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Just bought my first Mac! Need upgrade advise

S

StarsFan4Life

Golden Member
I purchased my first MacBook Pro yesterday and am stoked. I haven't opened the box just yet, but wanted to upgrade the ram and HD before I do. Currently, it has the following specs:

2.3GHz dual-core
Intel Core i5
4GB 1333MHz
320GB 5400-rpm1
Intel HD Graphics 3000

Now, I would like to upgrade the ram to 8GB and the HD to a 750gb (non SSD) 7200rpm. Like a PC, can I use any brand of ram (but specific to the speed for the laptop) and hard drive or are there only certain ones I can use? I will upgrade myself as I do not want to pay Apple the amount they want for the upgrade.

Any help or links to what we know actually works in these machines will be very helpful!
 
For the hard drive you can pretty much get any hard drive. I have only ever had compatibility issues between older MBPs and SSDs, but never rotational hard drives.

As for RAM, YMMV. There has been reported compatibility issues between some MBPs and some brand of RAM. Some people have had issues with Corsair, but personally I have never had an issue using Corsair and I have it in 2 of my MBPs. You can go with Crucial, Kingston or Corsair for your best bet in compatibility as far as my experience is concerned. Just grab a DDR3-1333 8GB kit and be done with it, though if you're wary about it, some vendors like Kingston have kits designated as Mac-compatible but, for now, it looks like they're a generation behind (still 1066).

Also, congrats on your first mac. I love the aluminum unibody construction.
 
Also, I still haven't powered it up. If I power it up now, download OSX Lion and install it now, but them upgrade my HD to a 750GB and have to reinstall the OS, can I still get OSX Lion free?
 
StarsFan4Life said:
Also, I still haven't powered it up. If I power it up now, download OSX Lion and install it now, but them upgrade my HD to a 750GB and have to reinstall the OS, can I still get OSX Lion free?
Click to expand...

Save the installer to a USB drive?


StarsFan4Life said:
Will this one work?

http://www.crucial.com/store/partspe...kit51264bc1339
Click to expand...

On that site you can specify which type of Mac you have. I put in the i5 MacBook Pro and it said it is not compatible (the one you linked to). However, you can then search for compatible models and this is what showed up:

http://www.crucial.com/store/mpartspecs.aspx?mtbpoid=6979882CA5CA7304

It says "Guaranteed-compatible with the Apple MacBook Pro 2.3GHz Intel Core i5".
 
Last edited:
Why don't you use the Macbook Pro completely stock for a few weeks to make sure there is no manufacturing defect that might need to be fixed under warranty?

Plus, if you use it as you intend to use it from day to day, you can add comments on what you feel is deficient or missing or needs to be improved and others can give more targeted recommendations.

Maybe 4 GB RAM is plenty and you only eventually need to upgrade hard drive capacity?
 
spend your cash on SSD first. trust me - it will be the best bang for buck.

and yes until you are satisfied with the build quality - just wait it out. like a new car - wait a few months before modding to get the quirks out.
 
StarsFan4Life said:
Also, I still haven't powered it up. If I power it up now, download OSX Lion and install it now, but them upgrade my HD to a 750GB and have to reinstall the OS, can I still get OSX Lion free?
Click to expand...

Once you download Lion for the first time it will be tied to your iTunes account. Then you can redownload it as many times as you need, and on (I think) up to 5 systems, though that might just be the limit to the number of systems that you can authorize with your credentials.
 
I have 8GB and I would never go back. Trust me you will need it. 32 days uptime with not one slowdown. However use it first before upgrading.
 
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