MacBook Pro Upgrades, SSD, Memory, Extra HD?

There are some MacBook Pro Upgrades you can do to give your computer more punch and speed. However we are talking about a laptop now so there is a limited set of things you can upgrade.

Hard Drives

The hard drive is the device that stores all of your files and data but also the operating system (Mac OS X in this case). It is not always the amount of storage space that defines how �good� the hard drive is but also the speed of the drive. Usually Mac laptops ships with 5400rpm drives as default. 5400rpm is a number that tells you how fast the drive platters inside the hard drive spins. You can replace this drive with one that spins with 7200rpm instead. So, that drive spins faster and will make your computer feel faster because of that.

I haven't noticed any decrease in battery life or excessive heat buildup when I have replaced the original drive to a 7200rpm drive. Nowadays this is probably the cheapest macbook pro upgrade you could do if you want some more speed and �snappiness�

SSD

You may have heard about SSD drives. These drives have no mechanical moving parts. They are built up of memory microchips that stores your data. SSD drives is also less sensitive to shocks and doesn't make any noise. The drives use the same interface as regular mechanical drives so they fit nicely in your laptop.

If you want a huge speed increase you should look into getting yourself an SSD. The drawbacks here is the storage capacity and price. SSD drives cost more, gives you less storage space but huge speed increases. You have to decide for yourself if you think it is worth to invest in SSD for your MacBook Pro Upgrades...

There is also the discussion that these kind of drives degrade over time. However they are still faster compared to regular drives, even when �degraded�. We also live in a time when SSD drives are in constant heavy development. In the future we will only see cheaper and better drives.

I did my recent MacBook Pro Upgrade with two Intel 2.gen 80GB SSD drives. (I will explain later how I can have two of them). I must say I was pretty blown away with the speed increase. Almost every application I startup instantly jumps up, its just there. It is also nice to know that I can carry around the MacBook without worrying about shocks etc. If you have the cash I would say go for SSD.

Hybrid SSD

Hybrid SSD is a mechanical drive and a little SSD drive in one unit. It will still look as one hard drive in your computer. The drive itself decides what kind of data it moves to the SSD part. This will be data you use often. The hybrid drive is cheaper compared to SSD and may be a good choice if you want some SSD performance but also enough storage space.

Memory / RAM

Upgrading RAM is a good way to get more performance out of your computer. It is difficult to say how this will affect your experience. If you use a lot of heavy applications at the same time you should notice some improvements if you upgrade. In some cases you don't notice anything though. However, it is always good to have a lot of memory if you do a lot of things at the same time.

Throw out that superdrive!

This is probably not the case for everyone but I seldom use the superdrive. So why not replace it with another hard drive instead? Some companies makes a frame you can put in its place, and insert another hard drive there instead. This way your MacBook Pro can support two hard drives. You can also RAID those drives if you want. This is what I have done with my two Intel 80GB SSD drives. I have made one big 160GB drive of them. The one I bought is called OptiBay.

CPU, Graphics?

Short answer: No

The CPU and the GPU is soldered on the logic board. They are not upgradeable. The only thing you could do is order another logic board with faster CPU (if it is available for your model). However this is considered so expensive it is smarter to buy a new model if you want a faster CPU or better graphics.