MacBook Pro 5,1 RAM & Hard Disk Upgrade

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MacBook Pro 5,1 RAM & Hard Disk Upgrade

Hi Guys

I have a MacBook Pro 15" with Core 2 Duo 2,53 GHz Cpu, 4Gb Ram, hard disk 320 Gb 7200rpm with Snow Leopard and I'd like to upgrade RAM and Hard Disk.

The model is MacBook Pro 5,1 and I have installed the latest firmware, so I have the EFI Boot Rom version = MBP51.007E.B06 (EFI 2.8) and the SMC version = 1.33f8 (SMC 1.2).

Can I install 8 Gb of Ram? If yes, I also need an advice for the brand and the model I can use without worry. What is the brand used by Apple?

The hard disk is become small and I need more space. What is the maximum capacity I can Install in my MacBook Pro and, again, which model and brand. Now I have the original Seagate model, I think I can use one model of the same brand. Is It true?

I thank anyone who can and will help me :-)

MacBook Pro (15-inch Late 2008), Mac OS X (10.6.8)

Posted on Jul 28, 2012 7:38 PM

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Answer 1

Gtgroove Author

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Jul 30, 2012 10:10 AM in response to Gtgroove

Bump

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Answer 2

Jul 30, 2012 10:18 AM in response to Gtgroove

You can install 8GB in your macbook pro....1066MHz DDR3 - 204 PIN SODIMM

Install brands like Crucial, Corsair, Mushkin, Patriot (MAC seires)....

with regards to your hard drive, if you want speed, you can go with either a SSD drive or you can install a hybrid drive.....Seagate Momentus XT 750 is a hybrid drive that peforms faster than your standard 7200RPM hard drives.

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Answer 3

wjosten

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Jul 30, 2012 10:19 AM in response to Gtgroove

8GB's RAM max, 1TB Hard Drive max, start here:

http://www.macsales.com/

Choices, tools, instructions.

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Answer 4

Gtgroove Author

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Jul 30, 2012 10:51 AM in response to Bimmer 7 Series

Thanks Bimmer :-)

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Answer 5

Gtgroove Author

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Jul 30, 2012 10:51 AM in response to wjosten

Thanks wjosten

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Answer 6

Jul 30, 2012 11:14 AM in response to Gtgroove

You're welcome.....Good luck with your upcomming upgrade.....Hope everything goes smootly for you..

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Answer 7

Gtgroove Author

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Jul 30, 2012 9:39 PM in response to Gtgroove

Hallo

I captured an image of a screen of Serial ATA entry in my System Profiler

In this screen I can see the connection speed is 3 Gigabit and the negotiated speed is 1,5 Gigabit. I think the negotated speed is the supported speed of the drive. Is it true?

By the way, what does this mean? Perhaps, it means I can use an hard disk like most of the hard disk on the market now to its maximum speed?

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Answer 8

Jul 30, 2012 9:42 PM in response to Gtgroove

Mean that you can use a SATA 2 or SATA 3 Hard drive and will have a negotiated link of 3GB/s.

Your current negotiated is only 1.5GB/s because you probably have a SATA 1 hard drive.

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Answer 9

Gtgroove Author

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Jul 30, 2012 10:01 PM in response to Bimmer 7 Series

Thanks Bimmer

This is a good news and I like so much my MacBook Pro!!! 🙂

I'm seriuosly thinking to upgrade my hard disk with a Momentus XT 750 (ST750LX003), I've read a thread about it and I know is a different drive than the 500 gb version.

In the thread about the 500gb version of the Momentus XT (an infinite thread of 16 pages that I had the patience to read from the start to finish) users tell about incompatibility, noise and vibration problems.

Fixed I need a drive free of incompatibility issue, I know my hard disk is very silent and I like to work with a silent laptop.

Do you know if the recent Momentus XT 750 Gb is nearly silent like mine or, alternatively do you know a silent drive model with 750 Gb capacity and 7200 rpm (i know a 1 Tb 7200 rpm version doesn't exist).

P.S.: Like you, I like very much BMW!!!

Message was edited by: Gtgroove

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Answer 10

Jul 30, 2012 10:07 PM in response to Gtgroove

The Momentus XT 750 is the improved version of the 500GB....It is true that the 500GB had so much issues with Macbooks but the XT 750 has less issues...

Good luck...

Yeah - BMW - is a good car....

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