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.
We are closed for Christmas between Mon 23rd Dec - Fri 27th Dec, and on Wed 1st Jan. Last order date for delivery before Christmas: 2pm Thu 19th Dec.
Mac Pro (2009 - 2012) Upgrades
This page covers all the upgrades we sell for Apple Mac Pro workstations
from the 2009 revision onwards. Choose the type of upgrade you are
looking for from the tabs below.(Not the right Mac? See here for more Mac Pros, or here for all Macs.)
If you want specific upgrades for your exact model, choose it from the Model ID links below, or enter your serial number here:
This page deals with the Mac Pro "Nehalem" and
"Westmere",
produced from March 2009. For all earlier Mac Pros please
see this
page.
The Mac Pro "Nehalem" was released in March 2009,
moving the range to the Intel Xeon 3500 and 5500 "Nehalem" processors,
and moving from the DDR2 FB-DIMM memory to DDR3 PC8500 ECC
DIMMs (fully compatible with DDR3 PC10600) which can be used in triple-channel mode. The two FireWire
400 connectors were also replaced with an additional 2 FireWire
800 ports and the optical drive moved from IDE to a SATA interface.
These Mac Pros were released in two major configurations:
The lower end 4-core, which has a single quad core CPU and
has 4 memory sockets each capable of taking an 8GB module for
a total of 32GB (24GB in triple channel mode).
The high end 8-core machine has 2 x quad core CPUs and 8 memory
sockets, each capable of taking an 8GB module for 64GB total.
Apple's own specifications for this Mac can be found here.
In August 2010 Apple updated the Mac Pro with the new Intel
Xeon "Westmere" processor, although they continued
to sell the Nehalem machines as a low end option. All 2010
models can also use 8GB RAM modules for a maximum of 32GB or 64GB,
depending on the number of slots.
The Westmere machines came with configurations based around
two quad core or one or two 6-core processors. The memory type
on the 6 core and 12 core 2010 machines has been upgraded to
DDR3 PC10600 (1333MHz) memory. The quad and 8 core machines
(both Nehalem or Westmere) use the same PC8500 (1066Mhz) memory
as the 2009 machines, but are also fully compatible with the DDR3 PC10600 (1333MHz).
Apart from an upgrade to the graphics cards, this is the only
difference between the machine as far as upgrading them.
Apple specs for the 2010 machines can be found here.
The lineup was refreshed in June 2012, but with little change
to upgrades. Apple specs here.
How to Identify these Machines
The 2009, 2010 and 2012 Mac Pros are also very similar to the earlier Mac
Pros, sold prior to March 2009. System Profiler (Apple Menu > About
This Mac, then click the "More Info" button) is the best
way to tell the difference - in the memory section of System Profiler,
check the speed of the installed RAM modules.
This page deals with Nehalem and Westmere Mac
Pros. The
earlier models are dealt with here.
Externally this machine also looks very similar to the PowerMac
G5 and the PowerMac
G5 Dual Core. Internally this machine (like all Mac Pros) is
much more spacious with room for 2 optical drives and 4 hard drives,
as opposed to 1 optical drive and 2 hard drives on the G5s. An
easy identification between PowerMac G5 and Mac Pro can be made
by opening the System Profiler utility and checking the CPU type
since this machine uses an Intel Xeon and the older machines use
a PowerPC G5.
Apple's own specifications for this Mac can be found here.
If you are still unsure you can contact us on 01223 833 412 or by email for confirmation.
Memory Upgrades
This page lists memory for the Mac Pro "Nehalem" (released
March 2009 and August 2010) and the Mac Pro "Westmere" (released
August 2010, June 2012), RAM upgrades for earlier Mac Pros are listed
here.
Some models have 4 memory sockets while others have 8. The easiest way to find out how much memory your 2009, 2010 or 2012
Mac Pro can take is to check memory type and number of slots in software: Go
to Apple Menu > About This Mac. On the window that comes up, click
"More Info" - this brings up System Profiler. In the left hand
pane of System Profiler select "Memory". The right hand pane now
displays the slots the machine has and what memory you have installed.
