Futurize Your Macbook By Replace Optical Drive With SSD

One of the things I expected from Apple's fresh of the Macbook Pro in March was the exclusion of the optical drive, the DVD reader/burner, with something else that is more aligned with Apple's mobile vision. That did not happen.

However, GIGAOM has a cool post for those good with tools and taking apart computers to mess around with. Replace the drive with an SSD.

Now, this isn't like the older Powerbooks that Apple used to make in the 90s when you can just swap out one expansion solution for another. It doesn't quite work that way. This solution presented, for someone like me, is like brain surgery.

But I am sure many of you can give this a go. The total cost is about $400. At the end of the day, you get extra storage space, speed, and, as the writer said, great for developers. Me, I just like having more room.

THE FUTURE. Repeating what I said at the top, I thought Apple would have and could have replaced the DVD drive and use the space for something else. A natural option would be another drive.

Me? I would have loved to see another battery in its place. Yeah, I'm a total battery life guy. Longer the better. You can never have enough battery power.

For this option, there is no DIY solution like the SSD solution presented here. For the battery option, well, we'll just have to wait and see if Apple thinks battery life is as important as I think it is.

I'm guess Apple's more likely to replace the optical drive, and they will one day (probably next year), with more storage than battery. Hey, I'll take that too.

Until then, this is a DIY SSD solution looks pretty good.

More at GIGAOM.

Maxing Out Memory Brought Me A New Macbook

I have the late-2008 unibody Macbook and since then, this has been the best Mac that I have owned.  Well, second best.  I still think my Powerbook 500 still rocked during the days.  You can't beat two battery packs.  You just can't.  But the Macbook comes pretty close and this two-year old just got better.

I got 4GB memory modules in the mail today.  I wasn't too excited.  These days, my iPad is my go-to device for mobile computing.  At times, it shares duties with my iPod touch and the G1.  So what's two extra 2GB of memory going to do make me love the Macbook more than the iPad?

Well, wow.  After installing the memory model, I am getting a totally different impression of the Macbook.  And more than that, I regret not maxing out the Macbook from day one.

Everything just seems to happen faster.  Mail, Safari, and Rapidweaver flies and pages loaded up faster.  

And if you read my blog, you know that I take every opportunity I get to grip about battery lives.  Well, I have been typing, surfing, and working on some other Web work and the battery life indication hardly budged. What I mean is that it doesn't seem to be going down much.  And for the record, I don't have Flash running. I generally turn it off when I am not using it (I think I only use Flash when I view Hulu contents).

So, I recommend anyone out there with a Macbook , MBP, or an Air, max it out.  This is expecially true of the new Macbook Air that have their memory model soldered on.  Once it ships out of the factory, you're stuck with it for good.

I had considered upgrading the hard drive as well.  It came with a stock drive with 200GB capability.  A similar SSD drive will cost quite a bit so I might end up not doing that.  In a year or so, I will likely replace this Macbook and pass it off to a lucky nephew or niece.

But you can get that I will max out my future Macs from day one.  

SSD - A Must Have For Mobile Ruggedness

Upon learning that Apple will be going all out with SSD instead of traditional hard drives has me thinking that that the era of power efficient and relatively safer memory storage is upon us for every day mobile warriors and corporate drones.

Apple wasn't the first to come out with SSD but does that matter? Nor was Apple the first to have USB in the iMacs but that didn't matter either.

However, Apple made it okay to have USB in PCs and it was quickly adopted as a standard. And for SSD adoption, The MacBook Airs with SSD only options made it okay for for mass adoption for even consumer lines.

I imagine that by this time next year, Apple will have moved a majority of its macBook lines with SSD options. This will be followed by other PC makers, like Sony and its Vaio laptops.

Keep in mind though that hard drives are not going to go away for a long time. But for folks whose data are very important and requires more insurance from accidents, these excellent prices from Apple are welcoming news.

Personally, I think I've got another year left in my late-2008 unibody MacBook before I find that I need to move on. Plus, I've got my wonderful iPad that has quickly become my main go-to mobile device for work and play.

But if you're in The market now or will be soon, consider SSD options whether it's the MacBook Air or a Windows machine like the Viao.

Note: SSD while great still has issues with degradation over time. TRIM is built into Windows 7 while this support is still lacking in OS X. Perhaps Apple might have something coming in way of this beginning with SSD implementation in the new MacBook Airs.


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