Macbook Lifespan

lee_baby_simms

I bought the entry level 13.3" macbook in NYC late last year in a move to de-Microsoftise my life a little.

I'm 100% sold on it and while i'm only really using it for internet - word processing - music, its getting a ton of use and still running as good as the day i bought it.

I only have a gig of RAM so i suppose i'll upgrade that over the next year or so. Is memory from the Apple Store the only way to go? I have applecare too.

Being new to Macs what i'm really wondering is how many years good performance should i expect to get from it?

Cheers.

heggie

dont buy any memory from apple, use crucial.com instead

Mooch

heggie wrote: »

dont buy any memory from apple, use crucial.com instead

Agreed. I was in an official Apple Store and even the staff there recommended that I purchase RAM from the internet!!
I used crucial.com and was very happy with the purchase. Your user manual should contain a guide to show you how to install it.

lee_baby_simms

Mooch wrote: »

Agreed. I was in an official Apple Store and even the staff there recommended that I purchase RAM from the internet!!
I used crucial.com and was very happy with the purchase. Your user manual should contain a guide to show you how to install it.

Thanks.

Wow - 4gb of RAM for €70. Is that too much memory?

Mooch

That, i'm not sure about. I went with what Crucial recommended for my laptop. It depends on your system and how many slots you have for RAM. I know I'm maxed out at at 1.25Gb, but then I have an ibook. I can't imagine 4Gb!

lee_baby_simms

Mooch wrote: »

That, i'm not sure about. I went with what Crucial recommended for my laptop. It depends on your system and how many slots you have for RAM. I know I'm maxed out at at 1.25Gb, but then I have an ibook. I can't imagine 4Gb!

I selected my model no and 2x2gb is the max. I don't think i'd ever use half of that!

big_moe

i have a macbook as well with 2gb of ram and its grand. i do a fair bit of photoshop and video conversions and it still runs well while doing that.

got with the 2gb of ram for your uses i'd say



....although for 70 quid like... ya know... not a huge amount of money!

adam

cornbb

I got 4gb from Crucial for my MBP and thought 70 quid was a great price (although it had been years since I'd bought memory )

4gb sounds like a lot but 2gb wasn't enough for smoothly running Xcode and Visual Studio in Windows/Parallels along with Firefox, iTunes and all those other bits and bobs. Well worth the upgrade if you're doing any RAM-intensive work.

Hugh_C

lee_baby_simms wrote: »

I selected my model no and 2x2gb is the max. I don't think i'd ever use half of that!

I think your macbook will have maximum benefit from 3GB - that's what I have.

I'd expect 3 years+ of constant use out of a macbook. whether you'd want it for that long is another matter entirely...

leeroybrown

Hugh_C wrote: »

I think your macbook will have maximum benefit from 3GB - that's what I have.

If the OP bought it in November or December last year it'll most likely have a 'Santa Rosa' chipset. They can use 4GB of RAM.

Hugh_C

leeroybrown wrote: »

If the OP bought it in November or December last year it'll most likely have a 'Santa Rosa' chipset. They can use 4GB of RAM.

ah, ok I stand corrected.

Breezer

Hugh_C wrote: »

I'd expect 3 years+ of constant use out of a macbook. whether you'd want it for that long is another matter entirely...

No one really knows how long a MacBook will last because they only appeared in 2006. So basically we know they last two years But I can tell you I have one of the original 1.83Ghz Core Duo models and it's still going strong. May need a new battery soonish but that's to be expected and more down to packed college timetables and the fact that I have nowhere to plug it in in lectures.

And as others have said, go with what Crucial recommends for your system. Don't overload it, there's no point. Buy the RAM now if you think you'll want it, rumour has it prices are going back up. Don't ask me where I heard this, I can't remember exactly, but it was Macworld or some other usually trustworthy source.

lee_baby_simms

leeroybrown wrote: »

If the OP bought it in November or December last year it'll most likely have a 'Santa Rosa' chipset. They can use 4GB of RAM.

This is from my reciept:

MacBook 13.3/2.0/2X512/80/combo - White
Part Number: MB061LL/B

leeroybrown

The 'MB061LL/B' is the newer version with the Santa Rosa chipset.

Type 17

If you are going to be doing anything with photos, Photoshop, Aperture, Windows inside Parallels, video, or Garageband or other music composing stuff, get the 4GB.

As Leopard gets updated, you will likely need a bit more RAM too, and prices have never been cheaper - Even if you think that it's too much memory now, you won't in a year or so - this has been true in all the Macs that I've ever bought extra memory for...

PS: Crucial.com has best pricing and really fast delivery (even to Ireland!) I've used them three or four times since last autumn, for myself and friends and family, with perfect results every time.