MacBook Pro upgrade help

[rtdesign]

Hi guys,

I have a 2006 MacBook Pro that i bought from the states and now its in need of a major upgrade as I've been using it extensively for my graphic design services. It get extremely hot, its not fast enough and i'm almost out of disk space. stats are Mac OS X version 10.4.11. processor 1.83ghz intel core duo, memory 1.5GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM, and use all the Adobe Creative Suite applications.

I'm too much of a girl to do any of my own installations / upgrades for fears that i'll lose work or something might go wrong with the update process, and so i'd like to know where can i take this to get a proper upgrade in Dubai, and to some proper mac specialists who know the ins and outs of a mac, not like the useless folks at the istyle store.

I don't know if its worth it more to do all these upgrades or to invest in a brand new one that's an ME version. Not that i have lots of $$ to spare but in terms of its current age/status and performance.. any direction is appreciated. thanks!

[Magnus]

What is it exactly you want to upgrade? You can't upgrade the processor. The max RAM you can put in is 2GB so that won't make much difference. Graphics card you can't touch. So that leaves hard drive, which even if you put in a 7200RPM one, which means it's going to run even hotter, won't make much difference in terms of speed. You could put Snow Leopard on it, which may speed things up a bit, but nothing much, I would guess.

[rtdesign]

thanks magnus.. i guess its time for a new one sometime soon.

Now as far as getting everything transferred over to a new mac, where do you suggest i go buy an ME version macbook pro and have them do a proper data transfer? Also, do I need to have all my software installation CDs? my most concern is that I've had Adobe CS4 ME installed on my mac just a couple of months ago, brother did it from the states (not a legit copy, couldn't afford it) so no CDs or serial numbers to work with. What should I expect? thanks for the info.

[fangpyre]

Once you get the new Mac, use the Migration Assistant to copy everything over.
This will transfer most things, but many program will require to be reinstalled.
I suspect CS4 to be one that won't transfer.
There are ways to manage that, but we would suggest you buy an original copy, as we won't assist if it ain't legit.

[Magnus]

thanks magnus.. i guess its time for a new one sometime soon.

Now as far as getting everything transferred over to a new mac, where do you suggest i go buy an ME version macbook pro and have them do a proper data transfer? Also, do I need to have all my software installation CDs? my most concern is that I've had Adobe CS4 ME installed on my mac just a couple of months ago, brother did it from the states (not a legit copy, couldn't afford it) so no CDs or serial numbers to work with. What should I expect? thanks for the info.

I second Fangpyre, buy legit copy, then no issue.

[rtdesign]

a couple more freelance jobs and i'll be able to do it so.. who's the most affordable supplier around here for both mac and software? and do they provide any IT related service? for example if i want to just hand over everything to them to do the migration, installation etc.. thanks again, much appreciated!

[Magnus]

Prices are pretty standardized across stores unless you go gray market.