MacUpgrades.co.uk offers a wide range of fixed price upgrades and repairs for your Apple computers. You can drop in to our offices in Sawston, Cambridge or if you are not local you can either have us collect or send in your computer yourself. Sameday fitting is available for most items, contact us for details. We also offer on site installation services and training on your premises.
Macupgrades offers a wide range of on-site services for your Apple equipment. We offer all of our upgrade services, and most of our repair services too.
All our engineers have at least 15 years of experience with Apple hardware and software
Enter your serial number into the box below for specific upgrades for your machine. Each upgrade has been tested in the machine we list it for. Compatability is 100% guaranteed or your money back.
How to find your serial number in software
You can find your Mac's serial number in Apple System Profiler: Select the Apple Menu > About This Mac, then (depending on the version of OSX you are running) click the System Report button or the More Info button. This brings up System Profiler, and on the Hardware Overview that is displayed by default you should see your serial number, and be able to copy/paste it. The procedure does vary slightly between different versions of OSX.
If you can't boot your Mac
If your Mac is not working, the serial number is printed on the computer casing but the location varies. Here are the main locations of serial numbers on Apple computers.
Unibody MacBook Pro - Laser etched onto the base.
MacBook, Early MacBook Pro, PowerBook G4 - Inside the main battery bay. Remove battery to locate.
iBook (White) - Under the keyboard. To lift keyboard, pull back on the release tabs between the F-keys.
Intel iMac, iMac G5 - Underside of the foot/stand.
iMac G4, iMac G3 - Underside of the iMac.
Mac mini - On the underside of the Mac mini.
Mac Pro 2006-2012 - On rear of machine near graphics card ports.
PowerMac G5 - On lower chassis under side panel. To remove side panel, lift lever on rear of Mac.
PowerMac G3, PowerMac G4 - Label on the back of the Mac.
Your Mac's Model Identifier can be found in System Profiler. You can use the drop-down menus above to be taken to a page that displays upgrades specifically for your exact model.
This tool is also available on its own page, with a list of all Model IDs here.
COVID Update: Online orders and mail-in repairs/upgrades are happening as normal. Collection and drop-off are operating by appointment - please call us on 01223 833 412 to book a slot.
PowerMac 7300/7500/7600 Upgrades
This page covers all the upgrades we sell for this range of Macs. Choose the type of upgrade you are looking for from the tabs below.
If you want specific upgrades for your exact model, choose it from the Model ID links below, or enter your serial number here:
This group of desktop machines began production in May 1995, and they are reasonably
upgradeable. They have a daughter card processor which allows for very simple
CPU upgrades, and they all use PCI for internal expansion, which gives them access to a large range of add-on cards.
The systems all shipped with SCSI for their internal hard drives
and optical drives. SCSI drives to work in these machines are no longer manufactured, and are very thin on the
ground nowadays. Luckily there are alternatives, which are IDE and SATA - these can be added with
PCI cards, and allow you to use modern, cheap, hard drives and other internal storage devices.
The lack of
modern external connectivity, such as USB or FireWire, can also be overcome with PCI expansion cards, meaning that
new printers and other accessories can be used.
How to Identify these Machines
These pre-G3 Desktops all use the
same form factor case, however they are all marked clearly with their model number - if this is missing, identification should be done with the Apple System
Profiler software installed on the machine,
as they differ only very slightly internally.
If you are still unsure you can contact us on 01223 833 412 or by email for
confirmation. If you want to upgrade but aren't happy to install the upgrades yourself
then we can help. Simply ask our engineers for further details.
Memory Upgrades
These pre-G3 PowerMac computers use 168 pin DIMM EDO memory. They have 8 RAM slots, and can support
up to 1GB of memory.
These memory chips are now very difficult to source, and at present we are unable to
supply them. We suggest looking on eBay as a method of finding these compatible modules. It is best to get memory which has come from a previous
machine of the same type, due to varying RAM speed issues.
We do not have RAM available for these Macs.
CD/DVD/Blu-ray Drive Upgrades
These Pre G3 Machines use SCSI as their system bus. Most modern CD Writers and hard drives use IDE. To upgrade your optical drive you will need to have an IDE card installed in a PCI slot.
