Recommend a good HDD and RAM for my mid 2010 13" please :)

[0186279]

Hi all,

Looking to upgrade the RAM (currently stock 4gb) and HDD (currently stock 250gb 5400rpm) to 8gb of RAM and likely a 1tb 7200rpm HDD. I've been perusing Amazon and am having a hard time deciding. Also, it seems way harder to find laptop RAM compared to Desktop. Looking for both to be ~$100

A few side questions. Are 7200rpm HDD's a bit noisier? Also, what are SSD's running these days? Was considering dropping a small one in the CD area and using my 250gb for storage and SSD for apps. Not sure that's practical yet though.

Thank you!

 

[yjchua95]

I suggest getting a Samsung 840 Evo and putting it into the main hard drive bay, and relegate your existing HDD to the optical bay instead.

Any 1067MHz DDR3 RAM will do.

 

[kfmfe04]

I suggest getting a Samsung 840 Evo and putting it into the main hard drive bay, and relegate your existing HDD to the optical bay instead.

Any 1067MHz DDR3 RAM will do.

I second this recommendation - I upgraded my Mid-2009 13" mbp with an 840 EVO about 1-2 years back.

The speed improvement added extra years to the usable life of the machine.

It also runs quieter (silent) and cooler than a HDD, and will survive a drop much better than a HDD. In fact, the reason I upgraded was due to a lost HDD from a drop. If you type on the built-in keyboard, you would feel the vibrations from a spinning HDD under your left palm (from personal experience), not to mention the additional heat.

Difference in battery life between HDD and SSD does not differ significantly.

IMHO, HDDs are only good for storing large amounts of data.

Use SSDs for OS and Applications.

 

[simonsi]

Are 7200rpm HDD's a bit noisier?

My Hitachi 7200rpm is nearly silent, no noticeable noise or vibration. Its in the main drive bay so it spins down when not in use, I definitely get greater battery life when it can run on just the SSD (e.g. browsing, no media access).

 

[0186279]

My Hitachi 7200rpm is nearly silent, no noticeable noise or vibration. Its in the main drive bay so it spins down when not in use, I definitely get greater battery life when it can run on just the SSD (e.g. browsing, no media access).

Yeah I'm thinking I'll go with this setup. 1tb HDD for media and a 120gb SSD for apps. Seems perfect and Im hoping that combined with doubling the ram will give me a few more years on this MBP