Is it possible to replace my MBP hard drive without voiding the warranty or doing it myself? Say for example, I purchase my own HD and bring it to the Apple store and make them put it in.
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Replacing MBP HD
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I replaced mine in about 15 minutes. When I had a warranty repair to replace a defective keyboard, they said nothing about the drive (they probably didn't notice).
That's just one of the things that can go wrong.
If you're still under warranty, and if you're not comfortable doing this sort of thing, I wouldn't recommend it. I am very comfortable taking my laptops apart (and putting them back together
but, while still in warranty, I avoid it.I used #0 you may be able to use #00 i really dont know, #0 worked for me though.
Thanks guys. I'm fairly comfortable in doing this type of thing, I'm just worried about the warranty incase I screw up in the process. I am also anal when it comes to squeaks and creaks, so I want to avoid those if I end up taking the case apart.
Well, if YOU damage something, it will definitely not be covered under warranty.
I just purchased a 15" MBP and upgraded the hdd before I even powered it on for the first time. (I had the WD 250GB drive and 4GB ram (2x2GB) waiting at home for the MBP)
Well, if YOU damage something, it will definitely not be covered under warranty.
I just purchased a 15" MBP and upgraded the hdd before I even powered it on for the first time. (I had the WD 250GB drive and 4GB ram (2x2GB) waiting at home for the MBP)
Sounds great! I did the same with the RAM
I'd like to upgrade the HD now. Where to look for good prices?
Sounds great! I did the same with the RAM
I bought a Hitachi 7K200 200G 7200RPM HD from Neweggs for $200. This HD comes with 16M buffer, and it is supper fast. HD sorce in Vista experience yields 5.6, better than many desk top HDs. If you want a bigger capacity, you can go with WD 250G 5400RPM, which is about $150.
DIY HD replacement saved me tons of money for 4G ram and other staff for my sweet MBP
I bought a Hitachi 7K200 200G 7200RPM HD from Neweggs for $200. This HD comes with 16M buffer, and it is supper fast. HD sorce in Vista experience yields 5.6, better than many desk top HDs. If you want a bigger capacity, you can go with WD 250G 5400RPM, which is about $150.
DIY HD replacement saved me tons of money for 4G ram and other staff for my sweet MBP
This is what I just dropped in last night. NEW MBP owner. Very happy with the results.
I bought a Hitachi 7K200 200G 7200RPM HD from Neweggs for $200. This HD comes with 16M buffer, and it is supper fast. HD sorce in Vista experience yields 5.6, better than many desk top HDs. If you want a bigger capacity, you can go with WD 250G 5400RPM, which is about $150.
DIY HD replacement saved me tons of money for 4G ram and other staff for my sweet MBP
That sounds very good. Right now, my Vista Experience rating is 4.8 with a Glossy MacBook Pro 2.4GHz C2D 4GB RAM 160GB 5400 rpm HDD.
The Apple BTO upgrade cost was also $200 for a 200GB @ 7200 rpm on a 15" MBP. You figure you buy it at $200, do it yourself and resell the stock HD for $80 or so (160GB @ 5400 rpm) on Craigslist or equivalent.
Western Digital now as a 320GB Scorpio (2.5" HDD) @ 5400 rpm announced for also $200. I don't know whether it is already for sale, I could not find it anywhere.
As the drive fills up a 320GB @ 5400 rpm may be faster than a 200GB @ 7200 rpm.
Could anyone please tell us what app out there is best to measure the different hardware components' performance on a MBP?
You can order the 320 GB Scorpio from WD directly. However, it only has a 8 MB cache. But I'm thinking about getting one for my FW800 enclosure.
I still keep my original 120G HD, in care something goes wrong with the machine. I guess it is better to switch back to the original HD before going to Apple Care. Maybe sure, maybe not. Some other guy just went to Apple store for repair, with his own HD. And seems everything is OK. So if you can find a SATA external case, you can just keep the original HD around.
WD 320G 5400RPM 8M HD, you can order it on WD's website for $199 (plus tax maybe). Sounds like a good deal.
http://www.wdc.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=377
But there is no way that this HD can over performance the Hitachi 7K200 series. According to the review (http://www.storagereview.com/HTS722020K9A00.sr?page=0,0), Hitachi 7K200 200G 7200RPM 16M HD holds the record of highest performance among notebook HDs. It is highly impossible that any 5400RPM HD could be better than that.
So at the same cost of $200, the choice is yours. Want more space, go with WD 320G; want top speed, go with Hitachi 7K200.
WD 320G 5400RPM 8M HD, you can order it on WD's website for $199 (plus tax maybe). Sounds like a good deal.
http://www.wdc.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=377
But there is no way that this HD can over performance the Hitachi 7K200 series. According to the review (http://www.storagereview.com/HTS722020K9A00.sr?page=0,0), Hitachi 7K200 200G 7200RPM 16M HD holds the record of highest performance among notebook HDs. It is highly impossible that any 5400RPM HD could be better than that.
So at the same cost of $200, the choice is yours. Want more space, go with WD 320G; want top speed, go with Hitachi 7K200.
Thank you for the links. I had read that the performance of a HDD decreases as it fills up so some people keep that in mind to compare several drives of different speeds/ capacity. But I am not an expert and I think you summed-it up very nicely.
I will go with the Hitachi for the speed. Thank you for the links (as a side note, there is no option to add the Scorpio to the cart as far as I can see on the WD page).
For those of you in the USA and interested in the Hitachi 2.5" 200GB 7200rpm drive, you can get it from Best Buy for $129.99 in an enclosure (external USB hard drive).
Pop the enclosure open and you just saved yourself $70 over the retail price for the same OEM hard drive (at Newegg. Other World Computing etc.).
The Best Buy SKU # is 8355709 for this drive.
Make sure the serial # begins with GTD on the Hitachi box at the Best Buy BEFORE you buy it.
Pop the enclosure open and you just saved yourself $70 over the retail price for the same OEM hard drive (at Newegg. Other World Computing etc.).
The Best Buy SKU # is 8355709 for this drive.
Make sure the serial # begins with GTD on the Hitachi box at the Best Buy BEFORE you buy it.
I believe I saw this drive comes in both 1.5Gb and 3.0Gb SATA versions. It may be that the portable enclosure has the slower one.
That's a good point and you are probably right: it must be the SATA-150.
I am not sure how to get that info off of the box without actually getting to the drive's label itself after opening the enclosure.
Do you know where to find the SATA-300 (=3.0Gb) model?
Other World Computing has the 1.5Gb model only here.