Upgrading Macbook

[kylo4]

I'm considering taking the Macbook off my parents and upgrading it and using it as my primary computer since I don't own one for myself yet.

The first thing that needs to be upgraded is the RAM. Currently its 512mb and it lags too much for my liking opening up different applications. I'm thinking either 1GB or 2GB. Apple's charging $180 and $330 respectively. Since I'll go with places I know (like Best Buy or Amazon), I'm wondering if this is good and if it will do/be compatible:

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After that I'll buy a mighty mouse, applecare and another battery (when it dies). I'm also wondering since it has a 60GB HD if I could use a 320GB External HD with it and let it retrieve files off of it. For example all of the iTunes music could be on it and when I plug in ther 80GB iPod its actually syncing with songs that are on the external drive but showing up in iTunes.

Any assistance would be great because I want to round out the costs and see if its worth it in the end. Thanks.

[funnyperson1]

Thats way too much for the ram, here is some good ram from a very reputable canadian site:
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=18811&vpn=VS1GSDS667D2&manufacture=CORSAIR

This site is what most of the overclockers/pc enthusiasts I know in Canada use.

I would advise against the mighty mouse, once you get past the looks and the all direction scroll, its really a mediocre mouse that costs too much. Alternatives from Logitech and Microsoft are much better unless you value looks over performance.

Using the external drive shouldn't be a problem at all for Itunes.

[kylo4]

Thanks for the advice. I found the 1GB Corsair ram for $98 (two sticks) on Tiger Direct. I guess I'll skip that mighty mouse then. It didn't get the best of reviews over at Apple.ca so I see what you mean.

I didn't know you could do this yourself but I guess I can replace the hard drive as well. I'm sure it has to be a 2.5' drive like the PS3 so it shouldn't be too hard to find a well priced capacity drive. Its as if this computer was built to last since the ram, hd and battery are all user replaceable. Installing a 120 or 160GB drive would be fantastic as it could house all of my iTunes music.

I also have another question. In the first two weeks or so that we had the Macbook I idiotically popped in Warcraft 3 and it played for about 30 seconds and froze with the fan going off. You don't think that caused any ill effects do you? Its never (as well as other games) been used on this Macbook since.

[funnyperson1]

To be honest almost every laptop allows user upgradeable ram and hdd, so don't feel special :p. Just do your research on the hard drive as I'm not sure if your Macbook uses a SATA or PATA/IDE interface (I imagine its SATA).

I don't see why trying to USE your laptop for playing a game would be idiotic, but that kind of symptom would indicate an overheating problem. I doubt you damaged anything, but to me a computer that can't be used to its full extent is "damaged" anyways. I would try again once you have Apple Care, paid for and go to a Genius bar to get your laptop fixed if the problem persists. Warcraft is not a graphically intensive game, and should play well on the Macbook without any issues. The ~$800 PC I built in 2001, as well as the ~$1800 laptop I bought in 2003 played Warcraft with no issues, and there is no reason why your Macbook shouldn't be able to.

[kylo4]

I'm using a refurb (from Apple) 1'st gen Macbook that has a 60GB HD and 512mb of ram. It is using a SATA drive, I'm just wondering if its 2.5'. Watcraft 3 barely played in the lowest settings but its because of the graphics chip. The Macbook itself runs at a good 2 ghz.

I've been checking out the Corsair ram and am planning to purchase the two 1GB sticks for $97.99 because Corsair has a good rep and thats a great deal. 2GB of ram will really push this machine (its also only an Intel Core Duo, not Core 2). Once the ram is upgraded and a larger hard drive is installed (say 160GB) it will be almost as good as an iMac minus the larger display.

[funnyperson1]

The Intel Graphics are bad, but they aren't that bad. My old laptop with the same GPU as the Macbook ran WoW ok when my roommate borrowed it (and WoW is ages more advanced than WarcraftIII graphically).

[Derek McNelly]

Just a quick word on the Mighty Mouse:

I'm not going to say "OMG GREATEST MOUSE EVARRRRRR!!!11!!!"

Because it isn't the greatest mouse ever, but for me, it is my favorite mouse, and I much prefer it over any other mouse I've used.

I'm not saying that there aren't better, but it's pretty subjective.

Look around though.

Razer has a really nice Mac mouse that you can't go wrong with.

And of course, M$ always makes good mice.

I just personally prefer the mighty mouse.

[studogvetmed]

Given that video memory is shared with onboard memory my guess would be that the low amount of ram on the macbook caused the warcraft issue. So more ram may fix it, or I guess it could have always been a bad install.

[kylo4]

Given that video memory is shared with onboard memory my guess would be that the low amount of ram on the macbook caused the warcraft issue. So more ram may fix it, or I guess it could have always been a bad install.

