in my family we play "musical Macs" recently, I was gifted a mid 2009 MBP 2.53GHz model and finally I am able to retire a white MacBook late 2008 model. my question is, are the optical drives the same between these MacBooks? if I remove the optical drive from the '08 model, would I have a spare for the MBP? or can I send the '08 MacBook to the recyclers without removing the optical drive from the 2008 model?
MacBook Pro 15″, OS X 10.11
thanks for all the info. yes, the MBP is the unibody model.
I can't believe I didn't think to check Mactracker. the 2008 MacBook uses an Ultra ATA/100 interface while the 2009 MBP uses a SATA interface.
thanks to both of you for your help. :)
thanks for all the info. yes, the MBP is the unibody model.
I can't believe I didn't think to check Mactracker. the 2008 MacBook uses an Ultra ATA/100 interface while the 2009 MBP uses a SATA interface.
thanks to both of you for your help. :)
I believe you have a Unibody laptop. The "unibody" mean the palmrest area (including keyboard) is part of the main frame where as on the earlier non-unibody models, the Top Case (aka palmrest) area was separate from the base/main frame (plus the keyboard was removable on the earlier non-unibody models). The non-unibody models were very similar in style to the older PPC PowerBook G4s.
I guess you could take the bottom case off to check the physical dimensions of the two optical drives, but keep in mind how far back the MBPro optical drive sits from the edge of the case....I'm guessing it will have a bigger gap than the one in the MacBook. I beleive the bottom of the two drives will measure the same. From what I recall the MBPro optical drive has a metal extension on the top plate of the optical drive...and no, swapping jhust the top plate of the optical drive won't work here due to the grapping/ejecting mechanism of the drive won't be able to negotiate the difference in placement. Otherwise the two optical drives would be likely be interchangeable (assuming the MacBook is using a SATA based optical drive).
jeffreythefrog Said:
"optical drives: in my family we play "musical Macs" recently, I was gifted a mid 2009 MBP 2.53GHz model and finally I am able to retire a white MacBook late 2008 model. my question is, are the optical drives the same between these MacBooks? if I remove the optical drive from the '08 model, would I have a spare for the MBP? or can I send the '08 MacBook to the recyclers without removing the optical drive from the 2008 model?"
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YouTube this:
You might find a video on YouTube on performing this swap out. If so, it might just work.
how do I tell if the MBP is an Unibody model? it's a MBP late 2009 model. MacBook Pro model identifier MacBookPro 5,4.
the old one is MacBook late 2008 MacBook model identifier MacBook 4,1.
I'm not ready yet to do the swap. I just need know if the optical drives are interchangeable so I can have a spare if ever needed.
HW Tech, sorry, the MBP is mid 2009
If the MBPro is a Unibody model, then I don't believe so. I know that the later models like 2012 have a slightly different size optical drive and the 2010 - 2012 models definitely utilize a similar Unibody Top Case Assembly. It is mostly identical except that the MBPro optical drives sit back inside a bit further than the MacBooks did which means the drive cover needs to be extended and the grabbing mechanism is too far inside to enable grabbing the CD which also makes ejecting CDs impossible (or unreliable at best).
If the MBPro is the older non-unibody style, then I don't know.
optical drives
