can you fit a 7200 rpm harddrive in a new MacBook???

Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
just wondering if this is possible? there are no options for a 7200 from Apple on the MacBooks but there are for the Pros.



im lookin to get a MacBook at end of summer (hopefully after all these "bugs" are addressed) and wanting to have all the bells and whistles on it since it'll replace my laptop and my desktop.



im shootin for: 2.0ghz, 2gb, and 80gb 7200rpm hd.





anyone tried this or can verify for certain whether or not its possible????



thanks!
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 41
    sandausandau Posts: 1,230member
    my macbook is currently running with a 100gb Hitachi 7200rpm HD and its screaming fast with 2gb ram. I bought the basic MacBook and self installed everything, for probably 1/3rd the Apple cost. Haven't ever had a better Powerbook or iBook, this thing is superb. Installation on both ram and HD into the MacBook took a total of 5 min, most of which was trying to get the stupid ram into the silly ram slots.



    After reading benchmarks, there is really no reason to have the 2.0ghz version, the differences are so minute as to be silly when compared to the 1.83ghz.
  • Reply 2 of 41
    untsiguntsig Posts: 47member
    werd



    thats good news!!

    yeah im def installin it all myself as well.



    how much did your hd cost ya?



    i was plannin on gettin my memory from newegg.com
  • Reply 3 of 41
    sandausandau Posts: 1,230member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by untsig

    werd



    thats good news!!

    yeah im def installin it all myself as well.



    how much did your hd cost ya?



    i was plannin on gettin my memory from newegg.com




    I bought two patriot brand 1gb sticks from new egg for around $85 each. the hard drive I bought from eWiz.com for $170. Both shipped super fast.
  • Reply 4 of 41
    untsiguntsig Posts: 47member
    sweet

    thanks for your help and quick replies!!
  • Reply 5 of 41
    mikefmikef Posts: 698member
    Given the reports of the excessive dissipated heat of the MB, you might want to rethink adding yet another heat source. There might be thermal reasons why they don't offer a 7200rpm drive...
  • Reply 6 of 41
    sandausandau Posts: 1,230member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by mikef

    Given the reports of the excessive dissipated heat of the MB, you might want to rethink adding yet another heat source. There might be thermal reasons why they don't offer a 7200rpm drive...



    I actually researched this. The Hitachi 7200rpm 100gb drive is quieter, uses less wattage (better battery life) and puts out less heat than the Fujitsu 5400rpm 60gb drive that shipped with my MB.
  • Reply 7 of 41
    untsiguntsig Posts: 47member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by sandau

    I actually researched this. The Hitachi 7200rpm 100gb drive is quieter, uses less wattage (better battery life) and puts out less heat than the Fujitsu 5400rpm 60gb drive that shipped with my MB.



    wow! that's impressive. and yet sad that it doesnt come standard.
  • Reply 8 of 41
    the pie manthe pie man Posts: 425member
    I've got the same Hitachi HD in the base 1.8GHz MacBook - as well as 2GB. I did the exact same thing Sandau did - bought from OWC and saved a lot of money.



    I've checked CPU temps and HD temps while idle and under load - the HD temp averages around 35C, and the CPU idles between 35-40C and tops out at 82ish under load before dropping to a constant 78C once the fans kick in.



    Don't buy Apple RAM or HD - it's simple as pie to replace yourself and you can basically get a 'free' 7200 100GB drive for the couple minutes it will take you to do it.



    Make sure to have the proper tools however - the HD enclosure uses torq screws, not normal philips ones.



    EDIT: My MacBook came with a Seagate Momentus HD - not sure what the power and heat specs are on that, but the Hitachi is completely silent (even with my ear to the machine) and is running super cool.
  • Reply 9 of 41
    sandausandau Posts: 1,230member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by The Pie Man

    Make sure to have the proper tools however - the HD enclosure uses torq screws, not normal philips ones.





    I noticed that right off, the torq screws...but i have a small screw driver set and fortunately they didn't use too much blue loctite (i noticed some on the front screws to keep them in from vibration). I simply used a flathead that fit, I didn't force anything and it worked fine.



    Yes, the upgrade to the basic MacBook is fantastic. I'm loving this thing.
  • Reply 10 of 41
    aquaticaquatic Posts: 5,602member
    Well fellas I think I'm going to join you two in the next few weeks, with a base 1.83 MacBook, upgrade to the 100 gig drive and 1 gig of RAM. Anyone think there's much of a difference between 1 and 2 gigs of RAM? I don't use insane apps too much that would notice the diff. I wouldn't think, but what about OS X itself? I've seen anecdotes here saying it actually would speed up OS X. Thoughts? I'm probably just going to stick with the gig. I have to take a trip to dealram and dealmac soon.



    edit: so apparently all MacBooks/MacBook Pros use the same RAM. Good.



