configure a Mac
At first glance, it looks like you’re hampered when it comes to choosing your perfect Mac, straitjacketed into a relatively narrow set of options. For those coming from the world of Windows, it can be a bit of a culture shock to discover your choices are relatively limited, but if the specs don’t quite match up to your expectations, don’t worry – you can often customise key aspects of your Mac prior to purchase. The service isn’t just limited to Apple’s own stores either; some Premium Resellers also offer it, so check before you set off to purchase.
It’s worth sitting down and deciding exactly what you’re going to need from your new Mac, thinking five years ahead. In most cases, once you’ve made a choice about memory or hard drive, you’re stuck – the days of easily upgrading those components on a Mac are fading fast.
When you select a Mac on Apple’s site, you’ll be taken to a screen where you can upgrade various components – they depend on the model you pick, not just the type of Mac. Choose upgrades carefully as the price can quickly spiral (usually with RAM). Make sure your upgrade will make a real difference – a 200MHz bump on the processor’s speed will have little effect, but going from dual-core to quad-core will.
For most people, the most critical upgrades to consider are storage and RAM (memory). For the latter, consider 8GB a decent amount for a range of tasks, but bump it up to 16GB if you perform high-end creative tasks like video editing or rendering. To improve day-to-day performance, choose an SSD or a Fusion Drive (which contains a small SSD cache) – this will speed up loading times and make a real difference to how responsive your Mac feels.