
As of August 2014, you can get 2 GB for $23 from Other World Computing, and with Snow Leopard just $20 from Apple, take this MacBook Pro as far as it will go with RAM and operating system.Įarly MacBook Pros used decent 5400 rpm hard drives, but newer drives will provide much snappier performance. You really need 1 GB to get okay performance from OS X 10.4 Tiger or 10.5 Leopard.
#DEEPER FOR MAC 32 BIT UPGRADE#
If your Early 2006 MacBook Pro has 512 MB, upgrade immediately. With a 2 GB memory ceiling, this MacBook Pro wouldn’t run Lion decently anyhow, but the first generation Intel Macs run Snow Leopard very nicely with 2 GB of RAM.

#DEEPER FOR MAC 32 BIT MAC OS#
Because OS X 10.7 Lion is a 64-bit only operating system, Core Duo Macs do not support it, making OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard the end of the Mac OS road for the earliest Intel Macs. Using the 32-bit only Core Duo CPUs allowed Apple to introduce Intel-based Macs before the Core 2 Duo, which supports both 32-bit and 64-bit operation, came to market. Note that the built-in display is only capable of 18-bit color, not the full 24-bit color you might expect. It has 3 USB 2.0 ports, one more than the 15″ MBP offers. This model includes built-in dual-DVI support for Apple’s 30″ Cinema Display, ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 graphics, and an ExpressCard/34 slot (replacing the older PC Card). It’s designed to detach itself when someone trips over the cord, thus preventing your ‘Book from crashing to the floor. The 17″ MacBook Pro uses the same MagSafe power connector as the 15″ model. And there’s a round spot on the front, a receiver that works with Apple’s remote, which works with Apple’s Front Row software.

There’s a black square above the display for the iSight webcam. There are two visual clues that this ‘Book is different. The 17″ MBP looks a lot like the old 17″ PowerBook G4, and its 1680 x 1050 display matches its predecessor’s. It’s the first MacBook to support FireWire 800, and it also has a dual-layer SuperDrive (vs. In an unusual Monday product announcement (Apple usually reveals new products on Tuesday), Apple introduced the 17″ MacBook Pro (MBP) with a 2.16 GHz Intel Core Duo CPU.
