Old Macbook Air - Needs HDD and battery replacement. Advice please!

[Rab1d-BDGR]

Hi Tom's,

I was born and raised fixing and repairing PC parts but I've never touched the insides of a Mac before. A close friend has kindly donated a 5 year old Macbook air to me. It's battery is dead and the hard disk is on its way out. I'd like to fix it up by myself - I'm going to get an official battery but I want to also install a third-party hard drive (Ideally an SSD). How easy will this be to do? Are there any hidden problems/compatibility issues that I'm going to encounter? What should I be aware of before I take a screwdriver to it and spend money on parts? I tried googling but I didn't find any decent "how to" guides, just companies offering to do it (for a large fee).

All good advice would be much appreciated!

 

[mwm92]

Here is a guide that I believe should cover the model you have. (Both the original MBA released in Jan 2008 and the one from Oct 2008)
http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/MacBook...04-Hard-Drive-Replacement/860/1#.T8bRzI5pamw]

I would seriously think twice about putting so much money into a computer this old even though it is a Mac. OEM batteries are expensive, and it may even be hard to find the battery to go in this MBA, not to mention the cost of an SSD.

Let me know if you have any other questions

 

[Rab1d-BDGR]

Here is a guide that I believe should cover the model you have. (Both the original MBA released in Jan 2008 and the one from Oct 2008)
http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/MacBook...04-Hard-Drive-Replacement/860/1#.T8bRzI5pamw]

I would seriously think twice about putting so much money into a computer this old even though it is a Mac. OEM batteries are expensive, and it may even be hard to find the battery to go in this MBA, not to mention the cost of an SSD.

Let me know if you have any other questions

Thanks, that's a handy little site. Just to be clear - Apple has not put any arbitrary restrictions on the type of hard drive I install so provided it meets ordinary technical compatibility requirements then I could use any drive and neither the macbook nor OSX will take issue with it?

You make a good point about the age of the laptop, I have found a battery for £43 GBP and was probably going to get a £60 SSD - even if it only has a year or so left in the other parts, around £100 for a working Macbook sounds okay to me.