Upgrading a MAC Book Pro

Forums › Mac OS › Upgrading a MAC Book Pro

oneilv

29 posts

Geek

Topic # 83896 23-May-2011 14:54

Hey guys,

I was wondering if I can upgrade the graphics card on my MBP. Its currently got only 256 Ram and there is one available with a 1GB Ram (same graphics card).

Also upgrading the RAM, does that cut of the warranty on the MBP if I did that myself?

Regards

Oneil

corksta

1997 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 193

Trusted

Subscriber

Reply # 473093 23-May-2011 17:45

Adding new RAM doesn't void the warranty.

You can't just change the graphics card on a MBP; it's not like a PC where you can just pop it open and swap it out. Even if you could physically do it, it wouldn't work as there are no drivers available. Apple provide every driver for their systems.

nedkelly

551 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 69

Trusted

Reply # 473103 23-May-2011 18:00

Depending on the MBP you have you might have a little bit more ram sent to the GPU if you upgrade the ram, I am not 100% sure on this but it might happen.

Apple Certified Support Professional (ACSP) 10.10, MCITP 2008

oneilv

29 posts

Geek

Reply # 473179 23-May-2011 21:21

That makes me think, is there any way that I can upgrade the RAM on my MacBook Pro and then assign more RAM to the GPU ?? IS that possible?? If so that would be awesome....

corksta

1997 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 193

Trusted

Subscriber

Reply # 473241 24-May-2011 00:43

It's a bit hard to answer your questions when you haven't even said what year/specs your MBP is/has!

Integrated graphics chipsets borrow up to a certain amount of RAM, so adding more RAM to your system means there's more available for YOU to use (you can't assign extra to the graphics card).

So your GPU will already be using the maximum it's allowed when/if it's needed. Adding extra RAM will not affect this side of things.

oneilv

29 posts

Geek

Reply # 473295 24-May-2011 08:48

Heya,

The specs of my MBP is 4 GB RAM, 2.0 Ghz i7 Quad core Processor, and there is integrated graphics along with another graphics card for the graphic switching option.

The 2nd graphic card has 256 MB for it and this I was wondering if I can replace with 1GB RAM as this is more powerful graphics than the integrated one.

wellygary

2635 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 493

Reply # 473309 24-May-2011 09:18

Graphics ram in a Laptop is usually soldered onto the board, and not user serviceable.- this is oftern double so for Apple products.

Sure , there may be a spot on the board where additional ram is added, but unless you are handy with an iron I would not advise this approach to voiding your warranty,

corksta

1997 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 193

Trusted

Subscriber

Reply # 473319 24-May-2011 09:40

oneilv: Heya,

The specs of my MBP is 4 GB RAM, 2.0 Ghz i7 Quad core Processor, and there is integrated graphics along with another graphics card for the graphic switching option.

The 2nd graphic card has 256 MB for it and this I was wondering if I can replace with 1GB RAM as this is more powerful graphics than the integrated one.

No, see above, even if you could physically replace it it wouldn't work - there would be no drivers for it, plus your warranty would be gone.

It's not worth it! If it means that much to you sell it and get one of the new 15/17-inch ones!

linan1981222

3 posts

Wannabe Geek

Reply # 483064 20-Jun-2011 10:23

As your laptop seems to be a pretty new one, you could possibly upgrade your ram to 8 gigs.

As I have MBP 2008 late model, it works fine with 2 x 4 gigs DDR3 1066 with a little tweak on configuration file, although there are rumors saying only 4 gigs or 6 gigs are supported. Mine just works without problem for the past 6 months.

Just make sure your ram slot is DDR3 supported, cause DDR2 and DDR3 has different slots/pins.
i7 should come with DDR3, but I dont have i7. no guarantee..

Behodar

5812 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 831

Trusted

Subscriber

Reply # 483074 20-Jun-2011 11:04

linan1981222: As I have MBP 2008 late model, it works fine with 2 x 4 gigs DDR3 1066 with a little tweak on configuration file, although there are rumors saying only 4 gigs or 6 gigs are supported. Mine just works without problem for the past 6 months.

It originally supported 6 GB but the MBP51.007E.B05 firmware update increased it to 8 GB. That's why you're seeing differing information :)

oneilv

29 posts

Geek

Reply # 483075 20-Jun-2011 11:05

Thanks guys,

I have already upgraded my MBP to 8 gig of RAM and it works sweet...although since I am running vms on it, I need more ram so wondering if 16 GB will be supported...