Hi, I'm going to purchase a mbp. I want the 7200 rpm harddisk, but I don't want to wait four weeks for it. So, my question is: does the mbp have an user replacable harddisk?(I red somewhere that replacing the harddisk will void your warranty)And if so, is it possible to put a harddisk of 7200 rpm in it? Must it be from a specific brand?
Hmmm, The Care Protection Plan isn't that cheap. Is it worth the money?
Regards,
Mathijs.(netherlands :P )
Have a look at the instructions here: https://eshop.macsales.com/tech_center/installation.cfm and see if you feel up to the process. Those instructions are for the previous model and there's no telling if stuff is still the same but at least you'll get an idea of the level of difficulty.
For what it's worth, I've changed both the hdd and the DVD-RW in my 12" PowerBook (in other words, about as cramped as they come in terms of squishing a lot of components into a very small space) and didn't have any problems, in spite of having to keep track of a bajillion tiny screws. If you have instruction to tell you what to do, in what order, everything opens up rather nicely. Granted, mine was far from brand new and didn't have any warranty to void, so I'd be a bit more nervous in your case.
Basically, you can do anything that you want. The waranty policy on installing memory in the previous MacBook Pro's is
Abster, Mathijs was asking about replacing the Hard Drive. Hard Drive does not equal memory. "Memory" is RAM.
I'm not sure whether Apple class the HDD as "user replaceable". Obviously, in the MacBook, the HDD is user replaceable, but in the MacBook Pro, I think it's probably not. I wouldn't be surprised if replacing the HDD in the MBP voids your warranty.
As for AppleCare, third parties (such as insurance companies) offer policies which are generally cheaper than AppleCare and cover the same stuff. (i.e., instead of paying Apple, you buy insurance against your computer going wrong over the next three years. If it does break, you pay for the repair and claim back on the insurance policy. AppleCare is only worth it if you want the telephone support as well.
cheeky f*ckers...they've wacked in two 1Gb Ram modules rather than one 2Gb module. so any upgrade to 4Gb will mean ditching those 1Gb's...great. bit of a waste huh.
At the moment 1x 2BG is much more expensive than 2x 1GB because the former uses newer generation chips. Apple might in the future offer a 1x 2GB option for an additional $100 or $200 or so. I believe there are precedents for this.
Abster, Mathijs was asking about replacing the Hard Drive. Hard Drive does not equal memory. "Memory" is RAM.
Like I didnt know. I ONLY USED IT AS A REFERENCE. THE ONLY COMMENT IN THE MANUAL REFERS TO MEMORY.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr. H
I'm not sure whether Apple class the HDD as "user replaceable". Obvious, in the MacBook, the HDD is user replaceable, but in the MacBook Pro, I think it's probably not. I wouldn't be surprised if replacing the HDD in the MBP voids your warranty.
I am not sure either. But based on Apples new warrenty policy, I would think that it is all right as long as it is an Apple approved brand and NO damage of any kind is visible. As some do, take out anything that you exchanged and put back the original hardware before the Apple tech sees it. By the way, I prefer Apple's approved brands simply because they have been pretested and it is guaranteed to fit.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr. H
As for Apple Care, third parties (such as insurance companies) offer policies which are generally cheaper than Apple Care and cover the same stuff. (i.e., instead of paying Apple, you buy insurance against your computer going wrong over the next three years. If it does break, you pay for the repair and claim back on the insurance policy. Apple Care is only worth it if you want the telephone support as well.
Love Apple support and nothing is faster/easier/better if a machine has to go back.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr. H
P.S. the plural of MacBook Pro is MacBook Pros
Thank you for the headsup. Didn't proof read before I submitted my response.
Im going to purchase a Macbook Pro either the low or high end 15".
First question,
Is the 128MB SDram vs the 256MB SDram for the graphics card worth the 500 doller difference if im going to use a External moniter for my laptop?
Personally I do not think that the 200mhz differnece between the 2.2ghz and the 2.4ghz is worth the 500 doller increase but I am still wondering about the Video Card.
Also has there been any new tests ran comparing the 5400rpm HD vs the 7200rpm HD?
