I'm going to buy either the 15" or 17" powerbook and was wondering if upgrading from the standard 4600rpm drive for $125 to the 5400rpm is worth the price for a performance gain? Would I notice any performance gain by upgrading?
depending on what you are doing with your powerbook the default should be fine for most normal activities. however if you are going to do some heavy work like audio/video, web/graphic design, etc then my opinion is to get the default drive (or lesser version if you can) and just buy the 60GB 7200 RPM Hitachi drive and swap them. this will give you near desktop HD speeds. You can buy an external FW case and use it as backup/storage.
I have the 60GB 7200 RPM by Hitachi and it was a vast improvement over my 30GB 4200 RPM HD. trowa is right, it depends on what you are going to do with your PB. I do a lot of photo and video editing and the new drive was heaven-sent to me. And, I really didn?t believe people at first but Mac?s love RAM, I would recommend getting a lot.
Yes, but you may not want to pay Apple's RAM prices. I sprung for the 512MB in one slot option on my 15"... a bit more than 512 in two slots, but it gave me an extra slot to fill with 3rd party RAM. (Crucial is a good supplier, and Apple gives them the nod.)
Is the 7200rpm 60GB disk the largest you can currently purchase for the Powerbooks?
I believe it is. The 5400s come in an 80GB version.
I second trowa's suggestion, that if you're going to upgrade, you do it yourself and keep the original drive as a spare. Makes a great backup drive after you put it in a Firewire enclosure. Only problem is, I don't know how hard it is to swap the drives in the alumibooks. It was pretty easy in the TiBook.
I believe it is. The 5400s come in an 80GB version.
I second trowa's suggestion, that if you're going to upgrade, you do it yourself and keep the original drive as a spare. Makes a great backup drive after you put it in a Firewire enclosure. Only problem is, I don't know how hard it is to swap the drives in the alumibooks. It was pretty easy in the TiBook.
Swapping out a HD in the AL PB (15") is do-able but it's a bit of a pain. You HAVE TO KEEP TRACK of the screws (or YOU will be screwed) and there are around 18 of them! I would NOT recommend this for someone who's never swapped out HDs in notebooks before.
I've been pretty dissatisfied with the performance of my drive (4200 RPM, 40GB) in my PowerBook, even just for everyday file browsing. I tried a defrag and that didn't help, so I'm planning on picking up the 7200 RPM 60 GB Hitachi before I upgrade to Panther, and I'll be putting my current internal in an external Firewire chassis.
So basically, if you do it right the first time, you won't have to worry about it later.
Swapping out a HD in the AL PB (15") is do-able but it's a bit of a pain. You HAVE TO KEEP TRACK of the screws (or YOU will be screwed) and there are around 18 of them! I would NOT recommend this for someone who's never swapped out HDs in notebooks before.
I am going to upgrade the drive to 7200rpm after I send in my Powerbook for "spot removal" in January. Is there anywhere that details the procedure? Does it void the warranty at all?
I am going to upgrade the drive to 7200rpm after I send in my Powerbook for "spot removal" in January. Is there anywhere that details the procedure? Does it void the warranty at all?
Go to Apple's Support Web Site and do a search for the Ti PB HD removal/replacement. The Al PB are similar in the sense that the HD is side-screwed to a plate very similar to the Ti PBs. You need to take out the battery and pretty much take out most of the screws: on the sides, rear, and bottom. Don't forget the two screws inside where the RAM is located and I believe you need to take out the TORX screws above the keyboard as well. You kinda have to be confident and take out screws you think need to be unscrewed. That's pretty much what I did. Just KEEP TRACK of your screws and use a good small screwdriver that is sharp on the end. Then you have to pry open the top shell that that has the keyboard almost attached to it - be careful. You'll see the HD on the leftside of the superdrive/burner. Then it's similar to the Ti PBs.
Now, I don't see how doing this will void the warranty. I mean, how would they know that you opened up the Al PB? Perhaps if you damage something WHILE you're doing the upgrade, perhaps Apple won't fix it; I think that's what they mean.
Good luck. I think someone posted some pics detailing the insides of the Al PB; you may want to run a search for this.
Comments
Originally posted by jeagen
Is the 7200rpm 60GB disk the largest you can currently purchase for the Powerbooks?
I believe it is. The 5400s come in an 80GB version.
I second trowa's suggestion, that if you're going to upgrade, you do it yourself and keep the original drive as a spare. Makes a great backup drive after you put it in a Firewire enclosure. Only problem is, I don't know how hard it is to swap the drives in the alumibooks. It was pretty easy in the TiBook.
Originally posted by iDave
I believe it is. The 5400s come in an 80GB version.
I second trowa's suggestion, that if you're going to upgrade, you do it yourself and keep the original drive as a spare. Makes a great backup drive after you put it in a Firewire enclosure. Only problem is, I don't know how hard it is to swap the drives in the alumibooks. It was pretty easy in the TiBook.
Swapping out a HD in the AL PB (15") is do-able but it's a bit of a pain. You HAVE TO KEEP TRACK of the screws (or YOU will be screwed) and there are around 18 of them! I would NOT recommend this for someone who's never swapped out HDs in notebooks before.
So basically, if you do it right the first time, you won't have to worry about it later.
Originally posted by cj3209
Swapping out a HD in the AL PB (15") is do-able but it's a bit of a pain. You HAVE TO KEEP TRACK of the screws (or YOU will be screwed) and there are around 18 of them! I would NOT recommend this for someone who's never swapped out HDs in notebooks before.
I am going to upgrade the drive to 7200rpm after I send in my Powerbook for "spot removal" in January. Is there anywhere that details the procedure? Does it void the warranty at all?
Originally posted by buckeye
I am going to upgrade the drive to 7200rpm after I send in my Powerbook for "spot removal" in January. Is there anywhere that details the procedure? Does it void the warranty at all?
Go to Apple's Support Web Site and do a search for the Ti PB HD removal/replacement. The Al PB are similar in the sense that the HD is side-screwed to a plate very similar to the Ti PBs. You need to take out the battery and pretty much take out most of the screws: on the sides, rear, and bottom. Don't forget the two screws inside where the RAM is located and I believe you need to take out the TORX screws above the keyboard as well. You kinda have to be confident and take out screws you think need to be unscrewed. That's pretty much what I did. Just KEEP TRACK of your screws and use a good small screwdriver that is sharp on the end. Then you have to pry open the top shell that that has the keyboard almost attached to it - be careful. You'll see the HD on the leftside of the superdrive/burner. Then it's similar to the Ti PBs.
Now, I don't see how doing this will void the warranty. I mean, how would they know that you opened up the Al PB? Perhaps if you damage something WHILE you're doing the upgrade, perhaps Apple won't fix it; I think that's what they mean.
Good luck. I think someone posted some pics detailing the insides of the Al PB; you may want to run a search for this.