Two Hardware Upgrades - Opinions??

Hola,

I have a 13in Early 09 unibody Macbook Pro. I'm looking upgrade my hardrive and memory. (I currently have a 4gb of RAM and a 250gb HD)

I've been searching ebay and other 3rd party sites and have found a couple of different options. I'm looking to get feedback on the following:

1.0TB WD Scorpio Blue 5200RPM Serial ATA **12... (WD10TPVT) at OWC

8GB DDR3 Memory for MacBook Pro 13-inch 2.53GHz - eBay (item 170548385022 end time Dec-02-10 10:20:32 PST)

Thanks!

That's a really really slow HDD. 5400 RPM is pretty slow and that one is even slower. If you don't mind using the slower HDD then I guess it's fine.

I kind of don't really see the need for such a large HDD in a notebook. If anything get an external HDD so you can back up your currently HDD.

I would buy the RAM from OWC as well. Same price as the one you listed on eBay.

jonny-5 said:

Hola,

I have a 13in Early 09 unibody Macbook Pro. I'm looking upgrade my hardrive and memory. (I currently have a 4gb of RAM and a 250gb HD)

I've been searching ebay and other 3rd party sites and have found a couple of different options. I'm looking to get feedback on the following:

1.0TB WD Scorpio Blue 5200RPM Serial ATA **12... (WD10TPVT) at OWC

8GB DDR3 Memory for MacBook Pro 13-inch 2.53GHz - eBay (item 170548385022 end time Dec-02-10 10:20:32 PST)

Thanks!

Click to expand...

The HD won't work. It is a 1TB model which requires a 3rd platter inside, making it 12.5mm high. The max MBP's will take is a 9.5mm drive.

As far as HD's are concerned, check out the following:
Seagate Momentus
Seagate Momentus XT
Samsung SpinPoint
WD Scorpio Blue


And I wouldn't trust that ram. Just seems sketchy imo.
If you want good RAM check out: Newegg.com - Mushkin Enhanced 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 1066 (PC3 8500) Dual Channel Kit Memory for Apple Model 976644A
or whatever OWC has. I know Mushkin has some of the best support in the business, and backs everything with lifetime warranties. I personally use Mushkin (when I have the money)

Wow! RAMs are so cheap now. I remember shop for 4-8 GB a few months ago, the 8GB pair was 2-3 hundred dollars. Makes me want to upgrade to 8GB before it goes up in price again.

CrimsonRequiem said:

That's a really really slow HDD. 5400 RPM is pretty slow and that one is even slower. If you don't mind using the slower HDD then I guess it's fine.

I kind of don't really see the need for such a large HDD in a notebook. If anything get an external HDD so you can back up your currently HDD.

I would buy the RAM from OWC as well. Same price as the one you listed on eBay.

Click to expand...

Is 7200 really that much faster than 5400??

Check this out:

NEW 500GB 7200 Apple MacBook Pro 13" 2.53GHz Hard Drive - eBay (item 330443588280 end time Dec-12-10 19:10:34 PST)

I have a 1tb external already so I could certainly sacrifice space for speed. I wish I could go to a solid state drive, but I heard I'd have to replace my whole logic board.... plus it's soooo expensive!

jonny-5 said:

I wish I could go to a solid state drive, but I heard I'd have to replace my whole logic board....

Click to expand...

This is TOTALLY false!!! At least as far as your Macbook application.

Where the "heck" did you hear this?

- Nick

pigoo3 said:

This is TOTALLY false!!! At least as far as your Macbook application.

Where the "heck" did you hear this?

- Nick

Click to expand...

Apple Support. LOL!

jonny-5 said:

Is 7200 really that much faster than 5400??

Check this out:

NEW 500GB 7200 Apple MacBook Pro 13" 2.53GHz Hard Drive - eBay (item 330443588280 end time Dec-12-10 19:10:34 PST)

I have a 1tb external already so I could certainly sacrifice space for speed. I wish I could go to a solid state drive, but I heard I'd have to replace my whole logic board.... plus it's soooo expensive!

Click to expand...

Don't buy electronics off eBay. Use Newegg or a real electronic reseller.
Newegg.com - Seagate Momentus 7200.4 ST9500420AS 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache 2.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s Internal Notebook Hard Drive -Bare Drive

That's what I use. $70 right now.

And as far as SSD's go, they are still fairly expensive. Your choice, but you won't need one with a Sandforce controller since OS X doesn't support TRIM.

s2odin said:

Don't buy electronics off eBay. Use Newegg or a real electronic reseller.
Newegg.com - Seagate Momentus 7200.4 ST9500420AS 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache 2.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s Internal Notebook Hard Drive -Bare Drive

That's what I use. $70 right now.

And as far as SSD's go, they are still fairly expensive. Your choice, but you won't need one with a Sandforce controller since OS X doesn't support TRIM.

Click to expand...

Check out OWC they have some pretty competitive pricing on their SSDs. You don't really need a lot of storage if you choose to go SSD. Just enough to install your applications, and a little bit of storage.

You should have an external HDD to store the rest of your stuff on it.

jonny-5 said:

Is 7200 really that much faster than 5400??

Check this out:

NEW 500GB 7200 Apple MacBook Pro 13" 2.53GHz Hard Drive - eBay (item 330443588280 end time Dec-12-10 19:10:34 PST)

I have a 1tb external already so I could certainly sacrifice space for speed. I wish I could go to a solid state drive, but I heard I'd have to replace my whole logic board.... plus it's soooo expensive!

Click to expand...

7200 RPM is a lot faster.

s2odin said:

Don't buy electronics off eBay. Use Newegg or a real electronic reseller.
Newegg.com - Seagate Momentus 7200.4 ST9500420AS 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache 2.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s Internal Notebook Hard Drive -Bare Drive

That's what I use. $70 right now.

And as far as SSD's go, they are still fairly expensive. Your choice, but you won't need one with a Sandforce controller since OS X doesn't support TRIM.

Click to expand...

I'm going with the Seagate for $70!!! Now will I need to buy a new copy of OSX or will the disks that came with my MBP work?

jonny-5 said:

I'm going with the Seagate for $70!!! Now will I need to buy a new copy of OSX or will the disks that came with my MBP work?

Click to expand...

Well you have a few options:
- Use Time Machine to backup your current computer on an external, then do a fresh install (with your install disks) then backup from Time Machine
- Start clean with a fresh install with your install disks
- Use CCC or SuperDuper! to make a bootable copy of your current hard drive onto your external (see my sig)

s2odin said:

Well you have a few options:
- Use Time Machine to backup your current computer on an external, then do a fresh install (with your install disks) then backup from Time Machine
- Start clean with a fresh install with your install disks
- Use CCC or SuperDuper! to make a bootable copy of your current hard drive onto your external (see my sig)

Click to expand...

Excellent! I was reading some reviews on the 500 GB Seagate and noticed a lot of negativite feedback concerning the noise and vibration that it adds.

I have a 13' MBP.... did you notice that big of a difference when you installed yours?

jonny-5 said:

Excellent! I was reading some reviews on the 500 GB Seagate and noticed a lot of negativite feedback concerning the noise and vibration that it adds.

I have a 13' MBP.... did you notice that big of a difference when you installed yours?

Click to expand...

No difference whatsoever.
I even put it in a friends MBP for a while and didn't notice anything in his either. Anything can fail, and when it does, consumers make a big deal out of it. If it is noisy / whatever, just RMA. They come with 5 year warranties. Consumers expect everything to work right out of the box. They don't understand that sometimes, they don't. That's why there are warranties. (Not trying to be mean towards you, just saying that when people don't get exactly what they want, everyone has to find out).