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Julius
2006-05-17, 15:54
I am thinking about buying a MB some time in the near future. After having bought it I will upgrade the RAM and possibly the HD aswell, but what should i look for in a HD ? Normally I would know what to buy but is the HD size of the MB the same size as a normal 3.5" HD used in standard desktops ?

Other than that can anyone recommend a certain HD to buy for the MB ?

Thanks in advance guys...
Sketch
2006-05-17, 15:56
o.k. notebook HDDs are 2.5", much thinner than desktop 3.5" HDDs. For the HDD purchasing advice I will leave it to someone from the US to recommend a place as I am from Europe. (I assume you are from the US)

edit: Also could you pls tell us do you need a faster HDD, I mean usually there are two speeds, 5400rpm and 7200rpm. Faster the better and keep in mind that faster HDD, especially notebook HDDs are expensive. But assuming you are not a pro app user who needs a faster HDD, i guess you should be fine with a 5400 rpm HDD. Also how big HDD do you want? 80GB, 100GB, 120GB (i think 120 GB is the max)
ghoti
2006-05-17, 16:06
Faster also means it uses more power and generates more heat and noise - so "faster is better" isn't quite true for laptops.

Apart from the form factor (2.5"), you also have to know the maximum height you can use (the PowerBook needs one that's no more than 9.5mm), and of course the connection (SATA in the MB).

The prices for harddisk upgrades in the Apple Store don't seem so outrageous, it might be worth it to consider getting one BTO and save yourself the trouble.
Julius
2006-05-17, 16:09
o.k. notebook HDDs are 2.5", much thinner than desktop 3.5" HDDs. For the HDD purchasing advice I will leave it to someone from the US to recommend a place as I am from Europe. (I assume you are from the US)
I am acctually from europe to so you can recommend places to buy all you want :).... Although I'll probably buy from my usual channels unless something really good comes up here.

edit: Also could you pls tell us do you need a faster HDD, I mean usually there are two speeds, 5400rpm and 7200rpm. Faster the better and keep in mind that faster HDD, especially notebook HDDs are expensive. But assuming you are not a pro app user who needs a faster HDD, i guess you should be fine with a 5400 rpm HDD. Also how big HDD do you want? 80GB, 100GB, 120GB (i think 120 GB is the max)
I was kind of thinking I would make those decisions when I learned the size of the drive... But I will probably go for a 100 gig+ HD (maybe a 80 gig if I can find a 7200 rpm HD at a reasonable price)
Sketch
2006-05-17, 16:11
Faster also means it uses more power and generates more heat and noise - so "faster is better" isn't quite true for laptops. is it really a much that it would affect a lot? or only slightly significant?

The prices for harddisk upgrades in the Apple Store don't seem so outrageous, it might be worth considering to get one BTO and save yourself the trouble I don't know about the "not outrageous" part, but I agree with the "save you some trouble" part.
FFL
2006-05-17, 16:16
Given that it appears that replacing the hard drive on the new MacBook is not much more difficult than upgrading RAM, I'd say the "save you some trouble" part barely applies here.

I can't recall another Apple notebook where hard drive replacement was this easy.
Julius
2006-05-17, 16:22
Just looked at the price for a 2.5" HD here in Denmark... think Imight have to go with the "save me the trouble" approach on this one. Not a whole lot to save... Plus I'm lazy :)
Sketch
2006-05-17, 16:30
well since you are from Europe, I recommend you to check this site (http://www.geizhals.at/deutschland/a147735.html) unless you have already checked it. I am sure it would save you at least some money, say around 30-40 Euros.
DMBand0026
2006-05-17, 16:37
Reports are saying that 7200 RPM HDDs DO NOT fit in the MacBook due to size constraints. Apparently they're slightly larger than a 5400 RPM drive. Who knew?
chucker
2006-05-17, 19:16
Reports are saying that 7200 RPM HDDs DO NOT fit in the MacBook due to size constraints. Apparently they're slightly larger than a 5400 RPM drive. Who knew?

That depends. There's two heights (9.5 mm and 12.5 mm, IIRC).
claycarver
2006-05-17, 19:19
Reports are saying that 7200 RPM HDDs DO NOT fit in the MacBook due to size constraints. Apparently they're slightly larger than a 5400 RPM drive. Who knew?

Man. When I heard I could easily switch out the HD, this was my first thought. If I can't upgrade to 7200, I don't really see the benefit of installing one myself. I'll probably just spend $50 to get the 80 GB drive straight from Apple. :\

Any chance the reports are wrong?
claycarver
2006-05-17, 19:28
That depends. There's two heights (9.5 mm and 12.5 mm, IIRC).

This 7200 speed HD looks to have the same dimensions as a 5400 I was looking at earlier. And at the top, it says that it works with both MacBooks and MacBook Pros. Any reason it wouldn't fit?

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Seagate/ST910021AS/
FFL
2006-05-17, 19:45
This 7200 speed HD looks to have the same dimensions as a 5400 I was looking at earlier. And at the top, it says that it works with both MacBooks and MacBook Pros. Any reason it wouldn't fit?

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Seagate/ST910021AS/
If OWC lists it as working in a MacBook, I'm sure they will exchange it with no penalty if it somehow turns out to be incompatible. They're a pretty good vendor, and I doubt they'd list the compatibility if they hadn't tested it themselves already.
claycarver
2006-05-17, 20:06
Ok, this one looks to have about the same physical size:

http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/7k100/7k100.htm

And it can be had here for $165.

http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=DMH0A25016


Any reason this won't work?
Luca
2006-05-17, 21:21
I'd say get it. One person said he called Apple and some guy told him they wouldn't fit, but who knows? Apple makes huge profits on these hard drive upgrades (they cost around 3x the actual difference in price, so a $50 price difference is $150 from Apple) so it's in their best interest to make people think they have to buy from them.

All laptop hard drives are the same size these days. I haven't seen a 12.5mm drive in ages. Go for it. I mean, hell, you can buy a 120 GB laptop hard drive for the same price Apple charges you to upgrade from 60 GB to 100 GB. And you get to keep the original drive too!
macleod
2006-05-17, 23:14
Will the 7200 RPM drives cause too much heat though or is it not a big enough heat difference to cause a problem?
Sketch
2006-05-18, 03:00
is it really a much that it would affect a lot? or only slightly significant?

Will the 7200 RPM drives cause too much heat though or is it not a big enough heat difference to cause a problem?

Wondering the same
Luca
2006-05-18, 03:40
From what I've read elsewhere, moving to 7200 RPM shouldn't cause too many problems. They don't get much hotter than 5400 RPM hard drives.

I mean, they do offer a 7200 RPM option in the MacBook Pro, and those have hotter processors too, and much more powerful GPUs. The MacBook should easily be able to handle any extra heat.
Julius
2006-05-18, 04:03
If anyone who have already bought a MB tries to install a 7200 rpm HD I would be very gratefull if the results were posted in this thread. I dont have the money to buy a HD that I dont know if I'll be able to use atm... Plus I dont own a MB yet :)
Sketch
2006-05-18, 04:57
o.k read this article (http://www.linuxhardware.org/article.pl?sid=06/03/22/1331249) to have a good idea about heat, noise generation and other stuff. (scroll down a bit and you'll see), apparently there is not much heat generation.