Thats possible. I just installed and played Starcraft for the very first time and while there was no lag or slowdown at all (very quick game play actually, except for the opening Blizzard logo skipped a bit but that fixed itself) The fan was going crazy and it was fairly loud although the game's dialogue/audio was louder. As soon as I quit playing and ejected the disc the fan died down. I also have the Macbook propped up a bit with four novels at the edges so it can ventilate properly. Stud is probably right and its just a ram issue since Apple decided to put two 256 mb sticks of ram into the computer. The two 1 GB sticks will really speed up this machine.

[studogvetmed]

Any processor intensive work will cause the Macbook fans to ramp, likely even with more ram. The macbook being thin needs more fan work to cool it because it has no "space" to dissipate heat too. It needs to fan to help facilitate this. The fans ramping up really is a good thing.

[kylo4]

Any processor intensive work will cause the Macbook fans to ramp, likely even with more ram. The macbook being thin needs more fan work to cool it because it has no "space" to dissipate heat too. It needs to fan to help facilitate this. The fans ramping up really is a good thing.

I took it as something bad because I was used to game consoles where if you hear that fan starting to really blow the game starts to skip etc so I thought it would be the same...that the processor was working too hard but its good to know that its like that because of how thin the Macbook is.

I'm really enjoying this Macbook and after the ram and some upgrades I'll have Leopard running on this machine. My goal is to make upgrades that make it less than the cost of an iMac but equally as effective (and portable).

[bobb-mini]

Replacing the HD in a Windoze notebook is tricky 'coz while on a desktop, one just simply hookup the new drive and go CLONE, typically can't hookup two HD simultaneously on a notebook... maybe on a MB, it's alot ezier, one hopes.

[kylo4]

Well I'm getting the two 1GB ram sticks from Corsair. It has been ordered. The PC 5400 will work right? It says the ram is designed for Macbooks, iMacs and Macbook Pros.

Edit: I'm thinking its a typo since on newegg its the same product and is 5300 and on Corsair's official site its 5300 with no mention whatsoever of 5400 ram. I guess I'll have to see when it shows up at my door.

I'm also noticing that the display doesn't seem as bright as before, but that could be the glare or something.

[studogvetmed]

Replacing the HD in a Windoze notebook is tricky 'coz while on a desktop, one just simply hookup the new drive and go CLONE, typically can't hookup two HD simultaneously on a notebook... maybe on a MB, it's alot ezier, one hopes.

If the replacement drive is simply bigger and the other drive is still going to be in good working order, they suggest you get a cheap external enclosure. First put the new drive in it, hook it up and clone the drive with mac Superduper! program, Pull out the old drive, remove the new from the enclosure and swap.

[kylo4]

I've been managing my music from an external drive and have an important question.

Usually when I plug it in it immediately shows up on the desktop, but after 2 minutes of it not doing that and the red light showing I unplugged the USB cable and the Mac said "damage may have been caused etc". I plugged it back in, waited three minutes and boom, its all up. My question is, did I damage any files (it must have been loading the songs, however iTunes wasn't open). How would I be able to tell, if they were skipping or would they just not work at all? I'm sorta worried now.

[Sparkee]

You should be safe, I have a FAT32 drive that does this once in awhile too. The Mac formatted drive has no problem. About the only way anything bad would happen is if you disconnected it while it was working on or writing files. It shouldn't harm files when it is reading them.

[kylo4]

If I want to upgrade the Macbook's Hard Drive, will this one do? http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2226986

I'm not sure as to what rpm and buffering etc it needs.

[S2_Mac]

No, it won't work -- at all. MacBooks use SATA (serial ATA) drives; that Seagate is PATA (parallel ATA).

Better to go with something like this (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822116048) (cheaper, too ;-)

Apple's got a handy DIY guide (http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/MacBook_13inch_HardDrive_DIY.pdf) for this. (But I don't think it mentions that you need a Torx driver for the drive caddy. I don't recall what size Torx is needed....)

And, if you've got an external HD, you might be able to use SuperDuper (http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html) or something similar to just reload an image of your current drive, rather than having to reinstall everything by hand.

[kylo4]

No, it won't work -- at all. MacBooks use SATA (serial ATA) drives; that Seagate is PATA (parallel ATA).

Better to go with something like this (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822116048) (cheaper, too ;-)

Apple's got a handy DIY guide (http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/MacBook_13inch_HardDrive_DIY.pdf) for this. (But I don't think it mentions that you need a Torx driver for the drive caddy. I don't recall what size Torx is needed....)

And, if you've got an external HD, you might be able to use SuperDuper (http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html) or something similar to just reload an image of your current drive, rather than having to reinstall everything by hand.

