About to drop 2K on MBP etc.... advice?

[3rdConstruction]

Does anyone know if going 16GB of non-Apple RAM would cause issues with the AppleCare warranty?

[muzines]

Does anyone know if going 16GB of non-Apple RAM would cause issues with the AppleCare warranty?

No it doesn't, as long as you don't of course damage anything when installing it. Third-party ram does not invalidate your warranty.

However, if you need to return the machine to Apple, most of us put the original ram back in, as it's one less thing for them to moan at you about...

[twotoedsloth]

Maybe I'm reading it wrong, but the apple website says " If you think you may need 16GB of memory in the future, it is important to upgrade at the time of purchase, because memory cannot be upgraded later in this model."

If you plan on upgrading you might want to be sure that you can actually upgrade the RAM.

[muzines]

Maybe I'm reading it wrong, but the apple website says " If you think you may need 16GB of memory in the future, it is important to upgrade at the time of purchase, because memory cannot be upgraded later in this model."

Retina MBP's cannot be upgraded - for space reasons the RAM is soldered directly to the motherboard.

For non-Retina MBP's, the RAM can be user-upgraded.

[John F]

Good stuff all, thanks. Is there much benefit of the 2.6ghz over the 2.3ghz - or is it not worth worrying about?

[ken long]

Good stuff all, thanks. Is there much benefit of the 2.6ghz over the 2.3ghz - or is it not worth worrying about?

Negligible.

[John F]

Great, thanks

[johnny h]

I'd seriously consider getting the regular 15 inch and not the retina one, much more upgradable/expandable and cheaper. Unless you really need to save the weight size the standard one just seems much more attractive feature-wise.

Also the time machine back-up is really expensive, unless you really need it to be basically the same as every NAS system then it would be far cheaper to a get a 2tb external drive and use that as a time machine back-up.

How is it expensive? Plug in an external hard drive and it just works .. thats it!

For size and weight the retina is much nicer. Personally I find my 17 inch too nice to work with to think of slimming down to at 15. I really hope they bring out a larger retina model eventually.

[John F]

Johnny - how do you find the retina for music applications?

[johnny h]

Johnny - how do you find the retina for music applications?

I haven't used it for music but it has very high performance levels on geekbench. The retina will feel much faster because of the SSD drive though. The processor I believe is the same as the standard 15 inch.

[John F]

You can specify SSDs in the non-retina models

[Bob Bickerton]

Yes, but only if you have shares in Apple

Bob

[John F]

Blimey the head scratching continues. I see Crucial supply SSDs also. Anyone installed a Crucial 512GB SSd drive.Some reports of their drives state that the Mac runs hotter..

[Bob Bickerton]

I have the 7500rpm hard disk and haven't had issues with speed. Yes,the SSD will be faster, but the question is whether this will make a significant difference to your work flow.

Early on you asked about Tme Capsule, I've recently started to use one and I think it's great. Really good to have backups done regardless of whether you're plugged in or not.

Bob

[Kaw-Liga]

SSDs are new things, improving vastly every year. If you buy a retina machine, you'll be stuck with an old SSD in six month's time. If you buy the regular macbook, you can buy a new SSD in, say two years, and it will be at least four times as fast and large and cheap as the one in the retina. Go for upgradable!

[johnny h]

SSDs are new things, improving vastly every year. If you buy a retina machine, you'll be stuck with an old SSD in six month's time. If you buy the regular macbook, you can buy a new SSD in, say two years, and it will be at least four times as fast and large and cheap as the one in the retina. Go for upgradable!

The retina ones aren't soldered in. Replacements will be available. The ram however is soldered in.

[Bossman]

The retina ones aren't soldered in. Replacements will be available...

but at what cost? expensive no doubt!

[Kaw-Liga]

I thought they were... Because, if you try to order one on apple, it says "Please note that the flash storage is built into the computer, so if you think you may need more storage capacity in the future, it is important to upgrade at the time of purchase."

If they aren't soldered in, however, it seems that it is a big and expensive operation to change the retina SSD, whereas 2.5" sata SSDs are easy to obtain and upgrade.

[Kaw-Liga]

Just for a comparison... my macbook came with a 120gb hdd and 1 gb ram when I bought it... six years later I have a 1000gb hdd and 4 gb of ram installed. The ram I bought four years ago.

[G-Doubleyou]

Also don't get time capsule, it's also a wireless router, you can get an external 2TB for less than $200.

[John F]

Ok. So i should buy a non-retina with minimal ram and basic hard-drive. Upgrade the ram via Crucial and the SSD......?

1) Buy a 512GB Crucial SSD Drive? Can more than 1 SSD drive be installed - i've read somewhere of owners with 2 ssd drives - that sounds good. Are they easy to install and wont invalidate warranty?

2) Will be using Logic and large sample libraries (some live gigging use / studio recording. If i have an external drive i guess the sample libraries can stay on there. Also just load the essentials for live use. SO a massive internal drive is'nt that important??

Thanks for all the comments

[Will_m]

How is it expensive? Plug in an external hard drive and it just works .. thats it!

The the 2tb time capsule is £250 for less than half that you can get any other 2tb NAS drive, or if you don need it to be a NAS then its cheaper still and will back-up faster as well.

1) Buy a 512GB Crucial SSD Drive? Can more than 1 SSD drive be installed - i've read somewhere of owners with 2 ssd drives - that sounds good. Are they easy to install and wont invalidate warranty?

2) Will be using Logic and large sample libraries (some live gigging use / studio recording. If i have an external drive i guess the sample libraries can stay on there. Also just load the essentials for live use. SO a massive internal drive is'nt that important.

1)You can install an additional HDD by sacrificing the optical drive and installing an optibay enclosure, I'm not sure about it invalidating the warranty but its completely reversible so you could always take it out.

2)You could do this but why not have a 256GB SSD and then say a 1tb hdd for samples etc.

[DAGGILARR]

Installing an alternative HDD is very straight forward but swopping the optical for an HDD is a rather more complex procedure, I would bet that if you damaged a new machine doing work to it yourself it would not be covered. Given that you have Thunderbolt available why not replace the internal HDD with SSD and use a fast external HDD Hybrid via TB for live purposes and a regular HDD for back ups.

[Kaw-Liga]

i've read somewhere of owners with 2 ssd drives - that sounds good. Are they easy to install and wont invalidate warranty?

Yes, you may install a second 2.5" sata drive (SSD or HDD) on a macbook. check out this link:

http://www.ifixit.com/Apple-Parts/9-5-mm-SATA-Optical-Bay-SATA-Hard-Drive-Enclosure/IF107-080

However, it is not easy to install - you'll have to take out your optical drive – and it will invalidate your warranty. I wouldn't do it on a new mac. Still, it would be great to have a fast ssd and a huge hdd, both internal!

[John F]

The optical drive on my ThinkPad just pops out via a lever, why cant Apple do something as simple?!

So - SSD wise - minimal size for system use etc, and run an external drive via Thunderbolt for sound libraries etc - in the studio and live. Sounds good.

If anyone else uses this approach live/studio i'd love to hear...

I think i'm nearly there. It was all so simple 12 months ago when i'd originally intended to purchase (cash only just materialised), then bloody retina and ssd screwed up the decision process!