A few MBP hardware upgrading Q?

[bloodycape]

I am thinking about upgrading my MBP dvd drive to a DL model. What is the best model, for the best price? Is there any place that might have a trade up/in option that will give a discount/buy your old single layer model for a purchase of a new one? If not can I use the old single layer model into a ibook that only has a combo drive?

Other question I have is, I hear that Wireless N is faster and more reliable? Is this true? I ask this because I do heavy networking with other mac and windows pcs and speed counts. Now if this true, are there wireless N upgrade that is internal and not a express card slot based? Also, how would an N upgrade work will OSX automatically detect it, or do I have to do something to support it?
Thank you.

 

[RainCityMacFan]

I am thinking about upgrading my MBP dvd drive to a DL model. What is the best model, for the best price? Is there any place that might have a trade up/in option that will give a discount/buy your old single layer model for a purchase of a new one? If not can I use the old single layer model into a ibook that only has a combo drive?

Other question I have is, I hear that Wireless N is faster and more reliable? Is this true? I ask this because I do heavy networking with other mac and windows pcs and speed counts. Now if this true, are there wireless N upgrade that is internal and not a express card slot based? Also, how would an N upgrade work will OSX automatically detect it, or do I have to do something to support it?
Thank you.

About the wireless, I'm not an expert but is 802.11n still in it's draft?

I'm not sure about reliability since it still might be in testing but getting it anyways might make your computers future proof.

From Wikipedia, the speed increase is pretty incredible! It quadrupled compare to 802.11g

But as long as you have something like WPA/2 security I don't think many people are going to try and break in.

Also, to get wireless-n enabled on your computer you'll need to pay about 2$ to Apple and download this from their site. If you got the Airport Extreme Base station then the enabler is included w/ it so you don't need to download this.

 

[Jestered]

If your MBP is not a C2D then you cannot enable N on your computer. The 802.11n enabler program that you can buy for a couple $$ only works on MacBooks and MacBook Pros that are C2D.

 

[bloodycape]

Well what if I get a wireless N card? Are there any for the MBP? Is N faster and stabler?

What about the DL anyone know anything about that?

 

[DoFoT9]

for the N card, im not sure if you can update the internal. if you could find a N card for the express 54 slot that works with mac by all means go for it.

one problem with that tho: for N speeds to be acheived you HAVE to haev an N router. otherwise its just useless....

as for the DVD DL, i think that u have to use specific model, the DVD DL burners are extremely slim and so a specific model is needed. its some matshita kind of drive

 

[NJuul]

It is possible to upgrade to internal wireless card, if you are not afraid to open up your mac, and if you can find somewhere that they still sell the draft-n card. There is a guide here.

For the drive, find out which model is in the current line of mbp's, and buy that one. It's probably readily available.

However, maybe it would be easier (and a lot safer) to simply sell your older mbp and purchase a new one...

 

[DoFoT9]

It is possible to upgrade to internal wireless card, if you are not afraid to open up your mac, and if you can find somewhere that they still sell the draft-n card. There is a guide here.

For the drive, find out which model is in the current line of mbp's, and buy that one. It's probably readily available.

However, maybe it would be easier (and a lot safer) to simply sell your older mbp and purchase a new one...

a 3rd party n card would work with the mbp??? i wasnt aware of this lol. good news

 

[keenkreations]

I have done this upgrade. I have a 2.0 Ghz Core Duo (not C2D) and opened up the MBP. It is pretty easy, as long as you follow ifixit's guide to opening the laptop. Also, I bought the card from ebay. It was the Apple MacPro Wireless N card, rather than some 3rd party card. The instructions and info about the wireless N install is all here: http://www.hardmac.com/articles/71/page1/

I tried to get the card straight from the Apple store, but they were reluctant to sell me one. As with the DVD drive, good luck finding spare parts. I tried to do a quick search through ebay a few months ago, and i did not find anything.

Make sure if you do install the N card, you would have to enable it. Either buy the $2 software, or find it free somewhere on the net. You would either have to edit the software so you can run it on the CD hardware (it has a detection string to make sure that it is running on a C2D laptop) or run it using Pacifist.

Hope that this information is is useful to you.