New guy needing help :)

[19birel]

Hello everyone! My name is Ayrton, I'm a freshman and have been into Macs since my mum got her Power Book G3 way back when. I currently have a Power Mac G4 and a quad core Power Mac G5 along with a few windows boxes(one converted to run Ubuntu). I will soon be trading my G5 for a white Macbook 13inch. Is this a good idea? I figured because of the intel core duo processor it would be an upgrade from the G5. My G5 still runs at a decent speed so can i expect the same if not a bit more performance from the intel Mac? I heard i can only upgrade to snow leopard, is this true or can i switch it to Lion? Also, could I upgrade to be able to run lion? I was planning on upgrading the RAM and hard drive is there anything else I can do? maybe swap out parts from a newer macbook or macbook pro? Thanks for all your help. I know a little about my Power Macs but when it comes to the intel stuff I'm not extremely familiar.

 

[louishen]

The G5 is a great machine, but the white macbook is even better, especially if you ever to to do intensive stuff like encode video

Consider maxing out its RAM to 4 or 6 gig and you have a portable workhorse

It can go all the way to 10.7 Lion, I have a white macBook and its a great machine, I love it and have no plans to replace it for a year at least

as for other upgrades, forget it, apart from the RAM and the hard drive the processor is not upgradable, but dont ley that put you off, its a great mac

 

[19birel]

Alright, thanks! I really can't afford a new Mac atm but I wanted something that I can at least run the current firmware on as well as keep up to par with the base newer models. This seems like the way to go!

 

[samsa]

If it really is a core duo you're trading for (as opposed to a core 2 duo), you won't be able to upgrade RAM to higher than 2 gig, nor will you be able to run Lion on it.

 

[19birel]

Oh, well i guess I'll just have to put Snow Leopard on it I heard that is still a really good OS though. Either way though, I still think it will be fun to work with an intel integrated Mac as opposed to a Power PC. My dad might even be able to get me another G5 so I can still work with that too along side the Mac Book.

 

[pigoo3]

Oh, well i guess I'll just have to put Snow Leopard on it I heard that is still a really good OS though. Either way though, I still think it will be fun to work with an intel integrated Mac as opposed to a Power PC.

The core duo MacBook is more modern than the G5 (since you are able to update to OS 10.6)...a core 2 duo would be better...since you can update to the latest OS...10.7 "Lion".

But this is a trade in the "right direction"!

- Nick

 

[19birel]

Yes, deffinetly. I heard that the Core Duo2 model can't get a proccessor upgrade. Could I possible upgrade the Core Duo to something better?

 

[19birel]

Sorry for the double post but I was wondering why you can't exceed the factory rating for RAM? is the processor just too slow? I was looking to upgrade to around 4gb of RAM but was disapointed to learn that 2 was the max i could get.

 

[pigoo3]

Yes, deffinetly. I heard that the Core Duo2 model can't get a proccessor upgrade. Could I possible upgrade the Core Duo to something better?

There are no processor upgrades for ANY of the MacBook or MacBook Pro models (other than at the time of purchase from Apple). This is pretty much the same thing in the "Windows World" as well...so processor upgrades with laptop computers should not be expected.

- Nick

 

[pigoo3]

Sorry for the double post but I was wondering why you can't exceed the factory rating for RAM? is the processor just too slow? I was looking to upgrade to around 4gb of RAM but was disapointed to learn that 2 was the max i could get.

Nope...on the Core Duo MacBooks 2 gig of ram is the max. One some MacBooks & MacBook Pro models the "factory max" for ram can be exceeded...but not on the MacBook you're dealing with.

2 gig of ram is just another limitation of this particular model MacBook (along with the core duo NOT being able to upgrade to OS 10.7 Lion).

In case it helps (regarding the ram issue). To get at least 4 gig of useable ram in a MacBook...you would need a MacBook at least a couple models newer than the one you are considering.

And one more thing. I have 2 gig of ram in my 17" 2007 MacBook Pro...and I haven't run into any issues yet. But if you want to use some "high-powered" programs from Adobe...you may need more ram for best performance.

- Nick

 

[19birel]

Well, the only potentially "high-powered" program from Adobe I would consider using is photoshop. But I figured that should still run well with the 2gb of RAM? Also I was looking into eventually sourcing a new HDD and was wondering what would be a good brand and what RPM I should get. When my dad upgraded the HDD on my old Vaio it was a Seagate I believe. Would that be a good brand to get for the Mac? I never really got to use it in the Vaio because soon after the upgrade the computer took a crap on me (it was slowly dieing but we still thought it had at least a year of life left) I have been trying to do a little research but with my schools heavy work load I hardly during the weeks. Thank you so much for your help everyone.