People opionions seem to be spilt on that 50% say it makes a huge differnece in every day use 50% say only if your doing large amounts of date. Im trying to figure out if its worth waiting the 4-6 weeks.
Regarding AppleCare on this MBP, it's $240 with the ed. discount. Could I wait, and only buy AppleCare if I have a problem? I can buy the extended warranty anytime within 3 years of purchase right? I could then potentially buy AppleCare sometime in year two, and then send my computer in for problems a few days later?
AppleCare needs to be added to your computer within the first year of its life. If you wait longer than that the computer will then be out of warranty and no longer be eligible.
I get AppleCare for all my Macs, and religiously for my Powerbooks/MBP
AppleCare needs to be added to your computer within the first year of its life. If you wait longer than that the computer will then be out of warranty and no longer be eligible.
I do like that system, particularly that I'm not expected to buy it at device purchase. I usually wait until month 10 or 11. If I lose or damage the device before the year is up, then AppleCare would have been a pointless purchase. I haven't damaged anything yet, but I have lost a 1st gen 4GB nano.
You're the market that is going to upgrade. You have an older machine and you want to go to Intel. Good decision, IMO.
Well, the PowerTroopers are definately getting more extinct. I'm still using my 12" PowerBook which I purchased in Summer 2005. I'm still looking sexy with my tiny heavyweight
January 2008 (Macworld) is gonna be an ideal moment to jump ship as Leopard is gonna be pre-installed in the sleek new 15" hardware enclosure. I do hope the RAM prices are gonna be more sensible by then; 750$ to double your RAM is just plain silly. It's the price of a beefy Mini.
Does someone know when the Nehalem Intel chip is gonna find its way into the Mac?
Apple's Higher-Education deal in the UK is excellent: not only are there steep discounts on hardware prices (with no limit on the number of purchases you are allowed to make), they also include 3 year warranties as standard (not full AppleCare; phone support (such as "help, I can't get iMovie to import from my camera, what's going on?") is not included).
Does someone know when the Nehalem Intel chip is gonna find its way into the Mac?
Last summer, everyone was freaking out about this Santa Rosa stuff that was just on the horizon, with an on-board flash cache and maybe even a flash HD!!! OMG, that would be SOOO FAST!!!!11!
But, alas, one year later the SR comes out (only to macbook pro), and it's a little less special than we all thought it would be. I'm glad I didn't need a laptop this past year, but if I had bought then I don't think i'd be too sad now. If you need one, upgrade now. Nehalem is miles away.
Apple's Higher-Education deal in the UK is excellent: not only are there steep discounts on hardware prices (with no limit on the number of purchases you are allowed to make), they also include 3 year warranties as standard (not full AppleCare; phone support (such as "help, I can't get iMovie to import from my camera, what's going on?") is not included).
I wish I could get that deal. I'm not an idiot, I don't need phone support. But I don't want my computer to break either
Does someone know when the Nehalem Intel chip is gonna find its way into the Mac?
Nehalem is a fair way off. It is the next major micro-architechture revamp, Penryn is going to come first.
Penryn will be a die-shrink (from 65 nm to 45 nm) of Merom (the current processors), and will add SSE4 instructions. They'll also be manufactured on new "Hi-K" silicon. Overall, Penryn should be an impressive upgrade and I'm expecting to see portable versions sometime in January - March next year. I'd expect to see Nehalem in portables at the end of 2008/beginning of 2009.
Regarding AppleCare on this MBP, it's $240 with the ed. discount. Could I wait, and only buy AppleCare if I have a problem? I can buy the extended warranty anytime within 3 years of purchase right? I could then potentially buy AppleCare sometime in year two, and then send my computer in for problems a few days later?
Absolutely, you can wait up to one year of the limited warranty. Apple doesn't really care. Remember that if you purchase AppleCare, the service and support only extends the 90 day telephone and 1 year warrantee to three years from the day you purchased your Mac. Not the day that you bought AppleCare.
My take: if you are carrying your laptop around a lot, you might want to go for the AppleCare from the start. Mine is the backbone of my e-business. Wouln't have it any other way. Only time I ever had my AppleCare plans used was on a Powerbook I gave my sister-in-law. She was estatic when the DVD went bust. On the other hand, none of the desktops have the extended care. Any problems there are usually found in the first 30 days, or a hard drive just gets worn out.
