New HD for mid-2006 MacBook

[diane143]

Helping a friend out, he has a mid-2006 MB and his hard drive just died.

Can we put a 7200 rpm in that? Macsales live chat tells me: "Your computer was built to handle all HD Speeds and the heat generated from it", but I'm not sure that is someone who really works hands on there or who is reading from a script. I had read some reports that a 7200rpm drive would decrease battery life and cause the machine to run a bit hotter.

He doesn't NEED 7200rpm but I always like to boost speed if possible.

Thanks!
Diane

 

[pastrychef]

7200rpm drives will work. I put a 7200rpm hybrid drive in my 2008 MacBook and can't say that I've noticed any additional heat or decreased battery life. I think it that any variations in heat or battery life will be negligible.

 

[TacticalDesire]

128gb SSD?

 

[brdeveloper]

You can buy a hybrid drive, but to maximize performance in your old Mac, I'd recommend a SARAII SSD of 120 or 128GB. OWC sells SATA II SSDs branded "Mercury 3G". If it will be a browsing-only machine, even a 60-64GB SSD should be fine, but 120GB gives you a storage margin for text documents and applications.

 

[diane143]

Thanks everyone! We're sticking with SATA in this one, huge price difference and he doesn't really do anything that needs performance. I'd rather give him the storage space.