If you do not have access to the machine, memory compatibility breaks
down like this:
The Mac Pro Nehalem (the 2009 model, but also sold as a low end
option from August 2010) was released in 4-core (1 x quad core) and
8-core (2 x quad core) models. The Mac Pro Westmere (only sold from
August 2010, but the Nehalem was sold alongside it) was released
in 6 core (1 x 6 core), 8 core (2 x quad core) and 12 core (2 x 6
core) configurations.
The important thing is that the 4 core and 6 core models have 4 memory sockets (max RAM 32GB in 4 x 8GB) and the 8 core and 12 core have 8 (max RAM 64GB in 8 x 8GB). There are also differences in the memory bus speed for the machines. 4 and 8 core models are 1066MHz while 6 and 12 cores are 1333MHz (PC10600). In practice all 2009 - 2012 Mac Pros can use the 1333MHz memory, and due to the increasing difficulty to source the slower RAM we sell this for the entire range. In the slower machines the RAM will downclock to the 1066MHz speed automatically.
Please call us on 01223 833 412 if you need any advice.
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 2 / 5 - Easy
Memory is very much a user installable part, for full instructions on how to fit RAM, as well as recommended configurations for which order to fill your slots, see this Apple guide (pdf).
CD/DVD/Blu-ray Drive Upgrades
The Mac Pro "Nehalem" and "Westmere" use a 5.25" SATA
optical drive and have bays for two units. The following compatible
products are available.
Blu-Ray is not fully supported in OSX. Disks can be mounted and read, but movie playback requires third party software.
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 2 / 5 - Easy
A replacement or additional optical drive is user installable part on this Mac. Full instructions can be found in this pdf.
Internal Hard Drive & SSD Upgrades
The Mac
Pro Nehalem and Westmere have bays for 4 x 3.5" SATA hard drives.
All of the drives listed below are fully compatible.
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.
Mac Pro towers only have a SATA 300 drive controller, so this SATA 600 SSD will be limited to this speed.
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 2 / 5 - Easy
For detailed instructions on installing internal hard drives in the Mac Pro, see this pdf on Apple's website.
Shut down the computer and remove the side access panel.
The four hard drive bays are in a horizontal row below the power supply and optical drive bays. There is no need to mess around with cables, the drives can be just slid in and out.
Slide out a drive tray - empty if installing an additional drive, or the one containing the drive you wish to replace.
Fit the new drive(s) with the screws which are already in position.
Slide the drive bay back in until you feel it snap into position.
Restart your Mac and format the new drive with Disk Utility.
Graphics Cards and Displays
These Mac Pros use PCI-Express for their graphics cards. Listed below are the compatible products that we sell.
Suitable for MacPro5,1 machines (or MacPro4,1 flashed with MacPro5,1 firmware) running OSX 10.12.6 or later.
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 software, Turn off Machine, open side door. Remove the existing
graphics card from its PCI-Express slot, and insert the new card
in its place. If you are unsure call or email our
team. Apple's installation instructions can be found here.
Expansion Card Upgrades
These Mac Pros uses high-bandwidth PCI-Express for their expansion
cards. PCI-Express slots are not backwards compatible with PCI/PCI-X
cards, so the only expansion cards for the Mac Pro are those listed
here. The Mac Pro also has a slot for an Airport Extreme 802.11n
Card.
Requires OSX 10.12.6 or later, or OSX 10.10.5 - NOT compatible with OSX 10.11 (El Capitan) or systems older than OSX 10.10.5. Booting from drives attached via this card is not supported.
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 (PCI-Express).
Install software, Turn off Machine, open side door. Locate a free
PCI-Express socket and remove holding screw. Replace card with new
Card - If you are unsure call or email our
team. Apple's installation instructions can be found here.
Keyboards & Mice
The following keyboards and mice are compatible with this Mac.
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.
Cables & Tools
Listed below are power cables, tools and related products
we supply for this Mac.
With USB 2.0 and FireWire 800 connectivity, the Mac Pro can use a wide range of external hard drives. Please note that to use a FireWire 400 peripheral on a FireWire 800 connection, you will need a 6 pin - 9 pin FireWire cable.
Additionally its PCI-Express slots allow additional connectivities such as eSATA and SCSI to be added, allowing yet more external storage options.
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.
There are none available.
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.