Need buying advice for a MBP

Hi,

Hello to everyone here. This is my first post after months of lurking.
I am looking for ways to buy the following at the lowest price possible:

MacBook Pro 17-inch High-Resolution Widescreen Display
NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics with 256MB SDRAM
2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
2GB 667 DDR2 - 2x1GB SO-DIMMs
160GB Serial ATA Drive @ 5400 rpm
SuperDrive 8x (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)

Though I plan to purchase it after the Leopard release, I am gathering info over time to make a cost effective purchase. I will be making my purchase in Oregon, US. I don't mind buying online from other merchants than Apple as long as they have a good return policy.

I have the following questions and would appreciate your advice:
1. Could I upgrade my RAM myself without voiding my warranty?
2. Could I upgrade my HDD myself without voiding my warranty?
3. Is it almost impossible to find notebook backpacks for 17" notebooks?
4. Do I have to buy RAM specifically made for MBP or any DDR2 PC2-5300 CL5, Unbuffered, Non-ECC RAM would do?
5. Are there any restrictions on the type of notebook hardrives? What types are compatible? I plan to get the largest 7200rpm SATA notebook HDD with NCQ and freefall sensors, like the Seagate Momentus 7200.2 or the upcoming Hitachi MHV2200BT

6. Where would you recommend that I purchase a MBP to get the lowest price possible with the best configuration possible?

Thanks very much for your kind input.
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If you click the top stickied link, I think a lot of the DIY upgrading information is addressed there.

17" laptop backpacks are tougher to find, but certainly doable.

 

you wont have trouble finding a case specific to the 17" macbook pro. they are all over. random 17" notebooks might cause trouble.

 

The sticky mentions that only the RAM is user upgradeable. Not the HDD, but the sticky was last updated in Aug 2006. I wonder if the new MBP revisions would allow me to change the HDD without voiding the warranty or is it more of a warranty policy than technical difficulty in doing the upgrade. I know that the MBP has motion sensor HDDs whereas the MacBook does not.

Could anybody clarify this? Eventually I would call up apple to clarify.

Thanks,
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Any recomendations, I tried Samsonite, they told me good luckk in finding one!

Thanks,
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If you have an Apple Store nearby, they have cases designed specifically for Macbooks. InCase is a brand that comes to mind. Also check the Apple website for (expensive) Macbook accessories.

 

Brenthaven has a backpack that's supposed to be good (and very expensive). Otherwise, I'd go to ebags.com (or some bag site), and just sort through the laptop backpacks.

 

Upgrading the ram is fine, it will not void your warranty. I just go on to Crucial RAMs website and use their upgrade adviser. Its just regular 667 notebook ram I think. The hard drive is a tricky issue. With the Macbooks I believe you can actually change out the hard drive fairly easily without voiding your warranty. The MacBook Pros on the other hand, are much more involved. You have to open up the case and do everything manually. As long as you do everything properly, you wont void your warranty, because they wont notice anything wrong if you take it in. Technically though, I think this DOES void your warranty.

More specific information on this sort of thing is a lot easier to come by on Mac specific sites like MacRumors

Thats just a link straight to their forums MBP section.

I can't think of any resellers that are very fun to buy from. Most people buy straight from apple.com or go to a local apple store. Usually you can get some sort of discount if you are student, I don't know about anyone else. Just because I have no experience with them, I wouldn't recommend resellers, as they don't offer much of a price decrease unless they are selling you an older revision model MBP.

 

There are 17" notebook backpacks. Ogio and Targus make some. Try a site like eBags.com.

 

Anyone have an opinion on the 1900 resolution on the 17"? I love small text. My 17" monitor i use 1280x1024.