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Free MBP

sahni130

sahni130

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jun 25, 2008
677
416
Atlanta, Georgia, United States
Hello friends,
My brother is giving me his MacBook Pro 2.2 Ghz 15.4 inch w/ Nvidia 8600GT and 4GB of RAM. The battery is completely shot and the hard drive is only 120 GB. Is it worth getting a WD Scorpio 500GB 5400 RPM hard drive (around $70) and a new battery (around $130) for it? Should I just go ahead and save up for a new macbook pro since I will be attending college soon? Any thoughts or comments will be appreciated.
 
Of course just pay for a new battery and harddrive!
You have a FREE MacBook Pro, with specs that aren't even outdated yet.
A new MacBook Pro, if it's 15" like that one, will start at $1800. For close to $2000 (or more), it will not be 10 times better for 10 times the price of your free one's needed upgrades. And wow, you are lucky...
 
Honestly, I have the same system with a 2.4 processor (15.4" Anti Glare LED display). I had put a 320 GB drive in it and my battery is pretty decent. I have been salivating over getting a new MBP with the i5 and a 17" screen. But at the end of the day, it's probably wasted money for me. I think maybe I will just try an SSD rather than a whole new unit. I do web browsing, some video editing and photo stuff. This C2D MBP runs everything just great. When I bought Dells, the age of the system was apparent after a year. This 3 year old MBP I have runs everything just great.
I would grab a battery and a new HD if I were you. These machines are pretty nice.
 
hahaha the graphics card has already been replaced once but other than that it's a solid laptop. How hard is it to replace the hard drive yourself? I'm pretty good with these kind of things but it is a (or was) a $2k laptop haha. I'm not going to be gaming or anything...just a lot of iTunes and Word and Safari. i've never had a laptop before so are there any things I should know about them or get any accessories?
 
sahni130 said:
hahaha the graphics card has already been replaced once but other than that it's a solid laptop. How hard is it to replace the hard drive yourself? I'm pretty good with these kind of things but it is a (or was) a $2k laptop haha. I'm not going to be gaming or anything...just a lot of iTunes and Word and Safari. i've never had a laptop before so are there any things I should know about them or get any accessories?
Click to expand...

It's very easy to replace the HD yourself. Go on youtube and search for it and there are plenty of videos that show you step by step how to do it. Besides not having a laptop before, if this is your first Mac, you're in for a fun ride. A sleeve and a mouse would be the only suggestions I have accessory-wise.
 
I have that exact computer (minus 2 GB RAM), and I can tell you it's great. There is not yet a computer available that I would consider a good enough upgrade for me to buy. If you can get a computer which is better than mine (more HD and more RAM) for $200, why the hell wouldn't you???

The only accessories you need are power supply (I assume you get that?) and a case. A mouse is optional. Personally, I bought a mighty mouse a while ago, but because I'm often using my MBP on the train, where there is no room for a mouse, and it's just annoying having to pull it out and set it up whenever you want to use it, I just got used to the trackpad, and never use the mouse.
 
ahhhh. Yeah, I think I will keep it since for $200 I get essentially a new MBP. I looked at some Youtube videos and the iFixIt guide.... it's definitely doable to replace the HDD myself but I'm just scared to do it, but I'm still going to do it. With that being said, the WD Scorpio Blue 5400 RPM is a good drive to put in?

And yes, I do get everything (box, power supply, apple remote). For the case I was thinking about the Incase sleeve. Are those a good option?

This will actually be my third Mac , but my first laptop.
 
Just take your time with the HD upgrade, and make sure you don't loose any of the screws. Label them as you go (a egg carton works great) and use a good set of computer screwdrivers so as to not strip the screws on the MBP. It should take 15 minutes top.
 
Get a battery and call it a day.

Its a great laptop with good specs, are you really going to need more than 120gb? I think you will be fine with that much space.
 
sahni130 said:
ahhhh. Yeah, I think I will keep it since for $200 I get essentially a new MBP. I looked at some Youtube videos and the iFixIt guide.... it's definitely doable to replace the HDD myself but I'm just scared to do it, but I'm still going to do it. With that being said, the WD Scorpio Blue 5400 RPM is a good drive to put in?

And yes, I do get everything (box, power supply, apple remote). For the case I was thinking about the Incase sleeve. Are those a good option?

This will actually be my third Mac , but my first laptop.
Click to expand...

I have heard some really good stuff about the Scorpio Blue, so I would say that's your best bet
 
You guys really are awesome. Thank you all for the advice. The thing is I already have used up about 200GB on my iMac and it is all stuff that I need/use so I definitely need a new hard drive. I called Apple about the battery and they said that they might replace it for free as they did a recall on them two years ago. I will keep you updated on how everything goes! Btw, thanks for the egg carton tip, it sounds great!

Jay
 
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