MacBook surgery - Part One
I finally got around to upgrading my first-generation MacBook (CoreDuo, 1.83).
I ordered a two gig ram kit from Crucial.com (which cost $62 plus $18 in taxes and customs fees) and a 160 gig , 5400 rpm, hard drive ($102) from GreeenLyph, a Halifax-based company.
The RAM, which was travelling from the US, arrived right on time. The hard drive? Not so much. It hasn't even shipped out yet. (Err).
While I'm waiting for the new hard drive, I decided to install the ram. (On the wise advise of a co-worker) and I'm testing it out to make sure everything is stable. It's easier to troubleshoot if you make one change instead of two.
The installation was a little harder than I thought it would be (you really have to push the RAM in firmly, as in leaving-an-indent-on-your-fingers-hard to make sure the two modules are perfectly seated.
Overall, I didn't notice that much of a speed difference on boot up, however, applications seem more responsive as does OS X Leopard as a whole.
The next step will be a bit tricker - swapping out the 60 gig harddrive and restoring all the data via Time Machine.
The third and final step, purchasing a new battery, will be the easiest. My hope is that with the upgrades I'll be able to give this Mac, which is destined for my wife after I upgrade to a MacBook Pro in the fall, another two to three years of useful life.
