Processor upgrade for c2d macs.

Is it possible to upgrade your processor after you buy your mac? Or are you stuck with what you got from apple? And if you cannot, why cant it be done?

Are the processors apple use still lga 775 or some other socket?

I could be wrong about this (and feel free to correct me if I am wrong), but if I remember correctly the chips in all of the laptops are soldered onto the board, and therefore cannot be changed unless you change the motherboard itself. Mac Mini's are supposedly upgradeable. Not sure about the iMac's as there have been mixed reports about those, but I think that those are soldered (that was the general guess, but I haven't seen the internals of the imacs .. and haven't really searched that) .. http://www.macrumors.com/pages/2006/01/20060131134225.shtml according to that maybe the core duo versions were upgradable ... but not sure about whether they decided to solder the core 2 duo's up. haven't turned up anything solid regarding that. .. Mac Pro's are definitely not soldered on, as there have been reports of people swapping out the chips.

I think it's quite expensive to have your Mac upgraded post purchase. They do processor/ram/HD upgrades for my iMac C2D, on the production line to customer orders, but if you've already purchased it then all I can say is that in my case, I enquired about ram upgrades and my local applestore were worse than vague....as were Apple Aust...they just couldn't deal with an enquiry made after the Mac came off the production line....

That makes no sense to me, but if someone could enlighten me as to why they do that, I would be thankful.

If you could swap them out, you could have an imac faster than anything mac offers right now. 317$-958$.(2.44ghz-2.93ghz)e6600 and the x6800

It's not that much faster, nor a big deal to most people. But it would just be nice to have the option to do so later on down the road. Like for the people who get a 17in 1.83ghz, so if they need more power they can get it without having to buy a whole new computer.

if you can't tell I don't own a mac yet. When I get the cash I hope to get a macbook. But by the time I get the cash I bet leopard will be out

I'm sure it's possible; if you want to tear apart your computer and rip out your processor and make a mess of things. Take this for example, I would not want to mess with any of that for fear of messing things up, and you are definitely going to void your warranty. I think upgrading laptops is out of the question.

Although there are people out there that have traded out processors in Mac Pro's to put in 2 Xeon Quad Cores, making for an 8 core computer. I thought that was impressive.

Jeff said:

I'm sure it's possible; if you want to tear apart your computer and rip out your processor and make a mess of things.

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I have never taken an Imac apart, but it can't be that bad. Can it? You make it sound like replacing a processor is difficult, getting to it would be the hard part I would assume.

Seeing as I have never taken an imac apart, I could be totally wrong.

Are processors on Windows based laptops easily upgradable? My understanding is that all laptops, except for some flexability with video cards (some alienware models I saw a year ago or so), are pretty set after they are built. Im not being defensive, but I get the sense that you are comparing mac laptops to some standard I dont know about.
-d

I think you miss read what I was saying, laptops are generally set in stone, I know that. I was referring to the imacs, for a processor upgrade. The only time I said anything about macbooks, was that I want one.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not downing mac, or going to let this sway my decision to purchase a mac in the future.(as I said one day I want to buy a macbook or a mbp) As this is all but irrelevant to me. It was just more of a curiosity.

Macs don't need bleeding edge, super-fast hardware to do a tremendous job. Apple's computers are designed and configured to work at their maximum potential out of the box. This is why you really cannot compare a Mac and a Windows machine with the same hardware specs, because the Mac can do much more with much less. You simply don't need upgrades to be able to run newer software or OS upgrades. It simply works the way it is. OS X runs very nicely on machines that are 8+ years old.

Another reason is that Apple is a company that provides not only the OS, but the hardware configuration. They do offer options with their lines, the consumer line being a great machine for just about anyone, and the Pro line that offers a little more power and slightly more advanced hardware that meets the demands of the professionals that use them.
Apple knows what hardware their OS works best with and work very closely with hardware providers to ensure this. This is what doesn't really leave room (or the need) for many end-user upgrades.

Modding and upgrading is almost necessary in the Windows PC world, as the same could not be said with regards to Vista and an 8 year old factory-spec Dell. Even installing XP on an 8 year old Windows box would cause that computer to strain.

Modding is very much a hobby for many Windows users, too. That same hobby just simply doesn't transfer over in the Mac world.

The short answer is, no, you can't.

The Macs may have more longevity, eventually you will be behind the pack in terms of speed and performance, but that's an unavoidable fact with any technology. Instead of buying newer components and installing them, you just get a new system. It's called planned obsolescence, but it also helps keep Apple in control of their product quality. It's one thing I miss about PC's but I have an MBP, so it's doesn't make a difference. I do still have my 4 year old Alienware desktop that I've kept up to date with processor, video card, RAM and other updates; which was definitely cheaper than buying a new one!

I'm not down on Macs, I bought one, but facts are facts. There are pros and cons to the situation.

D3v1L80Y said:

Modding is very much a hobby for many Windows users, too. That same hobby just simply doesn't transfer over in the Mac world.

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Point taken. That is mainly what I was getting at. I just recently built a computer and enjoy modding/upgrading it when I can. That just gives me a reason to keep the pc around after I get a mac

fleurya, you reiterated the main point of D3v1L80Y. "planned obsolescence" That makes sense and helps clear up my questions.

Thanks guys for clearing that up. I still think it would be cool to be able to upgrade macs, but as you guys say its not needed.

No problem. I'm the same way; keeping my old PC for tinkering/modding, but I love my new mac!

Other than iMacs, I think Apple has made modding the Mac Pros to a degree very user friendly, you can easily pop in extra hard drives and RAM, but I don't know about video cards, processors, and others. I have heard stories of people modding them by adding processors and such. It's a way to go if you have the $$ for buy a Mac Pro to start with.

Enjoy.

you can do all the same pc type mods on a mac pro, but the mac pro has a very limited gpu selection

O I wish I could afford a Mac Pro. I'll be lucky to get a macbook

Just for info - I know of a couple of people that have updated CPUs on Wintel laptops.

One was a HP Pavilion like the one I got rid of late last year - he updated the Celeron for a genuine P4 and another was an Asus S1300 (I think that was the model) this was updated from a 1GHz to a 1.2GHz or something like that. Not major speed differences but enough for the people that did it to be happy.

In both cases the CPU was not soldered.

Foosa said:

fleurya, you reiterated the main point of D3v1L80Y. "planned obsolescence"

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That really wasn't my point at all. It isn't a case of "planned obsolescence" at all. If anything it is the exact opposite. Historically, Apple plans have been focused keeping the older machines active by creating a new OS that will run on today's computers as well as the older ones.
Macs have tremendous longevity. In order to keep your machine current, you don't really need a hardware upgrade, all you really need to do is upgrade the OS. This is why 8-year-old Macs can still function rather well today. By today's standards for hardware, yes they are far from cutting edge, but I would hardly call them obsolete, so long as they can use the latest OS and they do what you need them to.
Technology is ever changing and updating, so if you wanted to go by the ideal of things being made to become obsolete on purpose... then ALL technology would fall under the definition of "planned obsolescence" since it is always being one-upped by new technology.
The Mac is not obsolete because it can still function using software of today. The same cannot be said for a factory-stock computer of the same era that ran Windows.

Still, no matter how you look at it, a computer that is 8+ years old is just that...OLD. A G3 system from almost a decade ago will not likely be supported by the next incarnation of OS X. This is hardly a result of planning, but simply one of age. Computers that are close to 10 years old will eventually become unsupported no matter what the manufacturer is, even Apple.

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