Upgrading to a Mac Book Pro ­ practical questions

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1

Practical experience from someone who’s recently upgraded would be very
helpful.

I’m about to upgrade to a MacBook Pro 2.4MHz, 2gb.

From a PowerBook G4 1.5MHz, 1gb.

Software used, all the usual stuff for a designer, iLife/iWork, CS2, FW4, M$
Office, most other utility apps

My questions,

Does going for a standard config MBP mean 2 gb is about
    equivalent to 1gb on the PB, or is it better?

Is 2gb a realistic amount of memory,
    I know more is better, but 4gb is a quite a jump
    Apple wants £450, but crucial only wants £65.79!!!
    It does mean the 2 x 1Gb strips are wasted.

Drive space/storage is probably more important to me than RAM.
    So I'd spend £100 to go from 160Gb > 250Gb.

Apple care ­ worth it as insurance?
    On my PB it did have to have a new hard drive and
    logic board in the first year, worryingly expensive!

Any other thoughts?

Best wishes Peter

–

================================
Peter Tucker, Oxford UK email@hidden

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2

Hi Peter

I shifted to a mobile desktop in 2003. I “upgraded” to an Intel
MacBook Pro about a year ago, so here are my thoughts.

On 22 Jan 2008, at 18:10, Peter Tucker wrote:

Does going for a standard config MBP mean 2 gb is about
    equivalent to 1gb on the PB, or is it better?

Not sure what you mean here. I have the stock 2GB RAM, and it’s been
pretty adequate for everything I do.

Is 2gb a realistic amount of memory,

So, yes, 2GB is realistic. I doubt there’s cause to jump to 4GB
immediately. See how things work out, then decide a bit later. As you
note, Apple’s prices are pretty fantastically high anyway.

Drive space/storage is probably more important to me than RAM.
    So I'd spend £100 to go from 160Gb > 250Gb.

Sounds sensible. It’s frightening how quickly even a large hard drive
can fill up. You don’t mention it, but I use my MBP with an Apple
20in Cinema Display when I’m in desk mode. If you don’t already have
a large external screen, it may be worth looking into one as well.

Apple care – worth it as insurance?

Well, you don’t need to buy it until the end of the first year’s
guarantee period, so mull it over. I had it for the PowerBook G4 and
never needed it, so it’s up to you, really. Added peace of mind for a
portable means it’s probably worth it.

Hope that helps.

Heather

“Freeway - Web Design for All”

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