[Daniel Bayer]

...You have got to be kidding right?

I mean this is a "Desktop" replacement and I can't just pull the bottom cover off to put my screamer new 7200 rpm drive in??

I was about to drive 170 miles from Aspen to Denver to the Apple store and get the new 17 133 and I was told that it is a much harder swap and will void the warranty even if I have a ACT do it......WTF???

My ti is pulling benches in the mid to high 90's with this drive in it, imagine what it would do in a 133 with ATA 100!!! 120+ maybe?

O.K. Warranty-shmarranty, has anyone even swapped a HD in a rev a 17'r??

If it is a pipe dream, then I will keep my "Super-ti" until a G5 hits the scene with a 100GB high transfer rate drive in it.

Anyone...?

I need the lowdown on this for I was going to drive out there Sunday.

[Daniel Bayer]

.....anyone??

I need to know this. It sounds like it is a top and bottom cover removal kind of deal.

Any owner produced guides??

I know I can do this and I will just use the 80GB as a clone firewire backup so if anything goes wrong....swap-ola!

Dan

[parsec_kadets]

I guess you'll be waiting a long time then. When Apple releases a G5 PowerBook I seriously doubt it will have a 7400RMP hard drive because the battery life is already going to suck on that thing. If benchmark scores really matter that much to you, then what are you doing with a laptop in the first place?

[bcaslis]

Yes, in the Titanium the hard drive was a user installable piece. In the Aluminum models (all sizes) it is not and you will void the warranty if you do this and a problem occurs.

Of course, if you keep the old drive and don't mess it up installing the new drive, you could in theory reinstall the old drive if a problem comes up that you need to send it in for.

Over the past six years or so, I believe the Titanium models were the only ones that the hard drive was considered user installable on. So, I wouldn't hold my breath expecting this feature to come back on future models.

[Nelsun]

I saw a recent thread here I think that linked to a Japanese site that had photos of a new Alumunum Powerbook, either 15 or 17" being dissasembled. I couldn't find it via search.

But I did find this: http://forums.macnn.com/showthread.p...mble+powerbook

[Luca Rescigno]

Originally posted by parsec_kadets:
I guess you'll be waiting a long time then. When Apple releases a G5 PowerBook I seriously doubt it will have a 7400RMP hard drive because the battery life is already going to suck on that thing. If benchmark scores really matter that much to you, then what are you doing with a laptop in the first place?

It's not just for benchmark scores. It's for a real performance increase. I see a significant difference between my eMac (which has a 7200 RPM drive) and the iMacs in the computer labs at my school (which have 5400 RPM drives). Going from 4200 to 5400 is a nice big jump, and going from 5400 to 7200 is equally big.

Besides, benchmarks, while not necessarily an indicator of actual real-world performance, are still based in reality. OS X goes to the disk often, so fast hard drives are very nice to have.

[MrK]

Originally posted by bcaslis:

Of course, if you keep the old drive and don't mess it up installing the new drive, you could in theory reinstall the old drive if a problem comes up that you need to send it in for.

Over the past six years or so, I believe the Titanium models were the only ones that the hard drive was considered user installable on. So, I wouldn't hold my breath expecting this feature to come back on future models.

The drive tabs used to have little stickers on them that were virtually impossible to avoid breaking when you swapped out a hard drive. Don't know if this is the case with the Al. They are likely almost as hard to upgrade as the iBook drives which I did once and will NEVER try again. it was a royal poop screw...

[Sean Li]

Originally posted by Daniel Bayer:
.....anyone??

I need to know this. It sounds like it is a top and bottom cover removal kind of deal.

It's possible, but very delicate. My local Mac shop tells me that there are a number of cables that are connected via the top cover (don't need to remove the bottom cover), and that it takes them significantly longer to do the work than in the other PowerBooks.

They know that I'm capable of doing the hard drive swap in other PowerBooks, but they didn't recommend that I try doing it in a 17".

