Buying a new laptop during a down economy might not be sensible but there are a few ways to upgrade and obtain more horsepower out of your current machine. The simplest upgrade is to add more RAM. The next is to get a larger, higher RPM hard drive for faster read/write times.
As many Macbook laptop users know, Apple does not offer post-sale hard drive upgrades. The hard drive you get during the purchase is the one Apple expects you to be satisfied with for life, short of purchasing a brand new laptop. There are many third party Mac hardware web sites that sell compatible laptop hard drives and DIY upgrade kits.
Running out of disk space, while being tormented with the sluggish read/write times of a 5400RPM drive can be frustrating (Note: removing internal Apple Macbook components will void your Applecare agreements and Apple warranty.) Here are the steps to void your warranty quickly:
- First of all you need to rotate the screw that locks the battery, 90 degrees clockwise, use a coin.
- Remove the battery
- Take out the three Phillips screws, located at the rear wall of the battery compartment.
- Lift up the L-shaped memory cover; you need to slide it to the right to lift it out.
- Grip the white plastic tab that is attached to the hard disk and pull it sideway to the right to completely remove the hard disk.
- To remove the silver bracket on the hard disk, Remove the black T8 Torx screws, then lift the silver bracket from the hard drive
- Attach this bracket to the new hard drive.
- Reverse these steps to put together your Macbook
The hard drive upgrade is relatively easy and takes about twenty minutes. It then took about a couple of hours to install your OS or restore the backup
That’s all! Enjoy your upgraded Macbook.