Installing Hard Drive into Santa Rosa Macbook Pro

[Link00seven]

Hello all,

I have a 2007 Santa Rosa model Macbook Pro (http://lowendmac.com/macbookpro/15in-macbook-pro-june-2007.html) that I purchased refurbished about a year ago. So far so good with the machine, though I did have to have Apple replace the logic board due to the nVidia card failure thats common with the 8600M chipset.

Anyway, I am wanting to get a new 7200RPM hard drive installed. I won't do it myself because I don't want to void my AppleCare but what type of drive would I be looking to get here? A local authorized Apple place offered to sell me a 320GB 7200RPM drive for $148 installed. Otherwise they'll charge me $75 if I bring a drive in to install it.

So, just wondering if you guys could tell me the type of drive I'd be looking for and/or any links to cheap 7200 RPM drives (at least 160GB). If I can save money doing it this way, cool. If not, I'll just buy the drive from them and have it installed same day.

Thanks for your help.

 

[Bill Gates]

If you're going to pay someone else to install it then I would go for a 500GB drive. There are many 5400 RPM offerings to choose from. In the 7200 RPM category there is just the Seagate 7200.4 drive, which many here use without issues. I personally don't like Seagate drives and am waiting for the next iteration of drives to come out with perhaps more choices at 7200 RPM. As for the type of drive any 2.5" 9.5mm-height SATA drive will do.

 

[Link00seven]

Alright. I'm going for a 7200RPM drive for performance reasons.

Someone recommended this one to me:

http://www.buy.com/prod/western-dig...16-mb-cache-7200-rpm/q/loc/101/208270281.html

Would that be a good drive that's compatible in my Macbook Pro? He put it in his Macbook and so far so good for him.

 

[Bill Gates]

Alright. I'm going for a 7200RPM drive for performance reasons.

Someone recommended this one to me:

http://www.buy.com/prod/western-dig...16-mb-cache-7200-rpm/q/loc/101/208270281.html

Would that be a good drive that's compatible in my Macbook Pro? He put it in his Macbook and so far so good for him.

It's not all about rotation speed. Density factors in just as much. A 500GB 5400 RPM drive is just as fast in many cases as a 320GB 7200 RPM drive. There was one really good review floating around that compared all the drives but here's a more basic one that illustrates what I'm talking about: http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=5003

The drive you linked to is an excellent drive, but I would seriously consider a 500GB 5400 RPM drive from Western Digital, Hitachi or Samsung, or the Seagate 7200 RPM 500GB drive if you like Seagate drives.