[spalding12]

trust me on this.... you will NEVER be able to swap a hard drive on one of the new aluminum powerbooks WITHOUT Apple being able to figure it out.... they did that on purpose and were very successful in their endeavor....

let them give you the BTO 5400rpm upgrade....
there won't be any 7200rpm drive for these notebooks unless Apple changes its tune... you send it in... and they do it for you... for some astronomical price undoubtedly

IMHO

greg

[amazing]

Originally posted by Daniel Bayer:


I know I can do this and I will just use the 80GB as a clone firewire backup so if anything goes wrong....swap-ola!

Dan

I betcha that any repairs that Apple or an Apple Service Provider (ASP) makes on your notebook is entered into a centralized database. They can tell who worked on it and when. Now, given there's no way you can take it apart without leaving some trace, I wouldn't risk voiding the AppleCare by taking it apart. They can tell...they've denied repairs in the past because the owner has done some no-no with their notebook.

I was in the Denver Cherry Creek Apple Store, and a fellow there asked one of the senior techs about having an ASP put the drive in for $50 (his price quote.) All the tech would say, under repeated questioning, was "Apple doesn't support that." He wouldn't explain exactly what that meant. What that's meant in the past is that you had to have the original drive for them to work on it. I suppose you could have the ASP put the original back in for another $50, and then swap the new HD back in for another $50.

Get the 5400 rpm HD and put the 7200 in an external firewire 800 mini-case. Everybody says it's best to put video on a fast external firewire drive, anyway.

Sure, the Apple gods are truly unfair, and that stinks, but whatcha gonna do? Ranting and railing against the Apple gods has never helped before, don't expect it will change now. Neither I nor the Apple techs make these policies, so just remember to be polite and upbeat about all this.

[Daniel Bayer]

Well,

Then the awnser is simple. I will pass on getting the 17 and keep the now pretty darn fast 15.

I have a 200GB Lacie that I use as an external not to mention another 60GB (the old one) in a firewire case and a Lacie 20GB Pocket drive.

I simply don't need another drive to tote around. I need an ultra fast internal drive which bye the way is eating about 5% more juice than the old 4200 rpm Toshiba.

When I shove 300 6-20 mb CMYK files in a RGB conversion droplet in Photoshop 7.0.....rpm's and latency time make an ENORMOUS difference.

I have thought about getting a desktop but it will just never suit my life and buisiness style.

This Ti-book is now one of the fastest Apple latops there is and I think I will just hold out for the G5 at this point.

I bought the drive, installed in my ti and can't return it now and besides, the main reason I bought it was to dramatically speed up the 17 I was going to buy, which it surely would have done.

I will miss the screen size of the 17 and the build quality, but I still have a great machine for now....and BOY is it fast!!

Thanks all,

Dan

P.S. The bench scores on this drive are impressive...but not nearly as impressive as the real world performance...and wait til panther gets in here!!!!

[Daniel Bayer]

I just looked at Karim's list of how to swap drives, http://forums.macnn.com/showthread....emble+powerbook

.....and some pictures as well on this link:

http://61.194.6.236/pbg417h1.html

It might not be that bad....?

I will still think about it, would be really cool to have a 17 move data around that fast.

Dunno about the heat and battery on the 17 though, might be the crux of Apple not offering the drive??

I know it is working great in my ti.

It's been an hour and ten minutes of constant web browsing and some downloads and the battery still reads 68%

Goodnight

[Daniel Bayer]

.........1:00 a.m. and I am still up trying to figure this out.........WAAAAH!

I wanna 17'r but I JUST spent $300 on this drive...shite! I even put the old one in a firewire 400 case, would be a bottleneck on the 800 plug if I kept it as a backup.

Just whining...........

[Luca Rescigno]

Wow... I thought only the 12" PowerBook and the iBooks had this limitation. I think it's really stupid, I mean, ever since iBooks have been around, one of the major differences between them and PowerBooks (and one of the reasons you pay much more for a PowerBook) is that PowerBooks can have their hard drives upgraded. The hard drive is often times the first component you want to upgrade too!

