacBook in my lap and use the mouse on the couch beside me.

Any thoughts?
Click to expand...

It's definitely not the position of the mouse - I need to be a room away before I lose my MBP bluetooth signal on my trackpad and keyboard. Try removing the mouse and then setting it up again from scratch - blue tooth is On right? Also, try running 'repair permissions' in the System Utility - can hurt and can only help
 
Vantage Point said:
It's definitely not the position of the mouse - I need to be a room away before I lose my MBP bluetooth signal on my trackpad and keyboard. Try removing the mouse and then setting it up again from scratch - blue tooth is On right? Also, try running 'repair permissions' in the System Utility - can hurt and can only help
Click to expand...

It's not a Bluetooth mouse. It uses a tiny USB receiver which is on the left side of the MBP. Therefore, the aluminum body is directly between the mouse and the receiver.
 
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