Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
biggest size of hdd/SSD that can fit?
- Thread starter AdamRock
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
As the MacBook Pros only take 2.5" S-ATA HDDs, 3.5" HDDs are out of the question, and SSDs are mostly using the 2.5" form factor anyway.
The Unibody MB(P)s can take any 2.5" S-ATA HDD on the market, be it 9.5mm or 12.5mm high.
Or do you mean "storage capacity" with "size"? If so, you can use any 2.5" S-ATA HDD with a capacity of up to 1TB, as that is currently the biggest storage capacity available with 2.5" S-ATA HDDs. The same goes for 2.5" SSDs, which should be around 512GB or maybe even more currently.
The Unibody MB(P)s can take any 2.5" S-ATA HDD on the market, be it 9.5mm or 12.5mm high.
Or do you mean "storage capacity" with "size"? If so, you can use any 2.5" S-ATA HDD with a capacity of up to 1TB, as that is currently the biggest storage capacity available with 2.5" S-ATA HDDs. The same goes for 2.5" SSDs, which should be around 512GB or maybe even more currently.
2.5" is the "width" size of every "notebook" hard drive out there. The other measurement that is important is thickness. There are two main sizes, 9.5 mm and 12.5 mm. The 9.5 mm models will fit just fine, the 12.5 mm models won't.
Every single SSD I've seen (other than insanely huge desktop models) are 2.5" models, all 9.5 mm or less. Unless you go for a 3.5" SSD (rare,) it'll fit.
edit: According to spinnerlys here, 12.5 mm models fit in the latest MacBook Pros, I stand corrected! (The original MBPs couldn't take 12.5 mm drives; and I figured that with thinner models, they wouldn't allow THICKER drives.)
Actually, it has to be a 2.5" drive. 3.5" are for desktop machines, while 2.5" are for laptops.
There are also, however, two sizes of 2.5" laptop drives - 9mm and 12.5mm. My understanding is that the aluminum unibodies can handle a 12.5mm drive, while all other mac laptops require the 9mm.
All Unibody MacBooks and MacBook Pros, be they aluminium or polycarbonite, will take 2.5" S-ATA HDDs with a height of 12.5mm, the white MacBook (pre-Unibody) and the Aluminium MBPs (same look as the PowerBook) will only take 2.5" S-ATA HDDs with a maximum height of 9.5mm, though the 17" Aluminium MBP can take 2.5" S-ATA HDDs with a height of 12.5mm.
