Upgrading MacBook 3,1 (SSD and RAM)

[mlah384]

I was on OWC's website looking at upgrades. I was looking at upping the ram from 2GB to 6GB with: http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other World Computing/5300DDR2S6GP/

and upgrading the 250gb 5400rpm drive to: http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/DDMBSSD240/

But could I find better parts cheaper at newegg?

Also, will this old of a MacBook only run Sandforce drives?

Do I need Lion if I upgrade to SSD? I'm currently running 10.6.8

Thanks!

 

[vailr]

The SSD you linked to isn't designed to replace an existing HD; it's designed to replace the optical drive & leave the existing HD in place.
My suggestion would be: keep the optical drive and just replace the existing 5400 RPM HD with an SSD. Other brands of compatible SSD drives can be found for less $$'s at Newegg or Amazon. Just double-check that the SSD dimensions are correct, before purchase.
For memory, look for much better pricing (new or used) on eBay; a 2x 2 Gb matched pair should be an adequate amount.
As far as operating system: once the new hardware is installed, you'd probably also want to do a (fresh install) upgrade to OSX 10.8 whenever it becomes available.
Note: double-check that your CPU is capable of 64-bit operation. OSX 10.7 & later require 64-bit CPU's.

 

[mlah384]

The SSD you linked to isn't designed to replace an existing HD; it's designed to replace the optical drive & leave the existing HD in place.
My suggestion would be: keep the optical drive and just replace the existing 5400 RPM HD with an SSD. Other brands of compatible SSD drives can be found for less $$'s at Newegg or Amazon. Just double-check that the SSD dimensions are correct, before purchase.
For memory, look for much better pricing (new or used) on eBay; a 2x 2 Gb matched pair should be an adequate amount.
As far as operating system: once the new hardware is installed, you'd probably also want to do a (fresh install) upgrade to OSX 10.8 whenever it becomes available.
Note: double-check that your CPU is capable of 64-bit operation. OSX 10.7 & later require 64-bit CPU's.

I meant to list this SSD from there: http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/Y3SSDMP240/

and i was going to use http://bombich.com carbon copy to clone my existing drive to the SSD... or is that not a good idea?

But would I be better off getting a Crucial M4? or Plextor? or Samsung 830? etc...? dont some SSDs have a problem with sleep with Macbooks?

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Carbon Copy Cloner will work fine.

The OWC upgrade bundle should work fine - the price is a tad high, but it does come with an enclosure and screwdrivers. OWC has some very nice videos detailing the swap process.

RAM - yeah, just do 2x2GB. Get a pair of ddr2-800 SO-DIMMs on Amazon - shouldn't cost you more than $30 apiece.

Sleep issues were... overblown. Basically, just close your lid when you want the laptop to sleep, and you won't have a problem.

 

[vailr]

Going from OSX 10.6 to: 10.7/10.8, you're switching from a 32-bit O.S. to a 64-bit O.S.
So: I would think that a fresh install would be a preferred plan, compared to just cloning the old system.
Also: in order to clone the old HD, you'd need some kind of external USB HD enclosure, network storage, or alternative data storage for doing the HD clone. Maybe: burn the backup data to DVD?

 

[umrigar]

SSD
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004W2JL2A/
Crucial 256 GB m4 2.5-Inch Solid State Drive SATA 6Gb/s CT256M4SSD2
$205

 

[mlah384]

I have an external enclosure I can use to carbon copy to the new SSD

I was just gonna purchase Lion upgrade through app store. I don't have a disc to do a fresh install...

Also, my CPU is a core2 Duo which is a 64bit processor...

 

[vailr]

I have an external enclosure I can use to carbon copy to the new SSD

I was just gonna purchase Lion upgrade through app store. I don't have a disc to do a fresh install...

Also, my CPU is a core2 Duo which is a 64bit processor...

It's fairly easy to burn your own OSX "clean install" DVD or USB flash drive, based on using the App Store download.
And if you can wait a few weeks, Mountain Lion is going to sell for about $10 less than Lion currently sells for.

 

[TheStu]

It's fairly easy to burn your own OSX "clean install" DVD or USB flash drive, based on using the App Store download.
And if you can wait a few weeks, Mountain Lion is going to sell for about $10 less than Lion currently sells for.

His Core 2 may not be able to run Mountain Lion. I think that it is a GPU limitation rather than a CPU one. They require the 2008 Aluminum MacBook or newer to run Mountain Lion (according to their website).

 

[mlah384]

I bought a Plextor SSD and 2x2gb RAM from Newegg.... I bought a battery from OWC (macsales.com) and it was faulty. I tried to send it back but they charged me a restocking fee on a faulty product! and they wouldn't refund shipping AND I had to pay shipping to send it back!.... totally screwed me... I would definitely find better places to do business with than OWC... Really disappointed in them... I'm glad I didn't get the SSD and memory from them. I guess companies like Newegg are the only way to go, their support is so good where smaller companies like OWC are really lacking in that department..

Thanks for all the help! I'll post my results! Meanwhile, where is a good place to get a new battery?

 

[vailr]

Seems trustworthy:
http://www.macmall.com/s?rch&q=MacBook%20battery

Burning a Lion Boot Disc:
http://eggfreckles.net/notes/burning-a-lion-boot-disc/
Installing Mountain Lion Clean:
http://www.eggfreckles.net/notes/installing-mountain-lion-clean/

 

[mmntech]

I'd buy a smaller capacity SSD and replace the optical drive with a larger capacity HDD. One for the OS and the other for archival. Magnetic storage is best used for storing files such as videos, music, photos, project files, stuff that involves a lot of writes like the cache files/virtual memory. Flash is best suited for frequently accessed files like the OS, big programs like photoshop and final cut. Optical is pretty much dead now for computers.