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SSD + RAM in Mac Book Pro

M

Megamilkz

n00b
Joined
Mar 3, 2010
Messages
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Ok, so I am starting a program that requires you to have a mac book pro with 4Gbs of ram and be able to run the latest final cut pro. Right now I have 2x 1Gb ddr3 1037 sticks of ram, what ram would you suggest i upgrade to and also, I was thinking of putting an SSD in as the prim operating disk, maybe a OCZ vertex or Agility 2? what do you think? it has a cor 2 duo, do you think that having only a core 2 duo the SSD wont be needed because the cpu will be the bottleneck? Ill have an external Hard Drive so I think that 128-ish Gb's for the hard drive will do.
Thanks
 
Any 204-pin DDR3 RAM running at the correct MHz for your specific model should work fine. You don't need to buy the "made for Mac" RAM that some retailers and vendors try to push on you; it's the same stuff with an extra price premium. I put 1067 MHz G.SKILL RAM in my old late 2008 unibody MacBook. Worked fine. Whichever brand you select is up to you.

As for the SSD, no, the C2D will not be a bottleneck in anything except video encoding, but what's new there? The biggest bottleneck in any modern computer is the mechanical arm of a standard HDD. Getting an SSD will boost performance tremendously. One problem: SSDs with any sort of decent storage space are tremendously expensive, and even at the top end you may find yourself lacking free space.

If you're using FCP in any serious manner--professional application or school coursework--then you might want to consider upgrading to a new Mac with a better processor, but that's entirely up to you.
 
I just put an intel SSD into my Mac. Before I purchased I did a bit of research and the sandforce based OCZ SSDs are apparently having a lot of sleeping issues with Macs. The firmware cannot be upgraded from OS X either and requires wiping all data from GUID partitions if I recall correctly.
 
I think OSX also does not have TRIM support. So folks with SSDs may have to reformat and reinstall on a more frequent basis. Not having an SSD, I can't independently confirm this. Anyone with an SSD in a Mac want to weigh in?
 
I have a last gen 13" MBP and I've made both of the upgrades you are considering. Used 2 sticks of 2GB Crucial 1333 DDR3 (not official 'Mac supported RAM'). The system appears to have it clocked at it's default 1333mhz speed.

And I installed an Intel 80gb x25-m G2 as well. Even after months of use, it is MUCH faster than the shit 5400rpm drive they put in there. It will also cold boot to my desktop in about 12 seconds.

Both upgrades were made without any issues at all. Not sure if you'd have the same luck with non-Intel SSDs.
 
alternatively, you can buy a 30 GB SSD, and take out the DVD-rom and add a second hard drive for data...
 
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