Resolved How Customizable is the Macbook Pro?

[Slayergramp]

So I know the Retina macbook pro isn't at all, as everything is soldered in, but I'm wondering how much is changable in the regular Macbook Pro. I know you can change the Ram and the hard drive, but can you change the graphics card, and the processor, or anything else?

 

[bill-p]

Nope. Just RAM and hard drive.

And on the rMBP, the "hard drive" (custom SSD connector) can still be swapped out, but it'll void your warranty. But then... after your 1 year is up, or after AppleCare expires, it doesn't matter either way.

So RAM is the only real difference. And in any case, you can only install a max of 16GB in cMBP right now since there is no 32GB DDR3 upgrade option available. So I think people are blowing things way out of proportions when they say the rMBP is more limiting.

 

[Slayergramp]

Nope. Just RAM and hard drive.

And on the rMBP, the "hard drive" (custom SSD connector) can still be swapped out, but it'll void your warranty. But then... after your 1 year is up, or after AppleCare expires, it doesn't matter either way.

So RAM is the only real difference. And in any case, you can only install a max of 16GB in cMBP right now since there is no 32GB DDR3 upgrade option available. So I think people are blowing things way out of proportions when they say the rMBP is more limiting.

Wow, thank you for clarifying this. That helps a lot.

 

[Dark Void]

There are many things that can be swapped out, but the user-serviceable parts are the RAM and HDD.

You could also change the battery, optical drive, etc yourself but they are not considered user-serviceable.

 

[dusk007]

So RAM is the only real difference. And in any case, you can only install a max of 16GB in cMBP right now since there is no 32GB DDR3 upgrade option available. So I think people are blowing things way out of proportions when they say the rMBP is more limiting.

Now but in a year there will be dimms big enough to upgrade to 32GB. The benefits of upgrading RAM ist that it gets cheaper all the time.
You buy 8GB now. Upgrade to 16GB when it is 50 bucks and later even 32GB is possible as Ivy Bridge supports it.
It used to be more of a problem as today RAM is not in such dire need anymore. Owning a PC for 3+ years and you could quadruple the RAM for serious benefit.

 

[Textureboy]

Anyone here heard of thunderbolt powered graphics cards?


http://www.anandtech.com/show/5352/msis-gus-ii-external-gpu-via-thunderbolt


This will be amazing if it can be utilized in the future.

 

[bill-p]

Now but in a year there will be dimms big enough to upgrade to 32GB. The benefits of upgrading RAM ist that it gets cheaper all the time.
You buy 8GB now. Upgrade to 16GB when it is 50 bucks and later even 32GB is possible as Ivy Bridge supports it.
It used to be more of a problem as today RAM is not in such dire need anymore. Owning a PC for 3+ years and you could quadruple the RAM for serious benefit.

Well, that is... if you plan on getting stuck with the same PC for 3+ years.

I have found that many of us are on an upgrade cycle... and I'm sure that I'll upgrade my rMBP to something better in about 2 years. By then, I'll hopefully get a much better processor than what I have now (Haswell successor?) and I'll also get better graphics performance, both of which are more important than RAM or storage capacity down the line.

Or can you honestly say that your workflow will benefit with more than 16GB of RAM? I have run 16GB RAM for more than a whole year with my 2011 MBP 15", and my conclusion was that... it didn't really do much to my workflow. I never needed that much on a regular basis, and didn't really improve my performance that much.

I agree that RAM is the limiting factor at some point... but... I just haven't seen it with either 8GB or 16GB.