Apple custom spec online only?

Osmo

Osmo

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Hi Everyone,

I am considering making the leap, after 20 years of PC use, to an Apple MBP.

At the very least I would like to specify 8meg of ram and possibly the 7200rpm or solid state hard drive.

Can I only do this online or is this something that they can do in store so I can purchase and take away with me?

Thanks.
 
online only ordering IIRC, was when I wanted one with a matte screen anyway.
 
Thanks Puggie.

I heard this may be the situation but as it would be quite an expensive purchase I was kind of hoping I could purchase my custom specification laptop from an Apple store and take away with me rather than just order online.

I mean a shop that has a Genius section that can't (or wont) install some additional ram for me when spending £2000+ just makes me laugh!! :D To be fair, if it is just a ram upgrade perhaps they can?!

Cheers
osmo
 
Osmo said:
Thanks Puggie.

I heard this may be the situation but as it would be quite an expensive purchase I was kind of hoping I could purchase my custom specification laptop from an Apple store and take away with me rather than just order online.

I mean a shop that has a Genius section that can't (or wont) install some additional ram for me when spending £2000+ just makes me laugh!! :D To be fair, if it is just a ram upgrade perhaps they can?!

Cheers
osmo
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to be fair they wont want to have all of the custom parts in an apple store for all models and options, thatd be a lot of parts for a store that would want to maximise on retail storage space (i.e. prebuilt boxed product).
 
you would be insane to buy ram from apple

literally crazy
buy it with the minimum amout of ram possible and then get your extra ram from crucialmemory.

or just get a lighter and burn your notes :)
 
joescrivens said:
you would be insane to buy ram from apple

literally crazy
buy it with the minimum amout of ram possible and then get your extra ram from crucialmemory.

or just get a lighter and burn your notes :)
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That's funny. £100(ish) too much on some ram being insane not £1300 too much on a laptop that a £700 pc could probably do just as well!!! :D

Seriously though, wouldn't it invalidate the warranty on a brand new MBP for me to install some additional ram from a third party supplier?
 
Osmo said:
That's funny. £100(ish) too much on some ram being insane not £1300 too much on a laptop that a £700 pc could probably do just as well!!! :D
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If you think that buying the £700 win doze pc would do just as well then you should really be sticking with the window machine.
 
Check RAM prices, for the last MAC pro I bought Apple was significantly cheaper than Kingston for the correct upgrade RAM! Apple is not always more expensive (but it is quite often). The apple store may be able to do a RAM upgrade, phone them and ask.
 
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puggie said:
Check RAM prices, for the last MAC pro I bought Apple was significantly cheaper than Kingston for the correct upgrade RAM! Apple is not always more expensive (but it is quite often). The apple store may be able to do a RAM upgrade, phone them and ask.
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the mac pros use ECC memory that was always more pricey than standard RAM as it is typically used in servers (1066 or 1333MHz DDR3 ECC SDRAM) and the slower speed is getting quite old now hence prices go up anyway.
 
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Yeah my point was when we bought the new Macs I was advised to get them with 'enough' ram and we would upgrade them later, we decided to upgrade them sooner and apple was cheaper than any of the 3rd party suppliers for the upgrade (by about £230 from memory) so its not always cheaper to use the likes of kingston as advised by Joescrivens above, but something like a MBP which is a very nice but essentially run of the mill laptop hardware wise a 3rd party may be cheaper, unless the machine is already full of ram and you need to replace all modules to upgrade.
 
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puggie said:
Yeah my point was when we bought the new Macs I was advised to get them with 'enough' ram and we would upgrade them later, we decided to upgrade them sooner and apple was cheaper than any of the 3rd party suppliers for the upgrade (by about £230 from memory) so its not always cheaper to use the likes of kingston as advised by Joescrivens above, but something like a MBP which is a very nice but essentially run of the mill laptop hardware wise a 3rd party may be cheaper, unless the machine is already full of ram and you need to replace all modules to upgrade.
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i advised crucialmemory, not kingston.
 
joescrivens said:
i advised crucialmemory, not kingston.
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I tried all the usual suspects, they were all over £200 more than apple at the time.

Like I said, check all the options, don't automatically dismiss apple as the expensive one.
 
Apple stores will usually carry the 'popular' configs, so it's always worth ringing your local store. For example the store will carry high res and antiglare versions, and if there's only a few options usually the 'ultimate'. But as said, if you can do the HDD/RAM separately, do that! Mucho cheaper!
 
puggie said:
I tried all the usual suspects, they were all over £200 more than apple at the time.

Like I said, check all the options, don't automatically dismiss apple as the expensive one.
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I'm surprised at that, normally it's very much the other way round.

