Replacing Optibay with HDD affecting resale value?

[Cicatrix]

I was thinking about swiping out my optical drive for a 7200 rpm drive I have lying around instead, but am hesitant because I am thinking it might negatively affect the resale value of the machine. I'm weighing out my options on whether or not to just stick with my external 7200 rpm drive for recording my audio, and leaving the optical drive alone. I will be replacing my main drive which is currently a 5400 rpm drive to a 120gb SSD. I will be needing a bigger drive for samples, and storage. I am now using my 7200 rpm external drive that I used to record my audio to, for Time Machine backups instead. So it's either an optibay from ebay from nimitz for 30 bucks and an external DVD drive somewhere, or I could buy a cheap external drive for Time Machine backups and go back to using my 7200 external drive for recording my audio.
Hopefully I didn't put that in too confusing of a way.

Mac heads, tell me what you think.

 

[Orlandoech]

Just put it back when you're going to sell it. Problemo solvedo.

 

[clickclickw00t]

I would think if you get an external for it, it might up the resale value.

 

[Cicatrix]

I would think if you get an external for it, it might up the resale value.

How so?

 

[KwanMan]

How so?

well you put an optibay in for a reason, you didnt put it in because it made your mbp *******

 

[johnnyturbouk]

by voiding the warranty


i would return it to stock so warranty remains valid

unless you have dual ssd set-up and sell it with the understanding that it would not be covered by applecare - or buyer has the tech ability to replace ODD for warranty repairs

 

[jenzjen]

For the majority of buyers, an installed Optibay would ding resale value, because no one wants to think that you've been inside doing stuff. Simple.

 

[duncanbrodie1]

I did the exact same thing. (Upgraded the boot drive to a 120GB SSD and replaced the optidrive with a 500GB HDD)
its awesome. Perfect combination and I can store a ton of media in my machine without compromising boot speed and application load time.

If you are capable of doing this upgrade yourself (which most people are) then you are most certainly capable of putting it back the way it was. (just keep your optical drive and all of the stock hardware)

Now you can not only re-sell it exactly how it was, but if it ever needed servicing under the warranty, nobody should be any the wiser. As long as you can put it all back to stock without hacking it to bits.

just be careful when removing the optidrive as there are a couple plastic tabs and things that, if missing, are an indicator that it has been tampered with.

 

[Cicatrix]

well you put an optibay in for a reason, you didnt put it in because it made your mbp *******

Thanks for all the advice folks. It's appreciated.

KwanMan, I think I may have misunderstood you, when you said it may up the value. If I were to leave the 7200 internal in the optibay when I were to sell it I can see how it may increase resale for some people. But I think as some have already suggested, people may not like the fact if they know someone was messing around on the insides of the Macbook Pro. I probably will just get another external drive for my audio and call it a day. I'm still putting in the SSD in place of the 5400 rpm main drive though. There's no turning back with that.