I've had 5 Powerbooks since my first (PB170) and I got AppleCare for every one. In fact, I've NEEDED it for every one, from stuff like the screen shattering twice on my 170, my 3400 getting dropped by some twerp, and a variety of other things happening to my TiBooks and AlBook while unattended.
Either way, I lug around a laptop every day - apart from my music, it's also my email/contacts lifeline while I'm in recording/mixing sessions. Life without one is pretty difficult, so AppleCare helps keep things afloat. That and an iPhone, but that's another story
I got my 15" 2.4ghz MBP last night. The screen is considerably brighter over my first gen 17" MBP. So far so good. Using CS3, epecially Photoshop, renders much quicker. Never got the spinning wheel.
Absolutely, you can wait up to one year of the limited warranty. Apple doesn't really care. Remember that if you purchase AppleCare, the service and support only extends the 90 day telephone and 1 year warrantee to three years from the day you purchased your Mac. Not the day that you bought AppleCare.
Applecare is great to portables. A must have.
I can't believe how the apple portable has changed since 2005. Especially with the new LED screen. I am suddenly feeling very unhealthy now with my toxic 12" screen
Thank you mr H! The Penryn Mac does look very promising! Isn't Santa Rosa dramatically reducing the booting time as it was supposed to?! What happened to the Flash memory story?
Well this is a much better revision of the machine than the MacBook update of a few weeks ago. Much Much Much better in fact.
As far as speeds go there is more to it than the clocks. How well Santa Rosa will support the chip sets is yet to be seen, but there is a lot of room for optimism. It will be interesting to see how these Pro's test out.
Personally I see lots of reasons to put money down for this machine relative to Apples Mac book. The problem is it will have significant competition from much lower cost machines. All in all though I like it, atleast based on info I've looked at so far.
Dave
1. Please, please...someone else notice that it's "Pros" not "pro's" AHHHHHHHHHH
2. Obviously it's better machine the the MB. It's the same market segment. And I would agree it's a marginally better update.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr. H
Counter-intuitive? Um, no. Unless you are assuming that higher-capacity = more platters.
In the case where capacity is increased by adding platters, said HDDs are not faster.
However, let's think about a dual-platter 100 GB drive, and a dual-platter 160 GB drive, both of the same RPM. Each platter in the 100 GB drive contains 50 GB, and each platter in the 160 GB drive contains 80 GB. However, the platters are physically the same size. So 1 byte of data on the 160 GB drive takes up physically less room than 1 byte of data on the 100 GB drive. This means that moving the reading/writing mechanism a fixed distance covers more data in the 160 GB drive and the throughput is therefore higher than that of the 100 GB drive.
From a technical standpoint, that's interesting and good point. In reality, my guess it makes little to no difference, especially if you're sifting through a FULL 200GB drive versus a full 100GB drive of a higher RPM.
Quote:
Originally Posted by meelash
You certainly didn't search very thoroughly.
It's actually intuitive, since the rpm rating is not a data throughput rating, it is an actual physical speed at which the hd spins. So if one revolution of the harddrive platter contains more data, than that means that each revolution will read more data so, for a given number of revolutions per minute, more data will be read per minute.
See above.
Quote:
Originally Posted by system6
In my experience, I've found that a faster hard disk has a major effect on the overall snappiness of the system. Unless something is seriously lacking in another area, this is the best upgrade you can make. It's much more noticeable than a CPU speed increment, for both mundane and disk-intensive tasks. As far as power consumption goes, Seagate's documentation for the Momentus 5400.3 and 7200.2 both specify 0.8W idle.
Agreed.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mr O
Well, the PowerTroopers are definately getting more extinct. I'm still using my 12" PowerBook which I purchased in Summer 2005. I'm still looking sexy with my tiny heavyweight
January 2008 (Macworld) is gonna be an ideal moment to jump ship as Leopard is gonna be pre-installed in the sleek new 15" hardware enclosure. I do hope the RAM prices are gonna be more sensible by then; 750$ to double your RAM is just plain silly. It's the price of a beefy Mini.
