Upgrading ram/hdd on Early-2008 MacBook Pro

My university had a brand new early-2008 MBP model (one left) for $1,399 so I bought it a couple of weeks ago. It has the 2.5Ghz processor, 2GB ram, 250GB HDD, 8600m GT w/ 512 vRam, and the matte display. I was trying to decide whether to buy a 2.4Ghz unibody MB, a 2.4Ghz unibody MBP, or refurbished of both. I went to talk to the people at the tech store and they showed me a brand new early-2008 model MBP (a design I happen to like more than the unibody because I am not a fan of the Sony chiclet keyboard or the new "no button" button touchpad) and I purchased it immediately.

So far I have been pretty happy with the purchase and the performance of the machine although it does get quite hot on its own. The main thing I am wondering about is upgrading the ram to 4GB and swapping out the hard drive for a 7200RPM one. The hard drive is less important to me as of right now because the higher RPM will cause more heat and drain the battery faster but what I DO want to do immediately is upgrade the ram.

The machine has 2GB PC2-5300 in it which is 667 Mhz. The bus speed on the machine is 800Mhz. I am wondering whether or not I can match the bus speed and install PC2-6400 which are 800 Mhz. If not that is fine I'll just go with PC2-5300 and pick up 4GB from Fry's today but running the faster speed would be nice.

On the hard drive front how exactly does this work? I know on a PC I can just swap out the hard drive and load a saved system image or install a new OS but does it work the same with Apple? If I swap the hard drive do I just pop in the install disks and install it?

Thanks.

 

sadly,you only can use 667 mhz ram(actually,you can put 800,but it will downclock.)

HDD-it is the same on apple,but you should know that upgrading hdd on macbook pro voids your warranty!the update must be done by apples technician!

 

Oh well. The speed gains are marginally noticeable at best but it would have been cool.

I can't believe upgrading a hard drive voids a warranty. That is ridiculous. Does it void the warranty on the new MBP's as well? The hard drive is so easily accessible.

 

nope,it it is not easily accessible on old pro's! you have to disable hole notebook to change it!thats why it voids the warranty!

 

I thought you just had to take out the back panel to swap out the hard drive on the older models? Don't you have to take out the back panel to swap out the ram on the newer models?

 

Well, not exactly true on the hard drive replacement.

Replacement of the HDD (for your model) by yourself or any non-Apple certified shop will void the warranty.
If you want to replace the HDD, Apple does support this replacement in house. The cost may be higher (when replaced by Apple) but this method will not void your warranty.

667 Mhz Ram is supported for your model MBP. You can find some real good deals through other vendors for your Ram. Upgrading Ram (by yourself) will not void your warranty.

 

it is the other way it is very easy to swap hdd on new ones and difficult on old ones.

 

On the new ones, all you do is take the battery cover off, unscrew a screw, and viola- your old HDD is out. To put one in, put in in the bay, put the screw back in, and viola- new HDD is in.. The old ones are a mess to try and replace the HDD as Xirurg said...

 

They aren't a mess, I just looked. They aren't exactly easy but doing this should in no way void the warranty.

I'll just have the campus Apple tech install the new hard drive for free whenever I get it.

 

yes,it is wrong,but they have corrected it with latest unibody ones