How to Improve Your Mac By Upgrading And Customising Its Hardware

Hack your hardware and give yourself extra storage, more memory or even a unique piece of furniture

Replace hard drive with SSD MacBook Pro

Speed up your MacBook Pro by installing an SSD and improve your Mac’s boot and response time and overall reliability. To get started, unscrew the bottom case of your Mac and remove it. Unplug your battery. Your existing hard drive is located in the bottom-left corner – unscrew the two Phillips screws at top of the hard drive and remove the bracket that they are connected to. Unplug the drive from the left-hand side and remove it. Insert your new SSD and reconnect it.

Replace SuperDrive with SSD/HDD MacBook Pro

Remove the bottom case from your Mac and unplug the battery. Next, disconnect all cables on the left-hand side of the Logic Board and unscrew the screws that hold your AirPort card in place, located on top of your optical drive. Remove the AirPort card – you can leave the antennas plugged in. Unscrew the screws that hold your optical drive in place and lift the optical drive away from your Mac. Insert the OptiBay containing your SSD in its place.

Replace Mac RAM iMac

Get started by unscrewing the three Phillips screws that secure the RAM access door located underneath your iMac’s display. Remove the access door (you may find it easier to place your iMac screen down on a flat surface) and, using your fingers, pull the black plastic tab out from the RAM slot and away from the iMac to release the RAM. Slide your new RAM into the slots that your RAM previously occupied. Don’t forget to screw the RAM access door back in!

Install second HDD Mac mini

Mac minis only contain one hard drive bay, so you’ll need to purchase and install a dual hard drive kit, available online for around £20/$30 to £30/$40. The process for this hardware hack is fairly laborious and involves removing virtually every component from your Mac mini in order to install the dual hard drive kit, which is located beneath the Logic Board (the Logic Board takes up most of the Mac mini’s interior) – this hardware hack is not for the faint hearted!

Make a Macquarium Macintosh Classic/iMac

Make your Macintosh Classic a talking point by turning it into a real life Macquarium. This hardware hack requires you to remove all of the components from inside the Macintosh Classic – including the CRT monitor that requires discharging before removal (otherwise you run the risk of a serious 25,000 volt electric shock). You can purchase the tools you need to make your very own Macquarium online for around £150/$200.