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Late 2007 Macbook Pro- upgrade options

J

jeff123816

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 18, 2009
44
5
I have a late 2007 Macbrook pro that has run solid as a rock since I bought it. I have never had to reinstall the system and it is still plenty fast for everything that I need to do on it. A few months ago, I upgraded the RAM to 4GB and saw an increase in speed and all around functionality.

There are a couple of simple (I hope) issues that I could use some help with though. First of all, the battery is totally useless. Actually it has been for years. I get, perhaps 10 minutes on a full charge before it shuts off. There isn’t even a warning, the computer just turns off. I do need to be detached from the power quite a bit and am finding myself resorting to my work’s very lame, clunky Dell laptop (running Vista) when I need a computer on the road. I have looked at replacement batteries on Amazon but the few that have been reviewed have received very poor write-ups. I’m not sure if there is a decent, generic battery available for this machine. Apple sells them for $300, which is a little too much money for me to put into a 4 year old computer.

Second, my 120GB internal hard drive is feeling awfully small these days. I am constantly moving files on and off an external drive. I would like to upgrade. Am I limited in any way to any specific type of hard drive that I can put in this machine? Amazon has a 500GB Sata 2.5” hard drive for $81.00. I have no idea if that is compatible with my machine though.

Given all of that, with your knowledge of what is available, is it worth it to upgrade these things in a 2007 MBP? I don’t want to pour a bunch of money into an old system but I also cannot justify spending close to $2000 for a new MBP when mine is still more than fast enough for me.

Thanks!
 
$300 for a battery? Is it gold-plated? I replaced my battery on my mid-2007 a few months ago, and it was $99 at the Apple store.

I don't know if that hard drive is compatible. I bought my 500gb from OWC using their "which product do i need" tutorial and it works just fine.
 
Yeah, where did you get $300 from? They are $130 on the apple store (hopefully you get lucky like greytmom and find one for $99). Also, ANY 2.5" SATA hard disk will fit.
Personally, I'm running a late 06 mbp. This thing is a beast :cool: (in my book atleast :eek: ). I've upgraded the ram and hard disk. I can see this machine serving me for many more years.
 
RITZFit said:
Yeah, where did you get $300 from? They are $130 on the apple store (hopefully you get lucky like greytmom and find one for $99).
Click to expand...

The Genius Bar guy told me they cost $129, but if they replace it in-store they give $30 discount.
 
I did just that for my late 2006 model macbook pro, and it's still going strong. I have a 320gb HDD for $51 from Newegg, and my battery was replaced under warranty about a year ago. It's still fast enough, which is good enough. :)
 
Thanks for the input everyone. What do you think of this hard drive? Western Digital Scorpio Blue 500 GB Bulk/OEM Hard Drive 2.5 Inch, 8 MB Cache, 5400 RPM SATA II WD5000BEVT

You're right about the batteries. Apple sells them for $130. I called the Apple store and asked about the price. They said that they didn't know about any $30 discount for buying it in the store. It would be $130 either way. I am concerned about the high number of negative reviews on the Apple store website concerning these batteries. 80% of the reviews seem to indicate that these batteries die very quickly. Has anyone had any luck with 3rd party batteries? I am not convinced that Apple's battery is anything special, given my own experience, as well as that of many other people.
 
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I've previously had a replacement battery as the MacBookPro 2007 died and was determined to be a battery/charging fault (within the 3 year applecare).

The replacement battery was rock sold, I'd prefer to go with the original as you do get a warranty (6 month I think) and any extra is worth the less hassle ;)

Also be carful removing and replacing the screws on the body when installing the new drive, it's very easy to strip them so they don't go back all the way ... check out the ifixit guides, it's pretty easy, make sure you take your time and have a clear work surface without anywhere for the screws to fall off and get lost.

I did notice a slight increase in drive noise when I replaced mine with a 7200RPM drive but it was much faster with the extra free space.

PS, I have the WD5000BEVT as my backup and it's great.
 
Don't forget to look into upgrading the ram. If you have less than 4 GB of ram, then you should upgrade that as well.

You should be able to get battery, hard drive, and ram for less than $300 total and it will be a very noticeable upgrade.
 
I'd stick with the Apple battery. Why spend money upgrading the computer, only to put a battery that you aren't sure about on it?

I think batterys are things people tend to review only when there is an issue. So, if there are 100 bad reviews out of thousands of batteries sold, is there really an issue?
 
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