My Macbook Pro major upgrade

[bjdelro]

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Hi Guys,

I've decided to upgrade my MBP 13inch (MacBookPro5,5; 2.26ghz processor speed). I'm planning of changing the HDD to an SSD (240GB) and up my RAM from 2gb to 8gb.

Now my questions are:

1. What's a good brand of SSD for my MBP? I'm looking at Corsair Force 3 GT. Is it any good? Reliable? Can you suggest a better brand?

2. What's a good brand for the RAM? I'm being offered a G.Skill 8gb (4gb x 2) DDR3-1066 appleram. Is this any good? Reliable? Can you suggest a better brand?

3. Have any of you done a similar upgrade? How'd it go? Was it worth it? This upgrade will cost me anywhere from 10k - 13k.

Any feedback will be appreciated.

Thanks.

[mystavros]

What will be the primary use of the MBP?

[bjdelro]

hi mystavros,

Aside from word processing, excel, and internet browsing, I'll be using it for some photoshop and adobe premier. I'm no professional, it's just a hobby. All i want is a really fast MBP since I'm planning of upgrading to Lion soon. Any advice?

[itnetad]

SSD (240GB) costs more than you preferred budget

[bjdelro]

SSD (240GB) costs more than you preferred budget

My canvass yielded the following:

240GB SSD Corsair Force 3 GT = P 10,500
G.Skill 8GB (4GB x 2) DDR3-1066 = P 2,100
Total = P 12,600

Still within my budget.

[andrew_o_o]

i'd recommend owc/samsung ssd's. as far as i know, the newer mbp's use samsung ssds rebranded to apple, and i have never come across a negative review regarding an owc drive in their macbook

[cybersniper]

go for Corsair!

both on RAM and SSD... OWC and Samsung are good yeah, but they are sort of hard to find locally. and Corsair is a good brand too.

but if I were you, I would not get a single 240GB. I'd get 2 X 120GB SSDs and run them on striped RAID. - you would of course need an adapter for this (remove your Optical Drive and replace it with an SSD caddy) - available locally for 1,200.

[echavezc]

I upgraded to the following specs

8 gb ram (corsair)
240 gb ssd (pyro se) im on a 2009 mbp i cant even max out the performance of the ssd currently operating at half its speed
500 gb hdd hybrid (momentus xt) removed the useless optical drive
and it is wicked fast.
is it worth it. definitely.

[bjdelro]

I upgraded to the following specs

8 gb ram (corsair)
240 gb ssd (pyro se) im on a 2009 mbp i cant even max out the performance of the ssd currently operating at half its speed
500 gb hdd hybrid (momentus xt) removed the useless optical drive
and it is wicked fast.
is it worth it. definitely.

Thanks bro! I'm definitely doing this. Seems like I'm on the right track with the hardware. Now, I need to find someone to do a clean install!

Additional questions:

1. How much did it guys cost you to upgrade to Lion? Where can I get it locally?
2. Do I have to fresh install snow leopard first (I have a the cd for this) then upgrade to Lion or does a fresh install of Lion enough?

Thanks

[bjdelro]

go for Corsair!

both on RAM and SSD... OWC and Samsung are good yeah, but they are sort of hard to find locally. and Corsair is a good brand too.

but if I were you, I would not get a single 240GB. I'd get 2 X 120GB SSDs and run them on striped RAID. - you would of course need an adapter for this (remove your Optical Drive and replace it with an SSD caddy) - available locally for 1,200.

Hey bro, thanks for the feedback. What's the difference between having 1 x 240GB vs. having 2 x 120GB SSDs? Would 2 SSDs improve the speed?