I have a 15" MacBook Pro Core Duo 2GHz which started life in 2006 I think. At present it has 1GB RAM inside and Mactracker says it can take up to 2GB. Years ago there used to be these limits to RAM which were not carved in stone when new RAM sticks came out. Is this 2GB limit the absolute or can I go higher? There are two slots and one has a 1GB stick in it.

While I'm at it, how easy is it to put in a bigger HD, the one at the moment is 100GB? Will it make a difference to how much heat this thing puts out which is quite a lot?

Paul

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2 gigs is it.

Not that easy to add a drive, but doable. A nice 500 gig 7200 RPM drive wont run any hotter, but will give a big speed boost.

[eshop.macsales.com]

if 100 gigs is more than enough a SSD might be in your future. Theres been a couple of discussions about it here recently, maybe a STF for "SSD" will help.

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Edited 999 time(s). Last edit at 12:08PM by jdc.

[www.everymac.com]

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Thank you, I have ordered a 1GB stick to get the maximum and will pass for the moment on replacing the HD.

I was wondering about replacing the MBP with a refurb MB or whether to give the MBP a late Christmas present. I decided on the latter so I'm maxing the RAM, getting a new battery, ordered Snow Leopard and iLife 11. When it has all arrived I will wipe the HD and start with an empty HD and a new system, it will be interesting to see if I notice the expected speed increase.

Paul

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I think you'll notice a little bit on start-up because less scratch disk will be required (what's in it now - if you only ordered ONE stick of RAM? Isn't there a pair of 512s? So you're only going to 1.5GB?)

If that's the case, I wouldn't expect much - except for easier use of a few apps that would prefer RAM vs using virtual memory from a 5400rpm HD.

Still... any amount is good. I'd do it. If I could find a cheap 512 stick of PC-100 (SO-DIMM) or a pair, I'd
put them in my Pismo, because it runs better than my Mini does! Figure that one out!

And the mini is a G4/1.42 with 1GB vs a G3/400 with 512MB!

Im pretty sure those actually shipped with a single chip.

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Edited 999 time(s). Last edit at 12:08PM by jdc.

OK... got it. Just didn't catch it on first read.

I have that machine.

I wouldn't expect a big speed bump. You probably already lived within the 1 GB limit (maybe running 10.4?), and closed apps when not in use.

The extra RAM will help keeping Safari from dragging the whole machine down, etc.

OS 10.6 is good in that it is a good backdrop for future upgrades. And let you add the Mac App store, and sync iPads and other iOS devices.

Replacing the HD with an SSD WILL make that machine quicker.