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How can I make my MacBook Pro lighter?

A

Ashley0609

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 25, 2012
18
0
I've recently started a new thread on getting a desktop here https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=16360481&posted=1#post16360481.

But once I've got this setup I'm hoping to take my old MBP 13" 2009 apart, throw in an SSD and some new RAM and get that working a bit quicker. Anyway, I'm hoping this will give me a nice setup for portability, but the MBP isn't the lightest of laptops.

Is there anything I can do to make it lighter? will the new SSD make it lighter? What about if I took out the disk drive?

Thanks,
Ashley
 
Ashley0609 said:
I've recently started a new thread on getting a desktop here https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=16360481&posted=1#post16360481.

But once I've got this setup I'm hoping to take my old MBP 13" 2009 apart, throw in an SSD and some new RAM and get that working a bit quicker. Anyway, I'm hoping this will give me a nice setup for portability, but the MBP isn't the lightest of laptops.

Is there anything I can do to make it lighter? will the new SSD make it lighter? What about if I took out the disk drive?

Thanks,
Ashley
Click to expand...

If you remove the disk drive it will be lighter, yes. Not sure how lighter it will be but it will. :)
 
It's called a MacBook Air.;)
Just kidding, have you thought about decasting the ssd and just securing the gut of it to the chassis with double sided foam tape. That should shave off a few grams. If you're going to use a caddy in the optical bay for the hdd, you can drill a bunch of holes in the caddy to make it lighter. Remove a bunch of materials to reduce as much weight as possible. It will reduce the structural rigidity of the caddy, but its still better than not having a caddy. Since the hdd has more mass than the gut of the ssd, using double sided foam tape might not work well in this area.
 
You can change the apparent weight of the computer by hitting the gym. It also has health benefits, it's a win-win!
 
Yes.
 

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Thanks for all the replies, I should've been clearer in stating that I plan to change the HDD for an SSD, not having both. It'll mostly be for word documents so I don't need masses of space. I don't like the sound of drilling things lol
 
A chain saw? He doesn't want to cut it man...
What he needs must be thinner than Retina Macbook Pros.
Hire one of these:

1317449925Pw9gxL.jpg


... don't worry, the driver knows what he has to do.
It might not end up getting lighter, but definitely more portable! :cool:
 
I never said it was heavy, I've been carrying it around for the last 3 years and I will continue to do so. I was just curious as to whether it could be made lighter.
 
Naimfan said:
If you think a 4.5 lb laptop is heavy, you have other issues . . .
Click to expand...

Since when is being slim considered an issue? :rolleyes:
Sure, maybe he could be fatter, stronger, prettier, etc. in YOUR opinion, but it's far from an "issue".
He also didn't state that he is having trouble carrying around because of the weight...
 
Even if your mac would shed a whole pound.... in the grand scheme of things will this really matter?

3.5 pounds, 4 pounds... 4.5 pounds... it's all the same to me.
 
Two things u can do and one of them your are already doing HD -> SSD.

Second thing, get rid of the optical.

Now this is a little extreme, if you don't need 7 hours of battery whatever, you can attempt to remove excess? battery and/or replace batteries with a lesser capacity but lighter. But this is is a OY! even for this light guy.
 
Based on experience taking the disc drive out does make it a bit lighter. Realistically though, probably not enough to make a huge difference. I think most of the weight comes from the frame and battery, and it take those out you don't have a computer. :p
 
Replace the shell with carbon fiber, should only cost about $200k for tooling and prototype.. then sell and profit!!
 
Ashley0609 said:
I think I'll try the first 2 then see about the battery. Sounds a bit extreme!
Click to expand...

Um don't mess with the battery lol. That would NOT be a good idea. I mean you could remove it completely and that would take a noticeable amount off, but then you would have to be plugged in at all times and if the Magsafe comes off then your laptop will shut off. Which could be a very bad thing for the logic board and other components.

Apple does their best at making their laptops as thin and light as possible. Your only two options are the SSD upgrade and removal of the optical drive. It won't improve it very much though. The optical drives are very lightweight and it's much more convenient to have it inside the notebook than to carry it around as an external.

Good thinking but unfortunately there's just not really anything you can change to make it noticeably lighter. :eek:
 
Of course the real answer is AIR.


if you go by the number, you go meh, is only 1 more LB. But my own experience is, going from my old 4.5LB to now my new 2.3 LB - WOW! I will be hard pressed to ever go back.

Curiously, I've handled several full size iPads, they are supposed to be under 2LB right but they felt heavy to me! It could had been the hard cases they were in, but they actually felt heavier than my naked 2.3 LB Air, dunno why.
 
If you find use in taking out the optical drive then do it. But don't expect your laptop to suddenly feel lighter because it won't. The aluminum unibody is part of what makes the laptop the weight that it is, whether you consider it light or heavy.

The retina MacBook Pros aren't way lighter solely because of their lack of optical drive and HDD. It's because they're much thinner and therefore have less aluminum in the body, their display assembly is thinner and lighter, and their batteries are much different; cMBPs have a brick-type battery and rMBPs do not use that.
 
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