There may still be hope of getting your hard drive installed without voiding your warranty, though. MCE has a program where they replace the internal hard drive on iBooks, which are in the same boat in that they're not user- or even Apple Certified Technician-serviceable. But somehow MCE has managed to get this program where they replace the internal hard drive on the iBook without voiding your warranty. Maybe you should contact them and ask if they can do it for your PowerBook.

[Daniel Bayer]

....The kids are up, My grilfriend's drying her hair......off to the Apple store we go, we go...........Wanna do this while the paint is still perfect on my ti-book..

[Daniel Bayer]

......three hours to swap data, 40 minutes to swap drives...with no strip marks on screw heads or any "Special Seals" broken....done.

She's rippin a 115 with just 512 of ram and the drive half full...:-)

I would say the swap was still fairly easy as involved as it was. You just have to be careful to use the right tool very gingerly and be OH SO careful of the ribbon cables.

If I were to have any advise, it would be to have a toothpick on hand for when you put the keyboard back on, the keyboard component has tabs that the screws go through on into the female end of the internal frame. These little female anchors move a bit to allow for a smooth fit, the tabs can get hung up on them and the keyboard won't move until you nudge them over.

Replacing the drive itself is actually easier than the ti's for they have brackets that come off so you no longer have to "Migrate" the drive in past the pesky grommets.

I checked out my 17 inch in the Apple store and made sure it was all good before walking out the door...after all, it is a 170 mile trip.

The build quality on this machine is fantastic!!

The last time I saw something built this beautifully on the INSIDE was when I worked on F-18 fighter jets....it looked almost "Mil-Spec"

I am glad I did got one of these babies!!!

[iDORK]

Originally posted by Daniel Bayer:
......three hours to swap data, 40 minutes to swap drives...with no strip marks on screw heads or any "Special Seals" broken....done.

She's rippin a 115 with just 512 of ram and the drive half full...:-)

I would say the swap was still fairly easy as involved as it was. You just have to be careful to use the right tool very gingerly and be OH SO careful of the ribbon cables.

If I were to have any advise, it would be to have a toothpick on hand for when you put the keyboard back on, the keyboard component has tabs that the screws go through on into the female end of the internal frame. These little female anchors move a bit to allow for a smooth fit, the tabs can get hung up on them and the keyboard won't move until you nudge them over.

Replacing the drive itself is actually easier than the ti's for they have brackets that come off so you no longer have to "Migrate" the drive in past the pesky grommets.

I checked out my 17 inch in the Apple store and made sure it was all good before walking out the door...after all, it is a 170 mile trip.

The build quality on this machine is fantastic!!

The last time I saw something built this beautifully on the INSIDE was when I worked on F-18 fighter jets....it looked almost "Mil-Spec"

I am glad I did got one of these babies!!!

Congrats!

[amazing]

Good for you, Daniel! Let us know about heat and battery life, OK?

[Drakino]

This is one reason I prefer local Apple resellers, and not Apple stores. If I buy a new internal hard drive for my 15 Al Book, I am pretty sure my local shop would assist me in getting the drive up and running, and would still ensure Apple honered the warranty. They have helped me out on upgrades to my G4 Cube (faster and bigger drive, and DVD-Rom to CD-R swapout.)

This is also why I bought my laptop from them instead of either from the New York SoHo store while on vacation, or taking advantage of the ADC discount. I like supporting the little guys, because in the end, I get my money back from the support. Right now, they are working with me to figure out my wireless network problem at work, something Apple support wasn't willing to do beyond their KB article on how to use "Other..." in the Airport menu. I still have a feeling it's due to a missing option in OS X, but the local Apple retailer is even going to check with the vendor of the 3rd party base stations in use at my work before giving up on this one.

Now to hope those stores in Denver remain the only Apple Stores in Colorado for a long time. I want my reseller to be around for a long time, and unfortunatly the stores have not had a positive effect on resellers :-(