Techno-GEEK to the MAXIMUM

Although I don't consider myself a geek, my brother and my friends have for a long time taken the p*ss out of me for my love of technology and gadgets... oh ok, and for LOVING Star Trek: The Next Generation as a kid... and yes ok, I still watch all the repeats now when they're on TV... AND ok yes, I record them on my DVR...

BUT...!

That was it. Techo-gimp, techno-geek, beep-bop-beep-bop, 110110110 and gadget boy and more... Laptop-Lover was my favourite for sure. I had the first generation of smart phones back in the early 2000s when Nokia first ventured beyond the LCD black/green screens and Windows Mobile was in its infancy and Apple iPhones ("What - Apple, make a mobile phone, are you kidding me?!" - said friends) were still a glimmer in the eye of Mr Steve Jobs.

X-Box, DVDs, Hi-Def TV, GPS Sat-Nav in my car, laptops, smaller laptops, even smaller laptops, only shopping online... you can quite happily peg me as someone who enjoys the bleeding-edge and I'm certainly an early-adopter and now I've just finished converting my life and have given over my eternal soul to Apple.

Beautiful, reliable, sexy looking, awesome always Apple. Apple TV, iPod Nano (I have 2!), iPhone 4, MacBook Air 1st Gen... and now... I'm the proud owner of the lovely MacBook Pro. IT'S AWESOME!

And so the reason why I'm writing this blog... if I wasn't a techno-gimp before, I certainly am now...

If you've tried running Microsoft Office 2011, specifically powerpoint and excel at the same time, you will have noticed that even the more powerful of laptops struggle to keep up. Screen freezes, over-heating, running so slowly you would sooner slit your writes than reboot the bugger one more time. So much as I loved my MacBook Air, it was time to trade up.

At 9.59am January 23rd I listed my MacBook Air on eBay for a modest $500 with a Buy-It-Now price of $700. Within minutes, literally just a handful of minutes, it sold! I took that $700, threw in another $100 of my own and within another handful of minutes a refurbished MacBook Pro was mine!

Now. My MacAir had a 1.6 GHz Intel processor (this is how quickly a computer can think and do stuff) and a 2GB RAM chip (this is how MANY different things a computer can think about and do at the same time) and a 70GB Hard Disk (how many things it can remember and store). My MacBook Pro came with a 2.26 GHz Intel processor (so a nice but modest uplift) and a 2GB RAM chip (same as my Air). BUT... the wonderful thing about MacBook Pro above MacBook Air is that the components are removable and replaceable. The MacBook Air doesn't allow you to swap out many, if any, of its components. In order to deliver its small size and weight comes this sacrifice.

So with this in mind, I thought I'd have a go at upgrading the hardware in my new MacBook Pro. Who would have thought how EASY it is and actually, how fun and interesting it can be!

Here's what I managed to uplift:

• RAM
• $90 got me 8 GB of RAM in the form of 2 x 4GB chips. I sold my existing 2GB RAM for $15.
• My laptop can now open and run EVERYTHING without slowing down or freezing!!
• Email, powerpoint, excel, iPhoto, Skype, iWeb, Safari/Internet browsing...! It's AWESOME!
• Hard Disk
• $120 got me a Seagate 500GB 7200rpm solid-state hybrid hard disk. I sold my existing 250GB hard disk for $20.
• OH MY GOD! This is worth a quick explanation
• Solid State memory (like on Flash USB memory sticks) have no moving parts, therefore they perform much faster, perhaps 10 times faster than regular magnetic hard disks with an arm that reads the disk sort of the way an old record player read vinyl records. 500GB of solid-state hard disk would normally cost in the region of $1500 BUT Seagate have come up with a hybrid where it has 4GB of solid memory servicing the most recently / frequently used files and the rest of the data is stored on the magnetic section of the hard disk.
• I can start my laptop up from cold and it will be up, running and fully functional with 40 seconds!!!!!!!!!!! Even with my MacAir it would take a couple of minutes to boot up!
• Check out this comparison video, it's amazing what the difference is...

With my lovely new parts for my MacBook I ventured into the unknown... opening up the casing of the laptop. Holy **** this was actually quite terrifying the first time! Thankfully there are some pretty amazing resources online. Check this out... here's the short video guide to replacing the RAM chips...

After an hour of carefully taking out screws, placing them on a mind map so I didn't forget where they came from (!) here's what my MacBook looked like...

Was I able to put it back together? Yes. Thankfully! Just about!! I have large hands and as everyone who knows me will testify, I'm one of the clumsiest dumb-asses you could hope to meet! It wasn't too bad though and I felt really good pressing the power button after I put it all back together again to see that I didn't break the damn thing. It's here - it's working!! 

I've found so many great resources online I feel like I should give a few shout-outs...

• www.powerbookmedic.com
• Free online video tutorials and how-to guides with loads of detailed step-by-step instructions and loads of spare parts.
• www.ifixit.com
• Great graphical how-to-guides and forums where you post questions and others respond with answers and help. Free.
• Google
• For bring all us nerds together! :)

So... basking in the triumph of my component upgrades and marveling at how I didn't break the thing (!), I'm sat here in Starbucks happily tapping away and wondering what I'll tinker with next....

Go boldly people, make it so.