Macbook HDD

[NiTeHaWk4787]

So, I have a Macbook and one day for absolutely no reason it would not load the OS (Gray screen with question mark in the center). So I loaded via OS CD and I come to find that the hard drive (60GB) is dead. I called their support line, product is out of warranty, will be $1000 to fix if it is determined to be user damage (hopefully left sitting on a table and never moved isnt considered user damage) and $400 to fix if it's determined to be hardware failure. So.. let's see here. a $40 hard drive, and a $360 service charge for a 5 minute job? I think not.

So in about 4 to 5 minutes I was able to locate and remove the hard drive and replace it just to make sure it wasnt loose. Still doesn't work. Okay so it's dead. No important files on there, I get a good laugh out of some idiot $400 price.. could be worse.

Now here is the question.. a quick 15 second Google search found the hard drive for $35. #1 - Seeing as how it's for a Mac, will it function the exact same way? I'm just asking because I'm not sure if the drive would be in any way different if I ordered it from Apple rather than just from any regular website... besides a little Apple symbol next to the Seagate brand name. Apple would probably charge me $115 for it also.

#2 - If I wanted to put an 80gb in there instead, could a generic 80GB laptop hard drive function just the same?

Thanks.

[John A]

All you need to get is a regular 2.5" SATA drive. Apple's hard drives are way overpriced anyway.

[NiTeHaWk4787]

Thank God, Apple is selling an 80gb replacement for $120 lol. I'm in college and would probably have just sold the laptop if it actually was going to cost $400 to fix lol. I have my desktop with me anyway. Too bad more people aren't informed of how easy most repairs are.

[John A]

Same goes for their RAM. When I was buying my MacBook, I could configure the amount of RAM it shipped with. I think it would have cost me about $300 to buy it from Apple. A month ago, I bought 2 gigs from newegg for $60, and it's been working great since then. Installation was very simple, too.

[edit]

I did some research on this, and it appears that on MacBooks, the default configuration as of now is 1 gigabyte. Apple charges $150 to upgrade to 2 gigabytes. Sound a little bit overpriced? Get this: it costs $850 to upgrade to 4 gigabytes (2 x 2 GB DDR2 667 Mhz sticks). You can get MacBook-compatible 2 gig sticks for a little over $40 on newegg.com.

Apple really overcharges on upgrades.

[NiTeHaWk4787]

Could you post the link to the modules? Currently I only have 512mb and the thing is unacceptably slow at times. I also noticed the ultra-expensive Apple RAM upgrade, but I didnt really think of upgrading until you just brought it up.

++I set some specifics and found a bunch of 2gb sets for Macbooks. Just have to make sure they are compatible with Macbooks non-pro (mine is the MA255LL/A 2006 series).

[John A]

All MacBook / MacBook Pro RAM is the same: PC-5300 667 Mhz 200 pin SO-DIMM.

I have a first-generation MacBook, which maxes out at 2 gigs, so I bought the following module (and I see the price has dropped from $30 to $20):
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?item=N82E16820231069

It sped up my machine so much (particularly when working with Java applications and virtual machines). I only wish I had bought the extra RAM sooner.

[NiTeHaWk4787]

I purchased mine in the summer of 2006 so I believe it's also capped at 2GB. Thanks for the link I'll order two asap for such an unbelivable price.

[NiTeHaWk4787]

Well, the RAM came a while ago but I procrastinated asking here.. but it wont seat properly. It fits in the ram slot but it wont actually seat. I have to use enormous force to actually get it to move in, and after that it won't boot so I'm assuming it's not seated properly (which is isnt because it doesnt go in nearly as far as my stock ram). I really cant use any more force to get it in heh the force required would be 6x what the stock ram requires. Worst comes to worst I'll ship it back to newegg but if I'm missing something here it'd be nice to keep.

[John A]

Well, make sure you're not trying to insert the modules upside-down. :P The modules slide in easily for most of the way, but right at the end, you really have to give a hard push to finally get it seated properly (you'll know it's properly seated when the levers snap back into place). It took me 2 or 3 tries before I got the RAM on my MacBook seated properly.

[NiTeHaWk4787]

Haha nah it's the correct way. They do slide in easily at first but when it's close enough to seat them I give it a reeeeeal hard push and they still wont go in. I'll try again later I really dont want to be bothered with returning anything heh.

[John A]

Now that I think about it, I do recall those RAM modules being a lot harder to insert than the stock RAM. But I know for a fact that I bought those exact modules, so unless your MacBook is somehow dramatically different than mine, it should just go in with a really hard push. :)

[NiTeHaWk4787]

Just for reference do you recall when you bought your Macbook?

[John A]

>Just for reference do you recall when you bought your Macbook?
July '06.

[NiTeHaWk4787]

I bought mine in July of 2006... I am now determined to make this work haha.

*One more thing, it wasn't a Pro right, just the plain white Macbook? Just asking incase the slot width might be for some reason different.

[John A]

>One more thing, it wasn't a Pro right, just the plain white Macbook?
Yeppers, it's a white MacBook. If you need any more assurance that it should work, compare the stock RAM to the RAM from NewEgg. They should be identical shape and size.

[NiTeHaWk4787]

They're identical size and shape but the ones I got from newegg are wider a bit because of several black squares on the side of the modules but the actual gold plating area and module thickness is identical.