Does someone know when the Nehalem Intel chip is gonna find its way into the Mac?
Next January would be a good bet on another refresh. I would consider upgrading then. I would want to see faster clock speeds, more RAM, bigger and faster hard drives, the LED screen of course and the kicker: A Blu-ray ripper. I will not buy another Mac notebook until it has that.
Comments
Hi, I'm going to purchase a mbp. I want the 7200 rpm harddisk, but I don't want to wait four weeks for it. So, my question is: does the mbp have an user replacable harddisk?(I red somewhere that replacing the harddisk will void your warranty)And if so, is it possible to put a harddisk of 7200 rpm in it? Must it be from a specific brand?
Hmmm, The Care Protection Plan isn't that cheap. Is it worth the money?
Regards,
Mathijs.(netherlands :P )
Have a look at the instructions here: https://eshop.macsales.com/tech_center/installation.cfm and see if you feel up to the process. Those instructions are for the previous model and there's no telling if stuff is still the same but at least you'll get an idea of the level of difficulty.
For what it's worth, I've changed both the hdd and the DVD-RW in my 12" PowerBook (in other words, about as cramped as they come in terms of squishing a lot of components into a very small space) and didn't have any problems, in spite of having to keep track of a bajillion tiny screws. If you have instruction to tell you what to do, in what order, everything opens up rather nicely. Granted, mine was far from brand new and didn't have any warranty to void, so I'd be a bit more nervous in your case.
Basically, you can do anything that you want. The waranty policy on installing memory in the previous MacBook Pro's is
Abster, Mathijs was asking about replacing the Hard Drive. Hard Drive does not equal memory. "Memory" is RAM.
I'm not sure whether Apple class the HDD as "user replaceable". Obviously, in the MacBook, the HDD is user replaceable, but in the MacBook Pro, I think it's probably not. I wouldn't be surprised if replacing the HDD in the MBP voids your warranty.
As for AppleCare, third parties (such as insurance companies) offer policies which are generally cheaper than AppleCare and cover the same stuff. (i.e., instead of paying Apple, you buy insurance against your computer going wrong over the next three years. If it does break, you pay for the repair and claim back on the insurance policy. AppleCare is only worth it if you want the telephone support as well.
P.S. the plural of MacBook Pro is MacBook Pros
cheeky f*ckers...they've wacked in two 1Gb Ram modules rather than one 2Gb module. so any upgrade to 4Gb will mean ditching those 1Gb's...great. bit of a waste huh.
At the moment 1x 2BG is much more expensive than 2x 1GB because the former uses newer generation chips. Apple might in the future offer a 1x 2GB option for an additional $100 or $200 or so. I believe there are precedents for this.
Abster, Mathijs was asking about replacing the Hard Drive. Hard Drive does not equal memory. "Memory" is RAM.
Like I didnt know. I ONLY USED IT AS A REFERENCE. THE ONLY COMMENT IN THE MANUAL REFERS TO MEMORY.
I'm not sure whether Apple class the HDD as "user replaceable". Obvious, in the MacBook, the HDD is user replaceable, but in the MacBook Pro, I think it's probably not. I wouldn't be surprised if replacing the HDD in the MBP voids your warranty.
I am not sure either. But based on Apples new warrenty policy, I would think that it is all right as long as it is an Apple approved brand and NO damage of any kind is visible. As some do, take out anything that you exchanged and put back the original hardware before the Apple tech sees it. By the way, I prefer Apple's approved brands simply because they have been pretested and it is guaranteed to fit.
As for Apple Care, third parties (such as insurance companies) offer policies which are generally cheaper than Apple Care and cover the same stuff. (i.e., instead of paying Apple, you buy insurance against your computer going wrong over the next three years. If it does break, you pay for the repair and claim back on the insurance policy. Apple Care is only worth it if you want the telephone support as well.
Love Apple support and nothing is faster/easier/better if a machine has to go back.
P.S. the plural of MacBook Pro is MacBook Pros
Thank you for the headsup. Didn't proof read before I submitted my response.
P.S/. It is AppleCare, one word, two caps.
