Pro/Con of Removing Superdrive from Alu Macbook (late 2008)

[kristjansson]

The superdrive on my late 2008 macbook has been dead for months - I've barely noticed. I foresee no use for it in the near to medium term, and any one-off use can be covered with an external drive.

Thus, I turn to the MacRumors brain trust and ask: Can I just remove the damn thing? I know it will drop a bit of weight - of more interest to me, will I see any drop in power consumption? Will removing the drive completely compromise the structural integrity of the unibody? will the open slot improve or hamper airflow? Dust accumulation?

Any and all thoughts and experience are welcome.

 

[Young Spade]

The superdrive on my late 2008 macbook has been dead for months - I've barely noticed. I foresee no use for it in the near to medium term, and any one-off use can be covered with an external drive.

Thus, I turn to the MacRumors brain trust and ask: Can I just remove the damn thing? I know it will drop a bit of weight - of more interest to me, will I see any drop in power consumption? Will removing the drive completely compromise the structural integrity of the unibody? will the open slot improve or hamper airflow? Dust accumulation?

Any and all thoughts and experience are welcome.

Yes. Now I would suggest you reading the tens of posts already made about installing it. FYI, it will void your warranty if you send it in before you revert it back to the stock configuration.

 

[rgarjr]

Unless u plan on putting a second storage drive, I don't see a reason to take it out.

 

[parapup]

Not sure about the warranty - probably will not be void as long as you don't damage anything.

However you will likely be not able to install Windows if you remove the superdrive - not easily at least. Apart from that it is all good.

 

[MultiFinder17]

If it's already dead, then there's really nothing to lose by getting rid of it. It is not integral to the structure of the laptop or anything. You probably won't notice the weight loss though, so don't do it just for that. If you were going to go through the bother of removing it, you may as well install a second drive in its place if you'd like one. Otherwise, it's doing no harm just chilling out there

 

[ranviper]

I would take full advantage and just replace it with another drive. Even try to get a SSD, that would noticeably increase your performance. =)