Smart Mac Geeks help, please! Does this mean that if I buy a new Macbook Pro I'll be able to upgrade to a Merom sometime later? Or is this very much uncertain? I'm trying to convince my girlfriend that we should get a new laptop.
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- Thread starter aminadab
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No, Macbook Pro's used a soldered CPU which means that they can't be upgraded. Only socketed CPU's can be upgraded.aminadab said:
The processor on the MacBook Pro is soldered in (or glued down, or something of that nature). This means that you CAN'T upgrade it later.aminadab said:
But if you want, get the iMac Core Duo. It's basically the same thing as the MacBook Pro, but $700 cheaper. In the iMac, too, you can upgrade the processor as it's not soldered in.
Edit: DeathChill beat me!
Other notebooks (or at least other reasonably sized notebooks) solder the chip in also.
I don't think that has anything to do with "strong arm tactics" or else apple would have soddered the chips into the iMac and mac mini also.
I'm pretty sure it has to do with the thickness and weight of the components used in the socket. Holding the chip to the board with solder takes up very little space compared to the physical mechanism used in the socketed method. The MBP, let alone any laptop short of those gigantic dells, would be significantly thicker with a socketed CPU.
I've heard that theoretically you could solder a new chip into a MBP. I've also heard that unless you're a robot you have little chance of doing so without ruining the chip and the mobo. If you really are that interested in the benefits of Merom then wait. It should only be a few months. Otherwise buy now and enjoy it.
I don't think that has anything to do with "strong arm tactics" or else apple would have soddered the chips into the iMac and mac mini also.
I'm pretty sure it has to do with the thickness and weight of the components used in the socket. Holding the chip to the board with solder takes up very little space compared to the physical mechanism used in the socketed method. The MBP, let alone any laptop short of those gigantic dells, would be significantly thicker with a socketed CPU.
I've heard that theoretically you could solder a new chip into a MBP. I've also heard that unless you're a robot you have little chance of doing so without ruining the chip and the mobo. If you really are that interested in the benefits of Merom then wait. It should only be a few months. Otherwise buy now and enjoy it.
panoz7 said:
There is such a thing as solder re-flow for soldering very fine pitch components. You don't have to be a robot, but it involves baking the components in question in a convection oven...I don't see anybody with an MBP going that far.
dr_lha said:"Strong arm tactics"
Could it be because they had to make the laptop 1" thick, and sticking a ZIF socket in there wouldn't have worked?
Hmm.. considering they took out the DL DVD burner as well, probably cost cutting measures make more sense!
Even at $1 a machine they saved at least $400,000!
The story I heard is they couldn't get a DL drive as thin as they wanted. You could say it was penny pinching but given the amount of **** Apple have taken over the lack of a DL drive in the MBP's I doubt it's a decision they took lightlygenerik said:
generik said:
They also took that out for the sake of thickness...DL burners in the necessary form factor aren't coming out until the fall IIRC.