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DavidCL23

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Dec 14, 2001
383
0
NJ
Is it worth upgrading my ibook to the new hitachi hard drive? Will this void my warranty? Anywhere, I can find information on how to perform the hard drive upgrade?
Thanks a bunch
My ibook is a 14" 1.2ghz machine :)
 

Cordless_Drill

macrumors regular
Jul 6, 2004
133
0
Montgomery, Ala., USA
Yes, that will void your warranty. If you're that serious about performance, why didn't you buy a 15" powerbook?

I really don't think Hitachi drives belong in an iBook. Maybe that's just me.
 

mr_mac

macrumors member
May 1, 2004
74
0
Quebec, Canada
This will incredibly increase your overall system speed.

All apps will launch faster, all disk access will be way faster also.

Have it installed by an Apple service provider. This won't void your warranty.

What voids your warranty is the fact that you open the iBook yourself. not the fact that you installed a Third party HDD. Just like RAM, will your warranty be void if you install RAM that is not Apple branded??

Go for the drive, it's worth it. and go for the installation too... it's a pain in the a*s to install. Takes around 2.5 hours for a non-mac tech. maybe 1.5 hour for somebody that knows a bit where he's going.

There is like 5 types of screws in there. and you have to be really careful since many parts are delicate and can break like the CD drive, the keyboard cable, the mouse cable, etc.

Get the drive, get the install.

Give us some feedback on speed once it's done!

Regards,

Mrmac (Senior Mac Tech)
 

Cordless_Drill

macrumors regular
Jul 6, 2004
133
0
Montgomery, Ala., USA
Yea -- I should have made that clear about the tech install.

I just assumed homey was going to rip the iBook open and go at it. Which is a major no-no from a warranty standpoint.

Still, why not buy a 12-inch powerbook with the 5400 drive?
 

zakee00

macrumors regular
Jul 7, 2004
244
0
...because his ibook with that monster drive would probably out-proform a 12" pb :D maybe, we'll see...
 

swmooretiger

macrumors newbie
Aug 27, 2003
26
0
yo finiksa or whatever your name is, re-read his post, he said nothin about RAM voiding a warranty, he used it as an example of something that's ok to install from a third party....jeez, learn to read before you go and criticize someone.
 

JFreak

macrumors 68040
Jul 11, 2003
3,151
9
Tampere, Finland
the 7k60 will give a nice performance boost for any laptop out there, but it's a kind of a pricey upgrade for an ibook in my opinion. i didn't have any difficulties dropping one to a powerbook which is expensive as hell anyway, but if ibook only costs a thousand to begin with, then this hard drive might be overkill price-wise.
 

spaceballl

macrumors 68030
Nov 2, 2003
2,892
285
San Francisco, CA
Cordless_Drill said:
I really don't think Hitachi drives belong in an iBook. Maybe that's just me.
Yeah it's just you. I bought one a couple months ago for my iBook 700. I'm going to wait as long as I need to in order to buy a PB G5, even if it is well into next year. Already having my RAM max'd out, I didn't know what to do in order to spruce up the iBook. I went for the Hitachi upgrade.

1. Boot up time is SOOOOO much faster.
2. Programs boot slightly faster.
3. Video editing is much better!
4. Having three times the HD space I had before is great.
5. The computer is a bit snappier all around.

So all that being said, if you have the technical knowhow to do it, I say go for it.
 

iNetwork

macrumors member
Jul 20, 2004
91
0
New Mexico
Cordless_Drill said:
Yes, that will void your warranty. If you're that serious about performance, why didn't you buy a 15" powerbook?

I really don't think Hitachi drives belong in an iBook. Maybe that's just me.
1. Not everybody can afford a powerbook
2. 1.33 15" Powerbooks aren't that much better than 1.2 ibooks--especially to justify the cost. IMO Powerbooks are status symbols. I leave symbols to the symbol minded.
3. The next generation of ibooks will be faster than this generation powerbooks--this has proven to be true especially in the recent past.
4. If you're serious about performance you'd buy a Powermac

I think the 7200 rpm drive would significantly improve your performance. Hard drives ARE the limiting factor in all notebooks. It will result in faster program load and boot times. (not saying it's the only factor but it's got the slowest access times) Yes, it will void your warranty and if there are any recalls it will eliminate you from them. <--Something worth keeping in mind considering that
 

srchurch

macrumors newbie
Jul 17, 2004
14
0
Is there an 80Gb 7200rpm drive, or do they only come in 60Gb?
Also, if you google: hitachi 7k60 7200 I found several performance tests if any one is interested.
 

DazedNConfusedX

macrumors newbie
Jul 18, 2004
23
0
East/South Bay Area, CA - USA
I'm about to buy a 1.33G 15" PB. Its 4800 rpm HD doesn't seem all that snappy. However, I don't want to upgrade to the 5400 rpm 80G HD, because that would entail me spending much more than just the $113 or so for the upgrade itself (tax, package deals/rebates, etc.).

