New Macbook Pro SSD installed + replace CD disk
Ok,
So I’m mulling over getting a new MBP. I’m thinking the SSD pisses all over the regular HD.
But the price is astronomical for anything more than 128G SSD.
However, i’d happily swap out the CD drive for another regular HD.
I’d be bricking my pants though mucking about with a brand new £2,000 investment.
But clearly the SSD makes a massive difference.
How straight forward is this?
piss easy, just follow the youtube videos, don’t pull too hard on anything and don’t lose any screws.
I got my caddy from http://www.newmodeus.com/ for $49 and bought an external USB CD drive off amazon for about £20, so saved a few quid and got a better CD drive than i would have with the MCE optibay option.
Pick wisely when considering an SSD. OSX has no trim support so standard trim features, so you’ll see the slow down in SSD performance due to just use. No file order management adds up to a fragmented drive. However some drive manufactures have seemed to crack these problems with get arounds etc in recent models. This management is worth more than an advertised r/w speed. i’d possibly get 2 ssd’'s an raid 0 them to again increase performance. You’d actually get about 60gb extra than lets say a 256GB SSD with 2x 160GB SSD’s. For any additional storage just use either usb, sd or wifi.
As for opening her up. don’t worry mac’s are pretty much the easiest laptops to take apart. you’ll just need a small cross head and a T9 screwdriver and to remember to pull from the back forward to take the bottom panal.
Lion’s out next month and that’s going to enable TRIM on all SSDs, so no worries there.
it is really eays.. a lot of tutorials on the web..
how long does it take for a ssd to begin slowing down? is there a way (program) to measure this?
im not sure if installing optibay would void your warranty or not
i have heard stories of people saying they lost their applecare and stuff haha
im still deciding whether to spend the money on applecare when my mbp’s warranty is nearing its expiry date or just invest in SSD+optibay (I already have WD 750GB onboard)
im just really worried that my logic board gets faulty one day and having to pay $$$$$$$$$$$ to get it fixed without applecare
Pretty sure it does void applecare, but then again you can always swap it back out if you need to.
I’d hold out for Lion anyway before purchasing.
I checked out the tut again on the blog
and they swapped out the CD drive for the SSD. Maybe that’s the thing to do. Order the Mac with the 750GB HHD and swap out the optical with a SSD…
This op going to bugger up warranty / apple care though?
Basically i’d like my music on an internal HDD but the OSX and apps on the SSD.
They got that Thunderbolt going on which I’d use for video storage / editing…
Ideally you don’t want to boot off a drive that’s in the DVD bay. Apparently that can cause problems.
And yeh, I think the DVD drive isn’t designated as replaceable so it can void it. That’s what I was told when I asked on here a couple of months back (here’s one of the threads I was discussing it on Macbook Pro SSD/HDD upgrade AND optibay there were others but not started by me so hard to find lol).
The law is grey i believe. The Magnuson Moss act protects a consumer from warranty being void if the component that was replaced was a standard replaceable component and that you’ve caused no proven damage to the electrical item.
[ame=“Magnuson–Moss Warranty Act - Wikipedia”]Magnuson–Moss Warranty Act - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]
However there was a line about it possibly void and servicing. But I’d bet my last buck a dvd drive is classed as a standard replaceable item. just by the nature of the way they work they ware out. You could always open it back up and swap the dvd back in anyways if you wasn’t confident
I’ve brought back a few bits and bobs to apple in the past and their motto seems to be we’ll replace it so long as the part in question is not something you tampered with.
Example1. Macbook Gen1 cracking case.
I’d already replaced the Screen myself with one I bought from Ebay (and made them aware of it) they still replaced the case regardless.
Example2. Ibook trackpad / keyboard issue, I’d replaced the CD drive with a superdrive myself 6months earlier.
Example3. CD Drive Dodgy in Mums Imac under applecare, they replaced it even though I’d been in there before and replaced the HDD.
Optibay is a less complex but more visible and might be frowned on moreso as a result, but they seem to be pretty cool with tinkering.
of course they do that. deniability its one of apple’s biggest weapons. Until theres an update from mr jobs nothing is confirmed or accepted. i’ve been trying to get them to replace the logic board in my MBP. it’s destroyed 2 hard drives due to a faulty sata controller. But as it seems none of there tests can flag anything up so it doesn’t exist. i’ve told them that if it happens a third time i’m going to file for charges against them as it’s gone on for about 5 months. But the law is the law and theres nothing they can do. And once you start talking law they will give or act professional
Hey MaxOne!
I would recommend you buy the mac with the cheapest HD and go for an HD with 7200 rpm together with your SSD…
Seagate has a good option of 500gb HDD with 7200 RPM and it’s a big difference from the standard 5400 RPM that Macs sells on the store.
You can take the HDD that cames with the mb pro and put on a case for an external hdd…
i’ve found a few tips and such about speeding up ssd’s. http://torcellite.blogspot.com/2011/06/trim-for-mac-ssds.html
as for the question about loosing applecare. I’d think about it like this. If i planned on tinkering and “modding” my mac i might not bother with £300’s worth of applecare. If i could (which i did) get HE discount i’d probably buy care as it’s only £50. But when you compare apples replacement costs vs applecare you’ll find that nothing is really over £300. not even a whole logic board. By purchasing applecare at full retail your effectively paying for 1 large component replacement.
Thanks for that 
the only thing is the logic board is normally the thing to go and they’re more like £700 and that’s borderline worth a new mac…
But I might sack off the apple care and just get the regular MacBook pro and put the ssd in the optical drive
I love it go for it