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New user, with Macbook upgrade questions!!!

M

medic127

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 5, 2012
14
0
Los Angeles
Hello Everyone,

I am currently using a 13" Black Macbook MacBook3,1 Intel Core 2 Duo 2.2 GHz 1GB memory and 150GB HD, running OS X 10.5.8.

I recently went into a mac store to inquire about upgrading the RAM to 4GB, HD and OS to either snow leopard or lion. They suggested a Seagate SATA 500GB 7200 RPM - 2.5" 16MB Cache and 2 2GB 5300 667 DDR2 SO-DIMM Apple RAM at close to $500.00.

I feel I can find less expensive pricing on my own and save on their labor charges. Just not sure on where to the best place to buy RAM, which brands to consider, which to stay away from and what brand and type of HD to consider.

Any comments or help would be greatly appreciated!!:D:D
 
medic127 said:
I feel I can find less expensive pricing on my own and save on their labor charges. Just not sure on where to the best place to buy RAM, which brands to consider, which to stay away from
Click to expand...
 
Thank you for the info! Any clue why OWC says a Macbook 3,1 can use up to 6GB using a (2GB + 4GB kit) of memory, but Crucial talks about using a 4GB kit (2GBx2)?
 
medic127 said:
Thank you for the info! Any clue why OWC says a Macbook 3,1 can use up to 6GB using a (2GB + 4GB kit) of memory, but Crucial talks about using a 4GB kit (2GBx2)?
Click to expand...
You can either install 2+4 or 4+4. Either way, your Mac will use a maximum of 6GB.

You can find specs on all Apple products, including maximum RAM:
 
Ok so if it can use a max of 6GB of RAM would it be worth going the 2GB + 4GB route for the extra 2GBs or just using a max of 4GB (2GB + 2GB kit). It seems using identical RAM has its advantages.
 
medic127 said:
Ok so if it can use a max of 6GB of RAM would it be worth going the 2GB + 4GB route for the extra 2GBs or just using a max of 4GB (2GB + 2GB kit). It seems using identical RAM has its advantages.
Click to expand...
The benefits of matching RAM aren't as great as having an additional 2GB of RAM. Read the link I posted about matched RAM for more info.
 
GREAT! Thank you!

Does it matter which slot you plug the 4GB or 2GB RAM into or no?

Any helpful info about HD upgrades? I was recommended the Seagate SATA 500GB 7200 RPM. But I see there is also the option a solid state hard drive and many different brands, makes and models.
 
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medic127 said:
GREAT! Thank you!

Does it matter which slot you plug the 4GB or 2GB RAM into or no?

Any helpful info about HD upgrades? I was recommended the Seagate SATA 500GB 7200 RPM. But I see there is also the option a solid state hard drive and many different brands, makes and models.
Click to expand...

No it doesn't matter which slot you but the 4 or 2 into. As far as hard drives, your MB is older and will become obsolete in the nearish future. I would advise against getting an SSD, I have one in my MBA and 128GB is simply not a lot. You can get a larger one but they are stupid expensive right now. Your far better off dollar for dollar getting a 7200rpm 500GB HDD. You are going to notice a huge jump in performance once the RAM is installed and another jump when a high speed HDD is installed. With 6GB of RAM and a decent hard drive you can still get a few good years out of the MB for little money out of pocket, unless of course you go SSD.
 
Medic278 said:
No it doesn't matter which slot you but the 4 or 2 into. As far as hard drives, your MB is older and will become obsolete in the nearish future. I would advise against getting an SSD, I have one in my MBA and 128GB is simply not a lot. You can get a larger one but they are stupid expensive right now. Your far better off dollar for dollar getting a 7200rpm 500GB HDD. You are going to notice a huge jump in performance once the RAM is installed and another jump when a high speed HDD is installed. With 6GB of RAM and a decent hard drive you can still get a few good years out of the MB for little money out of pocket, unless of course you go SSD.
Click to expand...

I'm thinking a 500GB 7200 RPM HDD will be good, just not sure which brand to use (seagatd, WD, Hitichi, ect.). I'm also thinking I wan to do a clean install of leopard or snow leopard then maybe eventually lion.

Although I have never done a HDD swap or upgrade myself, I'd like to give it a shot. Just not sure if I'd be in over my head with the whole process and should just pay to have it done.
 
