MBP 17 SB questions

Fat Dog

Fat Dog

Fat Dog

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Got burgled recently, scum took my old Dell XPS M1530 along with a load of other stuff. Left my desktop thankfully though. Insurance has paid up so now in the market for a new laptop.

Fed up of waiting for the new SB HP Envy so think I'm gonna get a new MBP 17 SB. Pretty sure I can get with the HE discount. Some questions please as I'm a Apple/MBP/OSX noob:

If I actually can't get with HE discount, what are the drawbacks to getting one from the well known auction site? Just a US keyboard? I'm definitely not paying full retail from Apple UK.

Going to install an SSD alongside the HDD. Am I right in thinking an OptiBay is the way forward here? And Vertex 2's unlikely to give problems I hope? I realise this will mean no optical drive - any recommendations for an external? Is it possible to use the optical drive from the MBP itself?

Going to use bootcamp so I have access to Windows and OSX. How much space does OSX consume? I'm hoping a 64Gb Vertex would be enough for both a W7 and OSX install?

Presumably it would be very easy to upgrade to 8Gb whilst I have it open to add the SSD?

Any other useful tips from anyone?

Thanks
 
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He discount is pretty easy to get, plus you get 3 years apple care which is a few hundred quid extra for free :)

Get a cheap knock off optibay as the official ones are very expensive, though iv never done it my self.

For using an ssd as the os disc 64gb should be enough (osx is about 10-15gig I think) but a bit bigger is a good idea as you'll need space for applications too (otherwise you'll miss out on the best bit of an ssd) The drives them selves arnt supposed to give many problem, unless your using the a new sata 3 drive in the new 17" (there's something up with the connector or something, other people know more here)

Sticking more ram in is easy when you have the bottom off for the drive :)

Other tips - Hug your mac, get some sort of skin or case to keep it in/travel it in to keep it fresh, have a look at matt vs glossy screens and see which you preffer and make sure you get apple care with it :)
 
pingwing said:
He discount is pretty easy to get, plus you get 3 years apple care which is a few hundred quid extra for free :)

Get a cheap knock off optibay as the official ones are very expensive, though iv never done it my self.

For using an ssd as the os disc 64gb should be enough (osx is about 10-15gig I think) but a bit bigger is a good idea as you'll need space for applications too (otherwise you'll miss out on the best bit of an ssd) The drives them selves arnt supposed to give many problem, unless your using the a new sata 3 drive in the new 17" (there's something up with the connector or something, other people know more here)

Sticking more ram in is easy when you have the bottom off for the drive :)

Other tips - Hug your mac, get some sort of skin or case to keep it in/travel it in to keep it fresh, have a look at matt vs glossy screens and see which you preffer and make sure you get apple care with it :)
Click to expand...

Great thanks for the tips.
 
Memory = Easy when the bottom is off

Optibay comes with (currently for free) a enclosure for the DVD drive, personally for the £60 i'd just buy it (esp with the enclosure for free!)

SSD is easy to fit, 64GB minimum.

Other than that, should be fine :)
 
That's exactly the set up I have - have a look at some of my recent blogs here, they'll help.

With regards to the SSD, the only thing to watch out for is SATA III units - they're causing problems in the 17 due to the routing of the cable. I moved my C300 (SATA III) into the OptiBay to force it to run at SATA II speeds... Works great now.
 
^^ Thats the sata 3 thing I was thinking about for the new 17", there's work around thankfully :)

I cant stress enough how good apple care is too, got my 09 15" back today and got a second logic board replacement and new dvd drive done for free :) (saved my self another 500 quid)
 
OK, think I'm going to do the following:

Buy base spec MBP 17 from HE site (not sure about matte vs gloss, going to go into retail store to make my mind up).

Buy 8Gb 1600MHz Kingston RAM, OptiBay and Vertex 2E 60Gb.

Install the Vertex in the optical bay, install the new RAM, sell old RAM on the bay and install OSX only on the SSD.

Sound OK? Question - can I install OSX from the optical drive which will be connected via USB? Read in a few places that's a no-go?
 
Sounds pretty good there, the matt vs gloss idea is the best way to choose as its really down to what you like :)

Im assuming it is a no go (couldn't get the mac to boot from usb at all but I dont know if thats the deal with the super drive) but what you could do is format the standard hdd, replace it with your ssd for one install and use the internal dvd for the osx install, then switch out the dvd drive with the ssd and use that as your boot drive :)
 
pingwing said:
Sounds pretty good there, the matt vs gloss idea is the best way to choose as its really down to what you like :)

Im assuming it is a no go (couldn't get the mac to boot from usb at all but I dont know if thats the deal with the super drive) but what you could do is format the standard hdd, replace it with your ssd for one install and use the internal dvd for the osx install, then switch out the dvd drive with the ssd and use that as your boot drive :)
Click to expand...

OK thanks. Does the OSX installer disc allow you to format drives first then I presume?
 
Fat Dog said:
OK thanks. Does the OSX installer disc allow you to format drives first then I presume?
Click to expand...

Yeah there's a partitioner in the installer and the same one in OSX, its all pretty simple to use

Fat Dog said:
£60 for applecare - worth it?
Click to expand...

Yep, 3 years of free hardware replacements if anything fails (all done in an apple store or via post if you live too far from one). Iv racked up a bill of about £1000 so far (only a few hundred quid off what I spend on it) which makes it an absolute bargain for peace of mind :) (though you might find you wont need it at all)
 
I think I'm a broken record in here, but, dammit:

You get 3 years hardware warranty FREE from the HE store. The cheap AppleCare thing is nothing but extended telephone support.
 
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How about doing the HDD/SSD route the other way round - let Apple upgrade to 128Gb SSD and replace optical with a 1Tb Scorpio Blue?

Pros - TRIM, don´t have to reinstall OSX, get support for SSD

Cons - slightly more expensive, presumably the SSD will be fairly old tech? What do they use?

Opinions? Thanks.
 
Mostly Toshiba SSDs, not great. Personally I'd say get a third party SSD and then enable TRIM anyway :D

Oh, and you won't be able to put the 1Tb drive in the OptiBay - they're 12.5mm units aren't they? You can only put 9mm drives in there - 12.5mm units have to go in the normal drive bay.
 
MacRS4 said:
Mostly Toshiba SSDs, not great. Personally I'd say get a third party SSD and then enable TRIM anyway :D

Oh, and you won't be able to put the 1Tb drive in the OptiBay - they're 12.5mm units aren't they? You can only put 9mm drives in there - 12.5mm units have to go in the normal drive bay.
Click to expand...

Kinda what I had figured thinking about it. Will the 750Gb HDD that ships with the 17 fit in the optibay or will that have to stay put?
 
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