There are no optical drive upgrades available for these Macs
Difficulty 2 / 5 (internal). These instructions assume you have an installed PCI ATA controller card.
Turn off the machine.
There are two tabs on the underside of the front part of the case,
under the CD-ROM and PowerPC label. Pushing these tabs allows the removal of the case by pulling forward on the
case.
This reveals the CD-ROM unit. Move it forwards on the sled and replace the unit, connect this to your ATA controller
and power supply, and turn machine on.
External units are very easy to use. If you are unsure call or email our team.
Internal Hard Drive & SSD Upgrades
These pre-G3 Machines use SCSI for their internal hard drive. Most modern internal hard drives use SATA. To upgrade your
hard drive you will first need to purchase a SATA controller card, which can be installed in a PCI slot.
If you don't want to fit a new hard drive yourself, you can take advantage of the MacUpgrades Installation Service. Add the installation service from the list below to your cart along with your chosen hard drive. We can also clone your existing hard drive onto the new one, simply add the Clone Original Hard Drive service below to your cart.
Once you have booked the service, send your machine to us, we will carry out the work and return it to you. Alternatively, we do offer a Collection Service with our courier, please see here for details.
There are none available.
Difficulty 2 / 5 - Easy. These instructions assume you have an installed PCI SATA controller card.
Turn off the PowerMac. There are two tabs on the underside of the front part of the case
under the CD-ROM and PowerPC label. Pushing these tabs allows the removal of the case by pulling forward on the
case.
This reveals the empty drive bays. Mount the drive onto a sled, connect this to your SATA controller
and power supply, then turn the machine on.
These PowerMacs have 3x33MHz PCI sockets for upgrading your video capabilities. The machines have between
4 and 8MB of Video RAM by default. These cards will fit in a free PCI slot, and provide an alternative, upgraded, graphics system.
There are no graphics card upgrades available for these Macs
Difficulty 1 / 5 - Very Easy.
Install any included software, then turn off the computer.
There are two tabs on the underside of the front part of the case, under the CD-ROM and PowerPC label. Pushing these tabs allows the removal of the case by pulling forward on the case.
There is a beige grill which pivots about the side of the case, this reveals the cream PCI Sockets. Install the PCI graphics card in a free slot.
Expansion Card Upgrades
Your PowerMac has up to 3 available PCI sockets for connectivity expansion. Since the machine was
manufactured new connection types such as USB and FireWire have been developed, keep your machine up to scratch with our range
of upgrade cards.
Any fitting information below is intended as a guide before purchase ONLY, when fitting these products you should refer to the original manual for your computer, and any instructions that come with the item. Please see this page for more information, or here for information on our fitting service.
Difficulty 1 / 5 - Very Easy.
Install any included software, then turn off your PowerMac.
There are two tabs on the underside of the front part of the case, under the CD-ROM and PowerPC label. Pushing these tabs allows the removal of the case by pulling forward on the case.
There is a beige grill which pivots about the side of the case, this reveals the cream PCI sockets. Install PCI card in a free slot.
It is possible to upgrade this Mac with an external hard drive, however you will need to add a modern connectivity type to your Mac. For this machine we
strongly recommend looking at FireWire if you want any external data storage devices. FireWire can be added with an expansion card (see below).
You will need to be running at least OS9 to use FireWire.
There are no external hard drive upgrades available for these Macs.
Complete Machines - Refurbished
Any complete machines of this type or similar that we have for sale are listed here. Please note that these are refurbished models with a 3 month warranty, and that delivery is likely to take 3 - 5 working days. These can be purchased online with the standard website courier delivery charge for the mainland UK only. Please contact us for a quote on shipping to other areas.
Repair Services for this Mac
Here are the various repair services we offer for this Mac. You can have us take the machine in for evaluation, or book a fixed-price repair if you already know what the fault is and the service is listed below (for services without parts, please see the relevant tab on this page for compatible parts that we sell). If you know what the fault is, but we don't have a fixed-price repair listed below, please contact
us for a quote.
