should I upgrade to 4GB RAM

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I just recently bought a regular low end macbook pro 13" for 1199 dollars which came with a free iTouch...i was wondering if i made a good deal. Should I upgrade the 2gb to 4gb? Does regular microsoft office 2007 work with snow leopard? How do I bootcamp into windows 7? Which is better Bootcamp or VMware? Would 160 gb hard drive be enough?

Please answer all these questions. I bought my 1st mac and I am frightened about the switch from pc to mac...please help me out!
 
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Upgrading to 4GB will only make your computer faster. I don't know about Bootcamp, but don't buy Parallells. It sucks.

I had a Macbook Pro and it is a GREAT computer. 160GB hard drive is ok. Remember, you can buy a 500GB or 1 TB external one for like $100-150.

Good luck with it.
 
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Hello, welcome to the forums.

You've already made the purchase so asking if it was a good deal is a little too late. :) Personally, it's a pretty good deal if you got a iPod Touch in the process.

Q: Should I upgrade to 4GB?
A: Well depends on what you do on the notebook. If you work with a lot of photos or edit video, you'll definitely want the 4GB. During normal use (e-mail, web surfing, iTunes, etc.), you won't see a large performance increase. That being said, if you have the cash and find a 4GB deal (Newegg is a good place to start) go ahead. You'll see small improvements in speed.

Q: Does regular Microsoft Office 2007 work with Snow Leopard?
A: No, Office 2007 is the PC version. You have to get Office for Mac 2008.

Q: How do I bootcamp into Windows 7?
A: Use the Bootcamp utility located in the "Applications\Utilities" folder. You may want to check out the "Windows, Classic, Linux, and Other OS" section of the forum.

Q: Which is better Bootcamp or VMWare?
A: Depends on what you plan to do in Windows. For gaming, you really want to use Bootcamp. If you don't mind low settings in games or use Windows strictly for Microsoft Office or other programs that aren't so performance intensive, you may want to consider VMWare since you can use Mac and Windows at the same time!

Q: Would 160GB HD be enough?
A: Again, depends. Video editing and photo editing take a lot of space really quickly, in which case 320GB or an external drive should be purchased. But normal use should be enough. I suggest just using it for now and purchasing one later if you need one since the prices for hard drives can only go down in general.
 
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if you planning to install any giant software i think you should upgrading your memory
but if you just work on home application 2 gb it's much enough yet
besides you've been installed snow leopard on your mac
for your second question , maybe prefer take bootcamp , because your win will running
well on your mac , about office i think you installed 2008 version for mac
 
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I also purchased the 13" Macbook Pro, I did the upgrade to 4gb, also upgraded to a 500gb hdd and its working great! Also Bootcamp worked great but not something I ended up keeping.
 
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I think you got a pretty good deal for 1200 bucks. I just bought the same 13 inch Macbook Pro, and payed the the same price as you only I didn't get the iTouch with it.:( You will love it, it's a great laptop. Now I just need to upgrade to 4gb ram.
 
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I tried both Fusion 3 and Parallels 5 and kept the latter. With the VM running I am glad I have 4gb of RAM. You will quickly noticed that 160gb HD will run out soon especially when you have to partition for Windows. If your running a VM you could just keep MS Office. Use the extra money for upgrades. Seems like you got a great deal with the itouch.
 
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Hello, welcome to the forums.

You've already made the purchase so asking if it was a good deal is a little too late. :) Personally, it's a pretty good deal if you got a iPod Touch in the process.

Q: Should I upgrade to 4GB?
A: Well depends on what you do on the notebook. If you work with a lot of photos or edit video, you'll definitely want the 4GB. During normal use (e-mail, web surfing, iTunes, etc.), you won't see a large performance increase. That being said, if you have the cash and find a 4GB deal (Newegg is a good place to start) go ahead. You'll see small improvements in speed.

Q: Does regular Microsoft Office 2007 work with Snow Leopard?
A: No, Office 2007 is the PC version. You have to get Office for Mac 2008.

