Upgrading Hard drive to Western Digital 250gb?

Just need some tips and reassurance if possible guys. Im from the UK btw.

Ive got a standard 80gb at the moment and hoping to install leopard and xp/vista soon. I'd really like some more space so i'm looking at the most i can get. I've got two options:

Seagate Momentus 5400.3 160GB 2.5" SATA 5400RPM

or

Western Digital Scorpio 250GB 2.5" SATA 5400RPM

now doing some price checking they are nearly the same price so im thinking 250gb is the way to go. But from past experience going OTT on anything is always a bad thing. Is there going to be any problems installing a 250gb drive or any problems running it ie. heat, noises, battery drain. Is it as easy as taking the old one out and fitting the new one (ive watched the youtube videos and yes i know about formating with diskutility). I keep reading about this Western digital passport so im getting worried if this is an adapter or something.

Anyone done this or have any experience with upgrades?

Oh and im upgrading to 2gb ram too. Crucial have the best prices i can see.

I got a 320Gb Western Digital Scorpio for my Macbook and couldn't be happier...

It is quiet, cool and doesn't impact the battery life in any way.

Go for it!

Installing a new HDD is very straight-forward on a Macbook... Turn off the Macbook, remove the battery, remove the little plate covering the RAM, and the HDD is right there! Then reinstall your OS and you're all set!!!

Btw, you might want to consider a 320Gb instead of the 250Gb... For a little more $$, you'll get more storage space which is a great deal! I got mine for $200USD directly from Western Digital's website.

woooahhh thats huge, i didnt realise they made one. I agree whilst the novelty of having that much space would be great, its probs just a waste. Im currently looking at a time capsule so im saving for that. Ok im gunna get the WD 250. Cheers

i have a wd 250 in my mbp easy install and no problems love it

i have a 200gb 7200 right now. planning on upping to 500GB when made available in the future (probably about 8-10months@ a price point im comfy with)

a HD upgrade is the best upgrade in my opinion after of course ram

get as much space as you can for what $ you have now, dont skip on the GB.

hello everybody,

im also going to be buying a Macbook soon, the combo model.
with regards HD maker does anyone stand out among the crowd?.
Most seem to be about the same price im looking at Fujitsu, WD, Toshiba and Hitachi.

Probably be buying for dabs.ie since im in ireland.
Interesting about crucial charging different prices depending on browser.

I got a Samsung 250GB model for mine recently. Seems to work fine and the install was easy. Haven't noticed any real performance differences - apart from the tons of space!

Haven't a clue as to how reliable Samsung's drives are supposed to be, but as long as it lasts me a year or two I'll be happy.
Thanks to Time machine swapping the drives only caused about 3 hours "downtime" (including the trip to town for the drive).

Here's the model information from System Profiler:

SAMSUNG HM250JI:

Capacity: 232,89 GB
Model: SAMSUNG HM250JI

been looking and i see theres sata 150 and sata 300 what does this mean, what difference does it make. are both compatible with macbook.

I just installed the WD 250 GB HDD onto my macbook and installed leopard with no problems at all. I lost no files and when I started it all up after the reinstalls the MB was just how I left it, except it was running leopard, and was much faster

No qualms about it at all. Runs quietly, the speed reduces the impact on the battery and after a few little foibles (from incompatible software) I was well away LEOPARD RULES

I don't know much about SATA and 2.5" drives if they differ at all but i've done the rounds on HD manufacturers.
I generally rate Seagate, WD and Maxtor
I had my reservations about IBM though they're now made by Hitachi, and on that note check out the new 500Gb Hitachi laptop drive
One of the Macs I bought in the past had a Quantum drive which survived well but had to upgrade it as the capacity was too small (20Gb) and I have it sitting on a shelf as a backup. Quantum were bought by Maxtor which was amalgamated into Seagate.

I lost a bit of faith with WD after seeing a housemate's old computer's HD where the read head had made a great big score on the platter. But am sure that can happen with any drive.

Currently I have a 120Gb Seagate and a 120Gb Maxtor as my main drives and a 300Gb Maxtor as my backup system.

right probably too expensive for me at the moment. the MB only take 9.5mm tall HD anyways and the hitachi is taller 12.5mm. see the 150 and 300 is the data transfer rate.
which should i go for?