Anyway all MacBook pros are easily upgraded with 3rd party memory and/or HDs/SSDs.

MacBook Airs are completely non upgradeable - although unofficial, and hard to come by, solutions exist for upgrading the SSD (which is dead easy to do, providing you have the correct size pentalobe screwdriver to hand), there is currently no way of upgrading the RAM as it's hard soldered to the main board.

With Mac Minis it's easy to do the RAM, but gets a tad more complicated for the HD. Nevertheless it can be done without any side effects.

With the current iMacs RAM is easy, but realistically you can only build in another apple HD that's been specified for the iMac. Why? well Apple now has special firmware installed on the drives it buys from seagate, WD etc. This firmware allows the use of 2 unused pins on the SATA power connector for monitoring the drive temperature without having to rely on obtaining this info from the drives SMART system, which if regularly requested can reduce disk performance.

The upshot of this is that if you build in a vanilla drive the computer will still function, but the fans in the machine will gradually ramp up until the iMac sounds like a wind tunnel. It's possible to get round this by shorting out two pins on the logicboard's SATA power connector (seriously not recommended), or through software the reprograms the System Management Controller (better, but you really ought to know what you're doing before using this as a solution). Some firms have started to offer hardware solutions to this problem which send the right temperature information to the logic board.

While from an engineering point of view this may be seen by Apple as an elegant solution, it basically screws people who want to upgrade, or who need to replace the HD should the computer be OOW. In fact many industry watchers (myself included) view this as a step further towards Apple's desire to completely lockdown hardware & software, and as a cynical attempt to prevent basic repairs being done with anything other than expensive proprietary hardware.

Mac Pros are again dead easy to upgrade. It's even possible to upgrade the processors in a Mac Pro, although Apple will tell you it's not possible, and it will certainly invalidate your guarantee should you do this.
 
Slaphead said:
but realistically you can only build in another apple HD that's been specified for the iMac. Why? well Apple now has special firmware installed on the drives it buys from seagate, WD etc. This firmware allows the use of 2 unused pins on the SATA power connector for monitoring the drive temperature without having to rely on obtaining this info from the drives SMART system, which if regularly requested can reduce disk performance.

The upshot of this is that if you build in a vanilla drive the computer will still function, but the fans in the machine will gradually ramp up until the iMac sounds like a wind tunnel. It's possible to get round this by shorting out two pins on the logicboard's SATA power connector (seriously not recommended), or through software the reprograms the System Management Controller (better, but you really ought to know what you're doing before using this as a solution). Some firms have started to offer hardware solutions to this problem which send the right temperature information to the logic board.

While from an engineering point of view this may be seen by Apple as an elegant solution, it basically screws people who want to upgrade, or who need to replace the HD should the computer be OOW. In fact many industry watchers (myself included) view this as a step further towards Apple's desire to completely lockdown hardware & software, and as a cynical attempt to prevent basic repairs being done with anything other than expensive proprietary hardware.
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didnt know that, bit carp really as there is nothing wrong with SMART.
 
Slaphead said:
I

With the current iMacs RAM is easy, but realistically you can only build in another apple HD that's been specified for the iMac. Why? well Apple now has special firmware installed on the drives it buys from seagate, WD etc. This firmware allows the use of 2 unused pins on the SATA power connector for monitoring the drive temperature without having to rely on obtaining this info from the drives SMART system, which if regularly requested can reduce disk performance.

The upshot of this is that if you build in a vanilla drive the computer will still function, but the fans in the machine will gradually ramp up until the iMac sounds like a wind tunnel. It's possible to get round this by shorting out two pins on the logicboard's SATA power connector (seriously not recommended), or through software the reprograms the System Management Controller (better, but you really ought to know what you're doing before using this as a solution). Some firms have started to offer hardware solutions to this problem which send the right temperature information to the logic board.
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That's very interesting...I have an iMac that is in desperate need of a HD upgrade and was considering getting a new 2TB one installed. Is it possible to source correct Apple proprietary HD's ?
 
Beardy said:
That's very interesting...I have an iMac that is in desperate need of a HD upgrade and was considering getting a new 2TB one installed. Is it possible to source correct Apple proprietary HD's ?
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Yes it is but it'll cost you, and you'll need a very friendly authorised service provider because it's not really the done thing for Apple to offer aftermarket upgrades, plus you'll only get 3 months guarantee as the drive will be considered a service part.

For fear of taking this thread off topic, If you can say exactly what model iMac you have then I can advise you further. Perhaps send me a PM with the serial number of the iMac then I can say for sure.

Incidently what I wrote in my previous post only affects the current model. That is the macs that were introduced in early 2011.
 
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