I'd just use Time Machine, it does one heck of a job with back-up.

Thanks for the advice.

[studogvetmed]

I'd just use Time Machine, it does one heck of a job with back-up.

Thanks for the advice.


It does a "heck" of a job, but does not create a bootable clone like Superduper can, where if you ever have a failure, you can boot from your clone to trouble shoot and still work from while you try to identify the system failure :D That's why I use superduper and refused to upgrade to leopard until it was compatible. Which it finally is :D

Both time machine and a bootable clone option have their place in your back up strategy.

[kylo4]

It does a "heck" of a job, but does not create a bootable clone like Superduper can, where if you ever have a failure, you can boot from your clone to trouble shoot and still work from while you try to identify the system failure :D That's why I use superduper and refused to upgrade to leopard until it was compatible. Which it finally is :D

Both time machine and a bootable clone option have their place in your back up strategy.

Thanks for the tip. I wanted to say hell but I think its bleeped out.

I'll still be on the lookout for an HD. It's okay to use a 250GB external drive but this is basically a desktop for me, so having a 160GB internal HD would fully flesh out this Macbook. I can't find one on Tigerdirect and Newegg doesn't work for me since I'm in Canada and the fees associated would be a lot. If there's anything on Tiger Direct that would be great. The 2GB of Corsair Ram was purchased off of there.

Edit: Guess hell isn't censored here.

[mbarlow]

I just went through this. I bought memory (2gig about $80) and got a new hard drive (160 gig WD Scorpio) from OtherWorld Computing. Replacing the memory took about 10 minutes and the video on their site was easy to follow. Replacing the HD was equally easy, but required en external HD case to first clone your old HD (SuperDuper works well). With the enclosure for your old SATA drive you'll have a smaller backup HD for the price of the enclosure or about $40. The only surprise was the need for a torx driver to remove the thin aluminum carrier the original HD rests in. Save the money and so this yourself. It is easy on a MacBook.

[Derek McNelly]

I've been considering going down this route. At the moment, I'm using like, 36 out of 74GB of space, so I don't exactly need to, but you're right, it is cheaper to do this yourself.

[ThisisCraigP]

I'm considering taking the Macbook off my parents and upgrading it and using it as my primary computer since I don't own one for myself yet.

The first thing that needs to be upgraded is the RAM. Currently its 512mb and it lags too much for my liking opening up different applications. I'm thinking either 1GB or 2GB. Apple's charging $180 and $330 respectively. Since I'll go with places I know (like Best Buy or Amazon), I'm wondering if this is good and if it will do/be compatible:

[SIZE="1"ttp://www.bestbuy.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&MSCSProfile=3C79F0C7EA3162B2F4DE0859C8631BEA741E15 DC6095FB529BEDDE9406A04B30BFDE389C34656976C120B6C1 3FB6D893A7FC7912C8E24245EDADD840FA05FF20056A6E34A4 7FFE0466C7F0F8B477BB9C299207310ACADC82FFD9FD451F24 3A980A19821F586FD786958727403D0E0CB79E4BA31E9B799F C0D493D4C04916FD7040A369C17990DD735B36577245C04089 51490F53BAEF564A90D644CA5BC33C815063BF07E91D8F9D66 47C49B615EEB5C820A266650C404DEF0630337AF9AD3C37A16 4A2D862D291E&sku_id=0926INGFS10075304&catid=20361# (http://www.bestbuy.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&MSCSProfile=3C79F0C7EA3162B2F4DE0859C8631BEA741E15 DC6095FB529BEDDE9406A04B30BFDE389C34656976C120B6C1 3FB6D893A7FC7912C8E24245EDADD840FA05FF20056A6E34A4 7FFE0466C7F0F8B477BB9C299207310ACADC82FFD9FD451F24 3A980A19821F586FD786958727403D0E0CB79E4BA31E9B799F C0D493D4C04916FD7040A369C17990DD735B36577245C04089 51490F53BAEF564A90D644CA5BC33C815063BF07E91D8F9D66 47C49B615EEB5C820A266650C404DEF0630337AF9AD3C37A16 4A2D862D291E&sku_id=0926INGFS10075304&catid=20361#)[/SIZE]

After that I'll buy a mighty mouse, applecare and another battery (when it dies). I'm also wondering since it has a 60GB HD if I could use a 320GB External HD with it and let it retrieve files off of it. For example all of the iTunes music could be on it and when I plug in ther 80GB iPod its actually syncing with songs that are on the external drive but showing up in iTunes.

Any assistance would be great because I want to round out the costs and see if its worth it in the end. Thanks.

For RAM i would look here (macsales.com)
(http://macsales.com/) or here (ifixit.com) (http://www.ifixit.com/Categories/MacBook-13-Inch/86)

good luck