If I do want a faster HD installed in the future, what good could I do w/ the extracted 4800 rpm? Would it fetch any significant $ on ebay, etc.? :D
 

DavidCL23

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Dec 14, 2001
383
0
NJ
I think I may have made a mistake in getting this ibook, sounds like I should've got a powerbook, How much do you think I will get if I sell it, it's just one month old. It's the fully loaded 14" model with 1.2ghz 60gb 512mb (upgrade performed by apple for $100) + superdrive + airport extrere. I also purchased the incase backpack (although I will probably keep it for the powerbook), and applecare warranty until Jun 22, 2007. I still have the original receipt from the south coast plaza apple store in CA (it was given to me as a gift, a requested gift :) ) Can I get back at least $1800?
 

Celeron

macrumors 6502a
Mar 11, 2004
705
9
DavidCL23 said:
It's the fully loaded 14" model with 1.2ghz 60gb 512mb (upgrade performed by apple for $100)

Please tell me that upgrade included the price of the memory and they didn't charge you $100 just to install it.
 

jsw

Moderator emeritus
Mar 16, 2004
22,910
44
Andover, MA
Celeron said:
Please tell me that upgrade included the price of the memory and they didn't charge you $100 just to install it.

He must mean the $100 256MB -> 512MB upgrade option.
 

mpopkin

macrumors 6502
Nov 14, 2003
298
3
Chapel Hill, NC
It will increase your performance negligbly unless you are editing video, which is the only real reason to upgrade to a 7200 rpm drive, what mr_mac is wrong about is 1) Because Apple does not use the Hitachi Travelstart 7k60 in any of its machines, having it installed by either a mac specialist/tech will let them fix it, but it wont be covered by apple and any problems with it will have to be taken up with hitachi and this also includes any problems that it causes with the ibook's other parts, basically while it wont void the open the case void the warranty aspect of the warrant, but since you are changing the configuration of the machine to a nonspecified/approved configuration, it will void the warranty of the machine example: if the processor/logic board stops working in 6 months because of overheating, apple will not fix your machine, citing the extra heat produced by a 7200 rpm drive in which adequate cooling was not factored into the machine, if you wanted that kind of performance and video editing is the only real need for this kind of hd access speed, then you should have gotten a powerbook, because the ibook is crippled in that sense, i do video editing as a job and have fully loaded new pbook with a fast hd5400 rpm and it does make a difference, but i only need it when i edit video. so you should be fine in the base configuration because you would be the first case i heard of someone buying an ibook for video editing or even games, because frankly, there is a performance difference between the two models, a significant difference

mr_mac said:
This will incredibly increase your overall system speed.

All apps will launch faster, all disk access will be way faster also.

Have it installed by an Apple service provider. This won't void your warranty.

What voids your warranty is the fact that you open the iBook yourself. not the fact that you installed a Third party HDD. Just like RAM, will your warranty be void if you install RAM that is not Apple branded??

Go for the drive, it's worth it. and go for the installation too... it's a pain in the a*s to install. Takes around 2.5 hours for a non-mac tech. maybe 1.5 hour for somebody that knows a bit where he's going.

There is like 5 types of screws in there. and you have to be really careful since many parts are delicate and can break like the CD drive, the keyboard cable, the mouse cable, etc.

Get the drive, get the install.

Give us some feedback on speed once it's done!

Regards,

Mrmac (Senior Mac Tech)
any any any
 

mpopkin

macrumors 6502
Nov 14, 2003
298
3
Chapel Hill, NC
1. genius you forgot about the 1.5 ghz powerbook
2. the previous generation pbook 1.25 ghz is more powerful than the 1.2 ghz ibook of this generation, for people like me who use my pbook for video editing on the road(dont give the get a g5 speel, because i have a dual 2.0 g5 as well) and because i have a friend who had an ibook and its performance just sucked. The next ibook will not be a g5 ibook, but probably a 1.5ghz g4. Where did the status symbol come from, the powerbooks are nicer sure, they are better yes, but a status symbol compared to the ibook, apples are a symbol in general(they cost 150% the price of equivalent pc laptops, but you do get what you pay for)
3. Ibook g4 will be the next generation of ibooks, while the next generation of pbook will be g5's
4. As said in 2. Most people who buy a pbook for editing/portablility(15 inch) do have a desktop video solution as well
Hard Drives are not the limiting factor in notebooks, benchmarks that i have seen but do not have the links for(sorry) have shown no significant difference between the 4200/5400 rpm models in performance or any of these factors.



iNetwork said:
1. Not everybody can afford a powerbook
2. 1.33 15" Powerbooks aren't that much better than 1.2 ibooks--especially to justify the cost. IMO Powerbooks are status symbols. I leave symbols to the symbol minded.
3. The next generation of ibooks will be faster than this generation powerbooks--this has proven to be true especially in the recent past.
4. If you're serious about performance you'd buy a Powermac

I think the 7200 rpm drive would significantly improve your performance. Hard drives ARE the limiting factor in all notebooks. It will result in faster program load and boot times. (not saying it's the only factor but it's got the slowest access times) Yes, it will void your warranty and if there are any recalls it will eliminate you from them. <--Something worth keeping in mind considering that
 
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