First question,
Is the 128MB SDram vs the 256MB SDram for the graphics card worth the 500 doller difference if im going to use a External moniter for my laptop?
Personally I do not think that the 200mhz differnece between the 2.2ghz and the 2.4ghz is worth the 500 doller increase but I am still wondering about the Video Card.
Also has there been any new tests ran comparing the 5400rpm HD vs the 7200rpm HD?
People opionions seem to be spilt on that 50% say it makes a huge differnece in every day use 50% say only if your doing large amounts of date. Im trying to figure out if its worth waiting the 4-6 weeks.
I get AppleCare for all my Macs, and religiously for my Powerbooks/MBP
AppleCare needs to be added to your computer within the first year of its life. If you wait longer than that the computer will then be out of warranty and no longer be eligible.
I do like that system, particularly that I'm not expected to buy it at device purchase. I usually wait until month 10 or 11. If I lose or damage the device before the year is up, then AppleCare would have been a pointless purchase. I haven't damaged anything yet, but I have lost a 1st gen 4GB nano.
You're the market that is going to upgrade. You have an older machine and you want to go to Intel. Good decision, IMO.
Well, the PowerTroopers are definately getting more extinct. I'm still using my 12" PowerBook which I purchased in Summer 2005. I'm still looking sexy with my tiny heavyweight
January 2008 (Macworld) is gonna be an ideal moment to jump ship as Leopard is gonna be pre-installed in the sleek new 15" hardware enclosure. I do hope the RAM prices are gonna be more sensible by then; 750$ to double your RAM is just plain silly. It's the price of a beefy Mini.
Does someone know when the Nehalem Intel chip is gonna find its way into the Mac?
It is AppleCare, one word, two caps.
Oops, it is indeed.
Apple's Higher-Education deal in the UK is excellent: not only are there steep discounts on hardware prices (with no limit on the number of purchases you are allowed to make), they also include 3 year warranties as standard (not full AppleCare; phone support (such as "help, I can't get iMovie to import from my camera, what's going on?") is not included).
Does someone know when the Nehalem Intel chip is gonna find its way into the Mac?
Last summer, everyone was freaking out about this Santa Rosa stuff that was just on the horizon, with an on-board flash cache and maybe even a flash HD!!! OMG, that would be SOOO FAST!!!!11!
But, alas, one year later the SR comes out (only to macbook pro), and it's a little less special than we all thought it would be. I'm glad I didn't need a laptop this past year, but if I had bought then I don't think i'd be too sad now. If you need one, upgrade now. Nehalem is miles away.
~Benny
Oops, it is indeed.
Apple's Higher-Education deal in the UK is excellent: not only are there steep discounts on hardware prices (with no limit on the number of purchases you are allowed to make), they also include 3 year warranties as standard (not full AppleCare; phone support (such as "help, I can't get iMovie to import from my camera, what's going on?") is not included).
I wish I could get that deal. I'm not an idiot, I don't need phone support. But I don't want my computer to break either
Does someone know when the Nehalem Intel chip is gonna find its way into the Mac?
Nehalem is a fair way off. It is the next major micro-architechture revamp, Penryn is going to come first.
Penryn will be a die-shrink (from 65 nm to 45 nm) of Merom (the current processors), and will add SSE4 instructions. They'll also be manufactured on new "Hi-K" silicon. Overall, Penryn should be an impressive upgrade and I'm expecting to see portable versions sometime in January - March next year. I'd expect to see Nehalem in portables at the end of 2008/beginning of 2009.
Regarding AppleCare on this MBP, it's $240 with the ed. discount. Could I wait, and only buy AppleCare if I have a problem? I can buy the extended warranty anytime within 3 years of purchase right? I could then potentially buy AppleCare sometime in year two, and then send my computer in for problems a few days later?
Absolutely, you can wait up to one year of the limited warranty. Apple doesn't really care. Remember that if you purchase AppleCare, the service and support only extends the 90 day telephone and 1 year warrantee to three years from the day you purchased your Mac. Not the day that you bought AppleCare.
