My 2.33Ghz 17" x1600 Macbook Pro has been feeling somewhat sluggish and I think it might be time to perform some upgrades. The 160Gb hard drive is now almost completely full up and I would like to upgrade to a 320-500Gb 7200RPM hard drive. DOes anybody know where I might find a decent deal on one? And I've seen install instructions for a 15" MPB, but would this be any different for the 17"? Should I attempt it if I have little previous experience inside the 'book? I'm also planning on upping the ram to 4GB. Would this be a worthwhile upgrade if I do light gaming (COD2, BF2142, etc.) and photoshop work? Where might I get some decent 667Mhz memory?
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Upgrading Macbook Pro
- Thread starter nickarmadillo
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What sort of performance gains would I likely get in changing from a 160GB 5200RPM HD to a 320/500GB 7200RMP HD and from 2 to 4Gb of ram?
well the actual size wont make so much of a difference, although having extra space is always good 
The RPM increase will do you good, as youll be looking at decreased access time - only slightly, but alot better for loading textures from games and to do video editing
The 2GB of RAM will definetley kick things up a notch, allowing you to have more programs open, and the programs that you do have open to run alot more smoothly.
It will also help with gaming, but not as significatnly as itll help with apps.
Hope this helps
The RPM increase will do you good, as youll be looking at decreased access time - only slightly, but alot better for loading textures from games and to do video editing
The 2GB of RAM will definetley kick things up a notch, allowing you to have more programs open, and the programs that you do have open to run alot more smoothly.
It will also help with gaming, but not as significatnly as itll help with apps.
Hope this helps
Any suggestions on hard drives? 500Gb and 7200RPM would be preferable as I have a lot of video files, but if there is a signigficant price difference between the 320 and 500 then I guess I could live with 320/7200.
Only 3GB of RAM will be recognized on that system.
http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Mac/MacBook-Pro-17-Inch-Core-Duo/87
That guide is for a different revision but it's basically the same.
http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Mac/MacBook-Pro-17-Inch-Core-Duo/87
That guide is for a different revision but it's basically the same.
well the actual size wont make so much of a difference, although having extra space is always good
The RPM increase will do you good, as youll be looking at decreased access time - only slightly, but alot better for loading textures from games and to do video editing
The 2GB of RAM will definetley kick things up a notch, allowing you to have more programs open, and the programs that you do have open to run alot more smoothly.
It will also help with gaming, but not as significatnly as itll help with apps.
Hope this helps
just as a little pointer having the extra space on a hard drive does actually increase the speed of the computer,
this would definately help the performance and speed
http://www.crucial.com/ they do good deals and have a compatability checker which scans your comp to see what ram it can take and then recomends on that
Your kidding?
I just checked there prices, far far from awesome deals. http://eshop.macsales.com/MyOWC/Upg...0&type=Memory&TI=0015&shoupgrds=Show+Upgrades -they are much cheaper and offer more variety and better memory. You got ripped off.
How difficult is it to upgrade the hard drive/ram on the 17" 2.33? Would it require any special tools?
Go to ifixit.com and they should let you know what you need (small screwdrivers and torx wrenches probably).