Its not that hard to do. iFixit has some instructions that you can use. Hitichi makes a good product and you'll be happier with it. You'll get the best performance out of snow leopard. Lion uses a lot of RAM but if you upgrade your RAM as well you can run lion nicely too. I wouldn't revert as far back as leopard, but def. Snow Leopard. Hoped this helped.
 
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Medic278 said:
Its not that hard to do. iFixit has some instructions that you can use. Hitichi makes a good product and you'll be happier with it. You'll get the best performance out of snow leopard. Lion uses a lot of RAM but if you upgrade your RAM as well you can run lion nicely too. I wouldn't revert as far back as leopard, but def. Snow Leopard. Hoped this helped.
Click to expand...

Great, thank you for the info!!!!! I'll try and do some reading about which brand HDD to go with! Do you have experience with SL and or LION?
 
I had SL on my old MB which I no longer have. I currently run lion on all my macs and really like it. I love gestures it really makes navigating stuff really easy and simple. I also am a huge fan of air drop which allows for quick easy and simple file transfers between machines. For you I would run at least SL, running leopard would be quite a step backwards.
 
I've swapped RAM and HDD in my 2006 CD MacBook and it's easy if you've ever messed about with computers before. I know yours is different, but I think that part is pretty much the same.

Check out ifixit's guide and make sure you have all the necessary screw drivers. When I first upgraded my HDD I found out I didn't have the right screw driver. Ended up going to Walmart at 1am to purchase a $30 kit for one stupid little bit. Yeah, I could've waited until the next day, but c'mon! I'm sure most of you would do the same.
 
Medic278 said:
I had SL on my old MB which I no longer have. I currently run lion on all my macs and really like it. I love gestures it really makes navigating stuff really easy and simple. I also am a huge fan of air drop which allows for quick easy and simple file transfers between machines. For you I would run at least SL, running leopard would be quite a step backwards.
Click to expand...

Awesome thank you for all of the info!!! Just received my 4GB + 2GB RAM kit from OWC today, so we'll see how that goes!:D

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davidg4781 said:
I've swapped RAM and HDD in my 2006 CD MacBook and it's easy if you've ever messed about with computers before. I know yours is different, but I think that part is pretty much the same.

Check out ifixit's guide and make sure you have all the necessary screw drivers. When I first upgraded my HDD I found out I didn't have the right screw driver. Ended up going to Walmart at 1am to purchase a $30 kit for one stupid little bit. Yeah, I could've waited until the next day, but c'mon! I'm sure most of you would do the same.
Click to expand...

What HDD did you end up going with?! Still kind of indecisive about which 500GB 7200 RPM HDD ill go with, trying to find some good reviews to read up on!
 
medic127 said:
Awesome thank you for all of the info!!! Just received my 4GB + 2GB RAM kit from OWC today, so we'll see how that goes!:D
Click to expand...

Nice, you'll see quite a performance gain once you get it installed. Luckily the installation is fairly simple and really straight forward, I recommend iFixit they seem to have a guide for everything. Let us know how the install goes and if your impressed with the new RAM. Cheers
 
medic127 said:
What HDD did you end up going with?! Still kind of indecisive about which 500GB 7200 RPM HDD ill go with, trying to find some good reviews to read up on!
Click to expand...

I got a 750GB Western Digital Scorpio Black 7200rpm from Amazon. It's been a great hard drive. Looking back, I really wouldn't need one this big, but the one I had before was starting to get low on room and I didn't want to have to replace it again because of running out of space.
 
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Medic278 said:
Nice, you'll see quite a performance gain once you get it installed. Luckily the installation is fairly simple and really straight forward, I recommend iFixit they seem to have a guide for everything. Let us know how the install goes and if your impressed with the new RAM. Cheers
Click to expand...

RAM went in without any issues. So far so good, can defiantly see some stronger performance after the install!! ;)

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davidg4781 said:
I got a 750GB Western Digital Scorpio Black 7200rpm from Amazon. It's been a great hard drive. Looking back, I really wouldn't need one this big, but the one I had before was starting to get low on room and I didn't want to have to replace it again because of running out of space.
Click to expand...

Ya 750 is a lot, but better have it if you need it then not. Any reason why you chose to go with WD over Seagate or Hitachi??
 
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