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Upgrading basic 13" MBP myself, what to buy and where to get it?

J

jdad

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 10, 2009
18
0
I think the 13" MBP is a steal with education discount. I would like to upgrade to 4gb ram and a 320 or 500gb HD.

Can someone please list the components that I would need to buy for this, I know I obviously need 2x2gb RAM and a 500gb HD, but there are lots of different types of RAM/HDs out there.

Links would be great (I saw a link to a 500gb HD from newegg in a different thread, more like that would be great)

Thanks crew

JD
 
RAM:
I would go for this, from Newegg or any other reputable site. The price is right and the brand is known for quality products. Essentially, any 2x2GB DDR3 SODIMM kit will work.

Hard Drive:
If you are going for a 500GB unit, I would go for either the Hitachi, or the Western Digital in the 5400 RPM speed. If you opt for 7200 RPM, there is just the one Seagate model. I personally would opt for the Hitachi (and did so for my external drive) but that's only because their offering seems to be the quietest from what I've read, since that's the only one I've tried. Seagate has had a poor reputation lately, with many stories of drive failures. For 320GB, again, my preference is to go with Western Digital or Hitachi, leaning towards Hitachi. I have the 5400 RPM Hitach 320GB drive in my MBP, and it is dead-silent, and performs well.
 
Bill Gates said:
RAM:
I would go for this, from Newegg or any other reputable site. The price is right and the brand is known for quality products. Essentially, any 2x2GB DDR3 SODIMM kit will work.

Hard Drive:
If you are going for a 500GB unit, I would go for either the Hitachi, or the Western Digital in the 5400RPM speed. If you opt for 7200RPM, there is just the one Seagate model. I personally would opt for the Hitachi (and did so for my external drive) but that's only because their offering seems to be the quietest from what I've read, since that's the only one I've tried. Seagate has had a poor reputation lately, with many stories of drive failures.
Click to expand...

Def go for the 7,200 RPM HD. Very nice increase in speed for very little money.
 
I'd watch out for the hard drives, mainly because there isn't essentially one definitive hard drive that is A-Okay with everything.

Honestly, upgrade the RAM first. That's a sure thing and I recommend Bill Gates's RAM suggestion.
 
Seagate had major issues with the firmware on one particular revision of drive. This has been taken care of and it no longer an issue. I've had enough Western Digital drives fail on me in the past year to never purchase one again. All of my internals and externals have been Seagates since and I have had absolutely no issues with them.
 
Go Western Digital for the HDD, I spent a whole freaking day reading about HDDs and pretty much had my brain explore. My choice is the WD 500GB Scorpio Blue, otherwise the WD 320GB Scorpio Black is a little faster but the Blue is slightly quitter and uses a little less power not to mention it's 500GB! Don't bother with the Seagate drives, they're good but the WD ones are just better unless you plan on doing LOTS of large file transfers (talking GBs of data) then they pull ahead but WD is faster with smaller normal day to day usage.
And can't say much about Mushkin as I have never heard of them before, just think the name sounds weird, lol. I would go with 4GB of crucial memory for a little less money.
 
Thanks for the help. Anyone else care to share their favorites?
 
Bill Gates said:
RAM:
I would go for this, from Newegg or any other reputable site. The price is right and the brand is known for quality products. Essentially, any 2x2GB DDR3 SODIMM kit will work.

Hard Drive:
If you are going for a 500GB unit, I would go for either the Hitachi, or the Western Digital in the 5400 RPM speed. If you opt for 7200 RPM, there is just the one Seagate model. I personally would opt for the Hitachi (and did so for my external drive) but that's only because their offering seems to be the quietest from what I've read, since that's the only one I've tried. Seagate has had a poor reputation lately, with many stories of drive failures. For 320GB, again, my preference is to go with Western Digital or Hitachi, leaning towards Hitachi. I have the 5400 RPM Hitach 320GB drive in my MBP, and it is dead-silent, and performs well.
Click to expand...

I have had the western digital blue, and I got one of the serial #s that was loud, and I didn't like it at all. I got a hitachi, and it is dead silent and I know it has the lowest battery consumption and is faster in some respects than the western digital blue and slower in other respects. The 7200.4 is not worth the money right now b/c it's really not any faster according to people on the forums. Hitachi = happy. WD also = happy.
 
unagimiyagi said:
I have had the western digital blue, and I got one of the serial #s that was loud, and I didn't like it at all. I got a hitachi, and it is dead silent and I know it has the lowest battery consumption and is faster in some respects than the western digital blue and slower in other respects. The 7200.4 is not worth the money right now b/c it's really not any faster according to people on the forums. Hitachi = happy. WD also = happy.
Click to expand...

Hi what is the serial # range that is loud? can you please advise?
 
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