Upgrading the Macbook Pro A1286

[Lucky13oz]

Hello I am new to the forums and also a new Mac owner. I purchased the A1286 its the 15.4 inch screen with 250GB hard drive and 2.53Ghz Duo. It only has the 9400M Video card, which is the main reason for my post. When I purchased this Mac I was told that it also had the 9600 GT card installed, which I have come to learn was a Lie. I purchased it though best buy and doubt they will do anything about it. Can I upgrade/add the 9600 GT to my mainboard or is that just downright impossable. I would also know about upgrading the CPU. I am already upgrading the HDD to a Maxtor blue 500GB 7200rpm 16mb(I think those are the specs. I will be installing it next week, any info on that would also be greatly appriciated. All in All I am really happy with the machine. It took a couple days to get used to Snow leapord but love it now. I have Windows 7 installed on a seperate partition for mostly gaming. So the jist of it is "What all can be upgraded on this machine"

Thank you in advance for all your help and I look forward to checking this site out further!

 

[r.j.s]

The only thing that can be upgraded besides the HDD is the RAM. Everything else is soldered on.

 

[palmerc2]

yep, its impossible to upgrade GPU and CPU.

how do you know you don't have the 9600GT? Is it a Unibody? then chances are it DOES have both.

go to > system preferences > energy saver > then, I forget exactly where its at.....there should be a section that says "would you like better battery life?" or "would you like better performance?"

and if I am not mistaken, windows automatically boots into the 9600....

 

[r.j.s]

how do you know you don't have the 9600GT? Is it a Unibody? then chances are it DOES have both.

The 2.53 version of that revision only has the one GPU. It's the low-end machine.

 

[EndlessMac]

go to > system preferences > energy saver > then, I forget exactly where its at.....there should be a section that says "would you like better battery life?" or "would you like better performance?"

Another way to check is to go to , Apple This Mac, More Info, and then click on the Graphics/Display section. This will tell you exactly what card(s) you have and other details. The application that you are using to see all this information is the System Profiler so you can also go to it from your Utilities folder in your Application folder in Mac OS.

 

[Niiro13]

The 2.53 version of that revision only has the one GPU. It's the low-end machine.

Depends, tho. Best Buy isn't always quick to update something. The 2.53 Ghz late 2008 has the 9600M GT with Expresscard.

But yes, to the OP, if you have an expresscard slot on the left side of the MacBook Pro instead of an SD card slot, then do what palmerc2 said to change to the faster GPU. If not, then yes you were lied to.

 

[chill.]

The 2.53 version of that revision only has the one GPU. It's the low-end machine.

i'm 95% sure the low-end was 2.4 and high-end was 2.53. and either way, BOTH types had the 9400m and 9600m gt.

the OP is most likely mistaken

 

[r.j.s]

Yes, the late 2008 2.53 had both. But the model number the OP gives is for the mid-2008 model.

 

[chill.]

Yes, the late 2008 2.53 had both. But the model number the OP gives is for the mid-2008 model.

but he says that his is 2.53 ghz, 9400m... which all fit the late 2008 model

the early 2008 model only came in 2.4 and 2.5, which doesn't even fit his description

sorry about nitpicking.. anyway, the OP has to be wrong somewhere... just too many inconsistencies

edit: actually i think i am wrong, it could also be the current 2009 that doesn't have the 9600 card

 

[morrisericd]

You guys seem pretty knowledgeable so I'm going to hijack this...
I just purchased a A1286 15.4" 2.66 Macbook Pro instead of the new sealed battery one because it was $100 off. Buyer's remorse - should I spend the extra $100 and get the latest and greatest? Besides the money something about the non-replaceable battery never sat right with me but now I'm not so sure. I have an older G4 that the battery never really held it's charge after the first year.
Thanks