Hard drive for MacBook (mid 2007)?

Welcome to Apple Support Communities.

Yes, you absolutely can replace a 5400 rpm hard drive with a 7200 rpm hard drive.

There are a few things to be aware of:

You might notice a bit of performance increase for applications that store, retrieve, and update a lot of information on the hard disk. If you have just 1GB RAM memory installed, you might notice more of a performance increase, because the computer writes and buffers more information to the hard disk more often because of a 'shortage' of RAM. I do recommend upgrading to the maximum RAM supported by your Mac for the best overall system performance. Reilable vendors such as OtherWorldComputing (www.macsales.com) have RAM and hard disk upgrades as well as complete kits with necessary tools and instructions to help you.

You might notice a decrease in battery life. I've had three different hard disks in my mid-2007 MacBook, the original 5400 rpm 120GB Fujitsu drive, a 7200 rpm 320GB Hitachi and the current 7200 rpm Seagate drive.

The decrease in battery life was mainly noticable, maybe 12 to 15% - from 5 hours to 4:15, when I'm using an app that causes heavy disk usage, like rebuilding my iPhoto library. A slight performance increase, a vast increase in storage space, and the fact that I'm never far from an outlet meant that it was not an issue for me.

The third thing some people report is that some 7200 rpm drives make more noise in quiet environments. If you use your MacBook in a quiet library often, you might notice it. I use mine at home, and have never noticed extra noise.

Some people report that their 7200 rpm drives seem to generate more heat than the 5400 rpm models. I've never noticed it.

You're welcome. Glad to help another mid-2007 owner, and thanks for the 'this helped me' acknowledgement. It isn't necessary or expected, but I do appreciate it.

I somehow neglected to mention that my current Seagate drive is a 500GB. It replaced the Hitachi which failed suddenly without warning. Hitachi replaced it under warranty, and I continue to use the 320 replacement drive in an external housing as backup drive for my iPhoto library.

Mid-2007 MacBooks can hold 4GB RAM, but only recognize 3GB in OS X. Even so, there is apparently a slight performance advantage to 4GB.

You might consider upgrading your OS to 10.6 Snow Leopard when you install the new drive. It's $30 for the disk, available directly from Apple. (Not offered as a download, and most retailers like BestBuy no longer carry it.) 10.6 is still supported by Apple, at least until OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion ships, later this year.

I've seen lots of people in these forums who went to OS X 10.7 Lion complain about slower performance (primarily due to only 3GB RAM recognized, and the GMA950 video chipset on this generation of hardware. MacBook 2,1's are the very oldest hardware (Core 2 Duo) supported by 10.7. 10.8, Mountain Lion will NOT support them.

You told the OP to upgrade to Snow Leopard - I have questions about that.

I have a mid-2007 macbook that's crawling when I do anything photography related. I was scared to update it to Snow Leopard, which has been sitting in my drawer since the first week it was released. Can Snow Leopard IMPROVE my performance, or is a newer OS automatically more of a resource hog? I'm trying to get every penny's worth out of this laptop before I have to upgrade. Did you see an improvement when you upgraded?

Thanks.