Mid-2009: Buying an SSD & battery this week!

[Sam5281]

Hey guys!

So its that time. My older MBP mid-2009 has hit its battery service time (most importantly), figured I would invest in upgrading an SSD as well.

Rather new to the world of 3rd party SSD's but have been doing lot of reading up on my best options.

Want to keep things cost effective - but also know the value of investing in a quality product so no junk.

Any recommendations on cheapest sources for Apple batteries?

What type of SSD should I go for? Apparently limited to SATA2? (Is that correct?)

Right now computer has 4GB of ram and primary usage is light photoshop / indesign work.

Thanks in advance guys!

 

[mattDC5R]

I have a similar vintage MBP, I ended up putting in a 1TB 7200rpm drive instead of a SSD. Given the age of it I felt that was better value and still a performance boost over the 5400rpm drive that was in there.


It had a 500Gb drive in it standard which was largely full ish so a 512Gb SSD was far more expensive than the 1TB. Sure not as fast but it left a few $100 in my pocket.

With that and 8gb of ram in it, it runs well now.

 

[T5BRICK]

Any recommendations on cheapest sources for Apple batteries?

I'd buy from Apple. iFixit may have batteries as well, but I doubt they'll be cheaper.

What type of SSD should I go for? Apparently limited to SATA2? (Is that correct?)

Find the cheapest Samsung 850 evo or Crucial MX200 and buy that. I had a crucial M4 in my mid 2009 13" MBP and it was great.

And you're correct about SATA2.

 

[treekram]

There's a problem with the NVidia MCP79 chip set in your Mac - certain SSD's can only get SATA1 speeds. I concur with T5BRICK - Evo 850 (stay away from 840) and any Crucial should work fine, considering you can't take advantage of SATA3. If you want to get something else, google "NVidia MCP79" and whatever drive you're considering to see if the drive has a problem with the chip.

 

[Sam5281]

I have a similar vintage MBP, I ended up putting in a 1TB 7200rpm drive instead of a SSD. Given the age of it I felt that was better value and still a performance boost over the 5400rpm drive that was in there.


It had a 500Gb drive in it standard which was largely full ish so a 512Gb SSD was far more expensive than the 1TB. Sure not as fast but it left a few $100 in my pocket.

With that and 8gb of ram in it, it runs well now.

Interesting idea.

As of now no space is used on the HD - as I just performed clean OS install.

Would a 1TB 7200 drive + upgrade to 8gb of ram vs 4 thats in now be an overall better decision?

I'd buy from Apple. iFixit may have batteries as well, but I doubt they'll be cheaper.



Find the cheapest Samsung 850 evo or Crucial MX200 and buy that. I had a crucial M4 in my mid 2009 13" MBP and it was great.

And you're correct about SATA2.

Was checking ifixit last night - and their DIY (which I may perform). Seems straight fwd - though various ppl commenting of having issues after with charging etc probably do to poor install. Have never done computer work myself - but consider myself pretty crafty / capable. Unsure about the "Static" thing I've been reading about.

Agree. Samsung and crucial cannot go wrong. Looked into these options before on my previous MBP - but sold and got new one instead. Did you DIY the SSD drive?

There's a problem with the NVidia MCP79 chip set in your Mac - certain SSD's can only get SATA1 speeds. I concur with T5BRICK - Evo 850 (stay away from 840) and any Crucial should work fine, considering you can't take advantage of SATA3. If you want to get something else, google "NVidia MCP79" and whatever drive you're considering to see if the drive has a problem with the chip.

Thats what I'm really looking for clarification on. The acceptance of the proper SSD with my computer.

 

[T5BRICK]

Was checking ifixit last night - and their DIY (which I may perform). Seems straight fwd - though various ppl commenting of having issues after with charging etc probably do to poor install. Have never done computer work myself - but consider myself pretty crafty / capable. Unsure about the "Static" thing I've been reading about.

Agree. Samsung and crucial cannot go wrong. Looked into these options before on my previous MBP - but sold and got new one instead. Did you DIY the SSD drive?

Both the battery and SSD are easy to upgrade if you have the right tools.

 

[treekram]

Was checking ifixit last night - and their DIY (which I may perform). Seems straight fwd - though various ppl commenting of having issues after with charging etc probably do to poor install. Have never done computer work myself - but consider myself pretty crafty / capable. Unsure about the "Static" thing I've been reading about.

Thats what I'm really looking for clarification on. The acceptance of the proper SSD with my computer.

Your comment on problems with the battery not charging due to a poor install piqued my interest. In looking at iFixit, with the 2009 MBP, some people had to do an SMC reset in order for their battery to charge properly. There was one case that you have to wonder about the quality of the battery they bought. There are some people having issues with the battery aligning with screw holes but that wouldn't affect charging. So I don't think there's an issue with poor installation contributing to problems with charging (obviously one may install it incorrectly and it won't work, period).

The EVO 850 should work in your computer. If you go to the Crucial site, it will tell you which current Crucial SSD's will work with your computer (they're usually accurate about compatibility). Buy from somebody who will accept returns if it doesn't work in your computer. Obviously, it's comforting to hear from somebody who has installed the specific SSD in your specific model and specific configuration that you have but that may not happen in this thread.

 

[Hellhammer]

An SSD is really the biggest upgrade you can make and it's definitely worth it over any hard drive. If you need a lot of storage, you could also consider replacing the optical drive with an SSD/HDD for a dual-drive setup.

 

[mattDC5R]

Interesting idea.

As of now no space is used on the HD - as I just performed clean OS install.

Would a 1TB 7200 drive + upgrade to 8gb of ram vs 4 thats in now be an overall better decision?

For me it was, can you get more performance with SSD? Sure no question. But the drive and the RAM cost me approx $250 (in Australia mind you) whereas a SSD upgrade would have cost say double that and only be a ~500gb drive. To then look at an opti bay converter and more storage it would be even more.

Then to say the computer itself is probably rapidly becoming worth next to nothing is why I went that way. I reasoned if I was to be spending $500 plus on a 6 year old computer I may as well just pony up for a new laptop.

Upgrading the RAM along side what drive you do decide on I would recommend for sure.

 

[Samuelsan2001]

For me it was, can you get more performance with SSD? Sure no question. But the drive and the RAM cost me approx $250 (in Australia mind you) whereas a SSD upgrade would have cost say double that and only be a ~500gb drive. To then look at an opti bay converter and more storage it would be even more.

Then to say the computer itself is probably rapidly becoming worth next to nothing is why I went that way. I reasoned if I was to be spending $500 plus on a 6 year old computer I may as well just pony up for a new laptop.

Upgrading the RAM along side what drive you do decide on I would recommend for sure.

You should have just ponied up for the new computer any laptop over 5 years old is not worth upgrading, the CPU and GPU are just too rubbish to make any money put into them worthwhile.

 

[mattDC5R]

You should have just ponied up for the new computer any laptop over 5 years old is not worth upgrading, the CPU and GPU are just too rubbish to make any money put into them worthwhile.

Of course there is truth in that, though without taking into the account the usage of the computer then it becomes less true. All my MBP gets used for these days is web browsing, occasional word processing, bit of windows use in Fusion, itunes etc. It does all of this just fine, and even better now than prior to the upgrades. It runs El Capitan just fine too.

So for $250 it was worth it to me, and some point ill get a new one and the missus will happily keep using this one.

How many people bang on about wanting the latest and greatest hardware and really only have light usage which wouldn't need it anyway, a lot I would think!