Q: How do I bootcamp into Windows 7?
A: Use the Bootcamp utility located in the "Applications\Utilities" folder. You may want to check out the "Windows, Classic, Linux, and Other OS" section of the forum.

Q: Which is better Bootcamp or VMWare?
A: Depends on what you plan to do in Windows. For gaming, you really want to use Bootcamp. If you don't mind low settings in games or use Windows strictly for Microsoft Office or other programs that aren't so performance intensive, you may want to consider VMWare since you can use Mac and Windows at the same time!

Q: Would 160GB HD be enough?
A: Again, depends. Video editing and photo editing take a lot of space really quickly, in which case 320GB or an external drive should be purchased. But normal use should be enough. I suggest just using it for now and purchasing one later if you need one since the prices for hard drives can only go down in general.
Pretty much nailed it.

I wouldn't worry about the hard drive space, you can always get a external hard drive which are very inexpensive now a days.

Use the computer for the things you intend and monitor your memory usage in activity monitor (or download the iStatePro widget).
If your using up close to the 2GB then consider upgrading to 4GB, thats also not that expensive.

Now.. If you come to find out that you needed more ram and HD space then i guess you should of went with a higher up model MacbookPro. But by then i guess it would be to late.
 
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Pretty much nailed it.

Now.. If you come to find out that you needed more ram and HD space then i guess you should of went with a higher up model MacbookPro. But by then i guess it would be to late.

I'll have to respectfully disagree with this statement. Apple over charges by such an incredibly ridiculous amount of money for a larger HD and extra RAM. And I think that Apple, allowing their customers easy access to do the upgrade themselves, knows this as well. And I always thought it was silly of them to contradict themselves like that.

4 gigs of RAM on newegg.com will cost you no more than $80 Newegg.com - SUPER TALENT 2GB 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1066 (PC3 8500) Laptop Memory Model W1066SB2GV - Laptop Memory (Super Talent had been tested against Corsair at one point and beat the pants off of them)

And an 320 gig external HD with 7200 RPM drive will run you the same: Newegg.com - Western Digital Scorpio Black WD3200BEKT 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache 2.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s Internal Notebook Hard Drive -Bare Drive

Even an 500 gig HD will be less than $90 http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010150380 1309740009&name=500GB

So for less than $200 you can have double the capacity of RAM and HD space, whereas Apple will charge you, well.. You figure that out. :)

Doug
 
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I guess when you look at it financially, then yes your right.

I did the same. Upgraded to 4GB myself and got a 1TB external drive.

But what i was talking about was just going with the next 13" model, which got you 4GB ram, 250GB HD and a faster processor. For 300.00 more. But it doesnt better i guess.
 
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Glad this thread popped up today. Going to go out and purchase 2gb tomorrow and upgrade my RAM ...
Looking forward to having a faster Late 2008 White book .....
Nice :)

Edit: and if anyone knows of the top of there head .. If they take a 240 pin or a 200 pin RAM ??
 
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Depends what you want to run Windows for but if it's just reasonably day-to-day stuff like office etc then try VirtualBox.

It's free and, in my experience, it loads and shuts down Windows faster than either VMware or Parallels (Latest version). Seems to use resources better too. Firing up Windows under Parallels especially seemed to bring everything else on the machine to a grinding halt. VirtualBox seems to be much less system hungry.

'you're mileage may vary' etc etc But as Virtual Box is free, VMWare and Parallels both have trial versions it's worth trying them all out....if you have the time/inclination.

If you want to full power off your machine for more intensive tasks under Windows then Bootcamp is the way to go.
 