My take: if you are carrying your laptop around a lot, you might want to go for the AppleCare from the start. Mine is the backbone of my e-business. Wouln't have it any other way. Only time I ever had my AppleCare plans used was on a Powerbook I gave my sister-in-law. She was estatic when the DVD went bust. On the other hand, none of the desktops have the extended care. Any problems there are usually found in the first 30 days, or a hard drive just gets worn out.
Good luck.
Either way, I lug around a laptop every day - apart from my music, it's also my email/contacts lifeline while I'm in recording/mixing sessions. Life without one is pretty difficult, so AppleCare helps keep things afloat. That and an iPhone, but that's another story
Really looking forward to getting the MBP!
Absolutely, you can wait up to one year of the limited warranty. Apple doesn't really care. Remember that if you purchase AppleCare, the service and support only extends the 90 day telephone and 1 year warrantee to three years from the day you purchased your Mac. Not the day that you bought AppleCare.
Applecare is great to portables. A must have.
I can't believe how the apple portable has changed since 2005. Especially with the new LED screen. I am suddenly feeling very unhealthy now with my toxic 12" screen
Thank you mr H! The Penryn Mac does look very promising! Isn't Santa Rosa dramatically reducing the booting time as it was supposed to?! What happened to the Flash memory story?
Well this is a much better revision of the machine than the MacBook update of a few weeks ago. Much Much Much better in fact.
As far as speeds go there is more to it than the clocks. How well Santa Rosa will support the chip sets is yet to be seen, but there is a lot of room for optimism. It will be interesting to see how these Pro's test out.
Personally I see lots of reasons to put money down for this machine relative to Apples Mac book. The problem is it will have significant competition from much lower cost machines. All in all though I like it, atleast based on info I've looked at so far.
Dave
1. Please, please...someone else notice that it's "Pros" not "pro's" AHHHHHHHHHH
2. Obviously it's better machine the the MB. It's the same market segment. And I would agree it's a marginally better update.
Counter-intuitive? Um, no. Unless you are assuming that higher-capacity = more platters.
In the case where capacity is increased by adding platters, said HDDs are not faster.
However, let's think about a dual-platter 100 GB drive, and a dual-platter 160 GB drive, both of the same RPM. Each platter in the 100 GB drive contains 50 GB, and each platter in the 160 GB drive contains 80 GB. However, the platters are physically the same size. So 1 byte of data on the 160 GB drive takes up physically less room than 1 byte of data on the 100 GB drive. This means that moving the reading/writing mechanism a fixed distance covers more data in the 160 GB drive and the throughput is therefore higher than that of the 100 GB drive.
From a technical standpoint, that's interesting and good point. In reality, my guess it makes little to no difference, especially if you're sifting through a FULL 200GB drive versus a full 100GB drive of a higher RPM.
You certainly didn't search very thoroughly.
It's actually intuitive, since the rpm rating is not a data throughput rating, it is an actual physical speed at which the hd spins. So if one revolution of the harddrive platter contains more data, than that means that each revolution will read more data so, for a given number of revolutions per minute, more data will be read per minute.
See above.
In my experience, I've found that a faster hard disk has a major effect on the overall snappiness of the system. Unless something is seriously lacking in another area, this is the best upgrade you can make. It's much more noticeable than a CPU speed increment, for both mundane and disk-intensive tasks. As far as power consumption goes, Seagate's documentation for the Momentus 5400.3 and 7200.2 both specify 0.8W idle.
Agreed.
Well, the PowerTroopers are definately getting more extinct. I'm still using my 12" PowerBook which I purchased in Summer 2005. I'm still looking sexy with my tiny heavyweight
January 2008 (Macworld) is gonna be an ideal moment to jump ship as Leopard is gonna be pre-installed in the sleek new 15" hardware enclosure. I do hope the RAM prices are gonna be more sensible by then; 750$ to double your RAM is just plain silly. It's the price of a beefy Mini.
Does someone know when the Nehalem Intel chip is gonna find its way into the Mac?
Next January would be a good bet on another refresh. I would consider upgrading then. I would want to see faster clock speeds, more RAM, bigger and faster hard drives, the LED screen of course and the kicker: A Blu-ray ripper. I will not buy another Mac notebook until it has that.