    Something I noticed while at LowEndMac: Macintels can boot with USB drives! Yay! Okay maybe everyone else knew that but I didn't notice it. Hmm...I think for my next external drive I'll save some money and skip the FireWire.
  • Reply 11 of 41
    sandausandau Posts: 1,230member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Aquatic

    Well fellas I think I'm going to join you two in the next few weeks, with a base 1.83 MacBook, upgrade to the 100 gig drive and 1 gig of RAM. Anyone think there's much of a difference between 1 and 2 gigs of RAM? I don't use insane apps too much that would notice the diff. I wouldn't think, but what about OS X itself? I've seen anecdotes here saying it actually would speed up OS X. Thoughts? I'm probably just going to stick with the gig. I have to take a trip to dealram and dealmac soon.



    a gig is fine. i prefer 2gb because I run XP or Ubuntu in Parallels a lot of the time and I allocate at minimum 512mb ram to the virtual instance.



    but, you might consider making the plunge since you'll toss out 2x256, then if you upgrade again, you'll toss out 2x512 to get to 2x1gb.
  • Reply 12 of 41
    skatmanskatman Posts: 609member
    If you're upgrading, definitely got for 2 X 1Gig.
  • Reply 13 of 41
    aquaticaquatic Posts: 5,602member
    Geez good point, I'm going to be doing some HEAVY stuff in Parallels. ESRI ArcGIS ArcMap, in probably XP Pro or maybe 2000. And a few other things, hell maybe even a game or two. And it's only an additional 50% in price...158 for 2 gigs, 89 for 1 (in the x2 configs.) Hm...and according to dealmac just $109 for the 100 gig Hitachi! https://www.nowdirect.com/direct/par...art=OBM0A25025
  • Reply 14 of 41
    sandausandau Posts: 1,230member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Aquatic

    Hm...and according to dealmac just $109 for the 100 gig Hitachi! https://www.nowdirect.com/direct/par...art=OBM0A25025



    the link goes to nowdirect.com (who?) and that's a 60gb drive according to the top header:

    Hitachi Travelstar 7K100 60GB 0A25025.



    i don't think i'd go with that seller....
  • Reply 15 of 41
    ti fighterti fighter Posts: 863member
    i really want to install a 7200 drive, good to know that it's working so far,
  • Reply 16 of 41
    macroninmacronin Posts: 1,174member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by sandau

    After reading benchmarks, there is really no reason to have the 2.0ghz version, the differences are so minute as to be silly when compared to the 1.83ghz.



    Unless, of course, one prefers to have a MacBook in basic black?



    ;^p
  • Reply 17 of 41
    axc51axc51 Posts: 98member
    What about the differences between the 1.83ghz and 2.0ghz versions, like the combo drive vs. the superdrive? I think the upgrade from 1.83 to 2.0 may actually be worth it if you plan on making DVDs, right?
  • Reply 18 of 41
    http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Hitachi/0A31637/



    Will that work with the MacBook? I'm not sure.



    EDIT: Nevermind, I just found the options using the finder on the same website.
  • Reply 19 of 41
    sandausandau Posts: 1,230member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by MacRonin

    Unless, of course, one prefers to have a MacBook in basic black?



    ;^p




    mm, dell black isn't for me....but maybe a nice green, blue, red, aqua, gel, platinum... if you're gonna pay a premium for a color, might as well get one that looks good. (macbooks available june 2nd)



    http://www.colorwarepc.com/products/default.aspx
  • Reply 20 of 41
    aquaticaquatic Posts: 5,602member
    Yeah that was a mistake. I hope they add more colors to the MacBook line, as well as the Mac mini and iMac line. Metal!? WTF. HALF the reason iMacs hit it big was they were "cute." Not to be sexist but over half the population is composed of women. And then there are guys like me. I was going to buy a colored MacBook. I used to looove the color of the Key Lime iBook and always wanted that. If they came out with a similarly striking MacBook I'd buy it. White and Metal are getting boring. And black isn't exactly gee whiz either. Long's it's not flower power. Anodized metal...whatever happened to that. And the skin that can change color. Or...I'd take a pink MacBook. Yeah, that's right. I'm kind of flamboyant. If I had decided to get the RAZR, which I didn't, I would have opted for the pink one.



    So is the Hitachi the best 100 gig drive? (I'm talking power consumption and reliability, that's all I care about, not noise. )
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