MAcBook Pro Upgrade

[robrose20]

I have an older MBP Santa Rosa, 2.4 Ghz dual core 15" .. I bought it with the stock 160 gb 5400 rpm hard drive, I've been running around with a full hard drive for a while and the thing was painfully slow. I finally pulled the trigger and bought a 500 gb WD 7200 rpm scorpio black upgrade kit from OWC.

I installed it last night and have a fresh install of OSX Snow Leopard ... it is the most AMAZING difference ... it boots quickly, it is amazingly fast compared to what it was before.

I almost wish I splurged and got the SSD ... could only afford the 120 gb though if I did that ...

How much faster would the SSD be compared to the WD 7200 rpm scorpio black?

 

[Hellhammer]

5400rpm HD to 7200rpm HD is not that big bump. SSD is way faster than a 7200rpm drive so your boot time and stuff like that would be much faster. You could do OptiBay solution so a 60GB SSD might be fine

 

[GGJstudios]

How much faster would the SSD be compared to the WD 7200 rpm scorpio black?

Much, much, much faster.

 

[robrose20]

Cool solution, how much does it cost?

 

[Hellhammer]

Cool solution, how much does it cost?

Cheap eBay ones are less than 20 bucks but the brand ones are a bit less than 100$ I think.

 

[Naimfan]

I have an older MBP Santa Rosa, 2.4 Ghz dual core 15" .. I bought it with the stock 160 gb 5400 rpm hard drive, I've been running around with a full hard drive for a while and the thing was painfully slow. I finally pulled the trigger and bought a 500 gb WD 7200 rpm scorpio black upgrade kit from OWC.

I installed it last night and have a fresh install of OSX Snow Leopard ... it is the most AMAZING difference ... it boots quickly, it is amazingly fast compared to what it was before.

How much faster would the SSD be compared to the WD 7200 rpm scorpio black?

The SSD would be significantly faster, but you have to balance the speed vs. the cost per GB of storage--the SSD is, as you saw, considerably more expensive. If your 160 GB drive was full, your new one sped things dramatically for two reasons: First, and obviously, it's a faster drive. Second, the higher data density means it spends less time searching. Put the two together, and compare it to a slower and full drive, and presto--significant speed increase.

For now, just stick with the Black--it's a great drive.

 

[robrose20]

I think I will... Its our around the house computer at this point, web surfing, email, etc. I just got a Mac Pro which is my main system right now. I still can't get over the change in performance with replacing the drive. It was barely usuable before, now its great.

Best $100.00 I've ever spent ... not that hard of an install either.

btw - I've noticed that the magnetic latch doesn't work as well since I opened up the computer. I have to push down harder to get the cover to close. This was immediately after I finished the swap and closed the system up. Any ideas?

Thanks!