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So for less than $200 you can have double the capacity of RAM and HD space, whereas Apple will charge you, well.. You figure that out. :)

Doug

thats what i did, and LOVE IT
 
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Like the other guys said don't upgrade 2 the 4gigs of ram unless you really do ram hungry things. I do video editing on my macbook and just have 2 gigs of ram and it runs like a champ. Also no need for bootcamp unless you do power hungry things in windows. Welcome 2 the world of Apple. I switched over last year and love it, I have no need for a windows computer and now have an Iphone. I guess I am now a converted apple fanboy. Because now i am trying to get everyone I know 2 switch 2 makes because they just work. Unlike windows with many headache stories.
 
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Big question (that no one asked): What version MacBook Pro did you buy?
The early MBP could only support 2GB RAM. Mine is one of them.
MBP1,1 with 1.83GHz Intel Core Duo
It won't support Snow Leopard in 64-bit mode either.
 
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I'll have to respectfully disagree with this statement. Apple over charges by such an incredibly ridiculous amount of money for a larger HD and extra RAM. And I think that Apple, allowing their customers easy access to do the upgrade themselves, knows this as well. And I always thought it was silly of them to contradict themselves like that.

4 gigs of RAM on newegg.com will cost you no more than $80 Newegg.com - SUPER TALENT 2GB 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1066 (PC3 8500) Laptop Memory Model W1066SB2GV - Laptop Memory (Super Talent had been tested against Corsair at one point and beat the pants off of them)

And an 320 gig external HD with 7200 RPM drive will run you the same: Newegg.com - Western Digital Scorpio Black WD3200BEKT 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache 2.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s Internal Notebook Hard Drive -Bare Drive

Even an 500 gig HD will be less than $90 Newegg.com - Computer Hardware,Hard Drives,Laptop Hard Drives,500GB

So for less than $200 you can have double the capacity of RAM and HD space, whereas Apple will charge you, well.. You figure that out. :)

Doug

But for 200 from Apple you can get 4gb ram and 320GB hard drive so I don't see how you guys are saying you save so much money buy it separately.

I'm also looking at getting a Macbook Pro, and I'm thinking of getting Apple's 4gb and 320gb hard drive, and I was researching how much it would cost to upgrade myself and I don't see a big savings at all.
 
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But for 200 from Apple you can get 4gb ram and 320GB hard drive so I don't see how you guys are saying you save so much money buy it separately.

I'm also looking at getting a Macbook Pro, and I'm thinking of getting Apple's 4gb and 320gb hard drive, and I was researching how much it would cost to upgrade myself and I don't see a big savings at all.

You're actually... mostly right. This only stands if one is ordering their MacBook Pro online. Otherwise, the price for an upgrade AFTER the initial purchase stands as such:

4 gigs of Apple branded memory ALONE (via apple.com) for a 13" MacBook Pro is $200

See here: Memory - Apple Store (U.S.)

4 gigs of RAM from a third party vendor is $100 In fact... A 4 gig module (ONE module) from Apple costs $400, whereas for $239, you can get one module of 4 gigs of ram from newegg: Here Tell me that's not a big difference. Even bigger yet, is the fact that Apple sells 8 gigs of RAM for $800 while you can get it at Newegg.com for $400.

Furthermore, I don't see any MacBook Pro Hard drives for sale on the Apple.com store site.
And let's say that Apple did sell a 320 gig HD for the MacBook Pro.. I doubt it would cost $100. More like $200 But again, a third party vendor sells a 640 gig HD for $124 Or, a 500GB drive for $87

It's a significant amount of savings as well as more product for less money. In other words.. a deal which Apple can not beat, period.

Doug
 
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I apologize. I didn't realize you were talking about the stock version with added RAM and a larger HD. This is online configuration only, but fair enough.

However, the hard drive is not worth the money considering what I already linked. for that $100 you can get a $500 gig HD.

Again, apologies.

Doug

Edit: I altered my original reply to you.

Edit #2: I also apologize to TomTom. Had I comprehended what you initially said, in regards to the upgrade being after the fact, and it being "too late", I wouldn't have said what I did initially. The poster above basically mirrored your sentiment, and I just didn't get it. Post sale upgrade however, still stands as being true, obviously.
 

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