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Ugrading HDD and RAM on MacBook Aluminium

Halvard

Halvard

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 26, 2009
126
0
I have a MacBook Aluminium. I haven't done anything to it (upgrading prevous) and stuff. And I want to change the HDD from 160GB to 500GB. What HDD should I get? Don't just give me a link, but also tell me, like 2.5" etc..

And I'm also upgrading my RAM. This is what I have now:
6d6e94f8a6ff979f594f3d9044569e7c.png


What type of RAM should I get? How many PINS and stuff like that?

Anymore information that I can find out about on my mac that you need, let me know and I tell you. I need the information within tomorrow so please answer fast! :)
 
Macbook Pro uses 2.5" HDD. Any 2.5" will work on it.

I have a Hitachi 500GB 7200 RPM and I have no problems with it. It works perfectly fine. I been using it since 2009.
 
Will this work?



S-ATA
1 000GB

height (cm) 2,54
width (cm) 10,16
depth (cm) 14,70
 
If that's the dimensions of the drive itself, that looks like a 3.5" desktop drive.
 
and ddr3 sodimm memory will be fine, in terms of hd an ssd will give you a massive speed boost but if you need the large size then buy the cheapest one from the big names e.g. hitachi, segate & western digital.
 
Ok. Does it matter if its 5 400 RPM or 7 200 RPM?? What does it have to say? Speed? If so, will I notice the difference?
 
Either will be fine. Stock drive is 5400rpm, 7200rpm are a bit faster but it's not noticeable to most users. 7200rpm drives tend to vibrate a little more which you can feel through the palmrest.

You can't really go wrong with a 500GB 5400rpm Hitachi or Seagate drive.
 
Halvard said:
Ok. Does it matter if its 5 400 RPM or 7 200 RPM?? What does it have to say? Speed? If so, will I notice the difference?
Click to expand...

The RPM (rounds per minute) number is indicating the speed, and you will notice a small difference, but 7200RPM HDDs are a bit louder and also vibrate more.
Maybe have a look ate Momentus XT, it offers quite good speed and is recommended often.
 
Ok, thats all I needed! For now atleast!

Thank you all for answering all my dumb questions! You guys are awesome! :)
I love Apple, and this site! :D
 
Well actually one more question!

Will upgrading RAM to 5GB and HDD to 500GB make my mac not me so fast hot?
Will I be able to be on the mac for longer time for the mac to be hot? :)
 
Halvard said:
Well actually one more question!

Will upgrading RAM to 5GB and HDD to 500GB make my mac not me so fast hot?
Will I be able to be on the mac for longer time for the mac to be hot? :)
Click to expand...

Come again please?

And if you meant something like "will upgrading my MB to 5GB of RAM and a 500GB HDD run hotter", then no. And if it would, it would be hardly noticeable. And there is also a fan to keep the MB from being too hot.
 
Ok sorry for asking my question so bad. What I ment was

Will my MacBook get not so fast warm if I have 4GB Ram and 500GB HDD?

When I use it now, it gets really fast warm. Will it change if I upgrade it?
 
Halvard said:
Ok sorry for asking my question so bad. What I ment was

Will my MacBook get not so fast warm if I have 4GB Ram and 500GB HDD?

When I use it now, it gets really fast warm. Will it change if I upgrade it?
Click to expand...

It might, but the warmth you feel has more to do with the CPU, and if you do CPU intensive tasks, the CPU needs more power, thus more heat gets generated.
 
Halvard said:
So wont the RAM upgrade make my MacBook faster?
Click to expand...

More RAM will not make your Mac faster, but more responsive, especially with lots of open documents and applications.
Take a look at Activity Monitor > System Memory and report back what it says there when you use your MB like you always do.
 
356f5d4446b5dec6448e9ffd2676d971.png


I opened up every program that I usually use and this is what came up. I will probably use more, when I actually use the programs and not just have them up.
 
So 5GB will help much? Will I notice the difference? And will it also help with the warm problem? :)
 
Halvard said:
So 5GB will help much? Will I notice the difference? And will it also help with the warm problem? :)
Click to expand...

You will notice the difference, as the RAM needs to be copied less to the RAM in order to free RAM for other applications (PAGE OUT), thus there are fewer slow downs.
I don't know if it helps with your "warmth" problem though, as that is CPU related.
Also have a look at Activity Monitor (Applications / Utilities /) and select All Processes and sort by CPU to see what the culprit may be.

image below uses sorting by CPU as an example
Acitivty_Monitor.png
 
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