30 years of tinkering

My wife's new Retina Mac notebook is really sleek but also completely tinker-proof.  It is a good trend.  We shouldn't have to fiddle with stuff.  I love my tinker-free car.  But I've been fiddling with computer things for a long time and I admit I will miss it.  My notebook is an early 2011 model.  It will likely be the last computer thingy I'll be able to tear down and rebuild.  Feeling envious of the new computer's speedy performance and light weight, I decided to remove the optical drive and replace my HDD with an SSD.

Many, many screws.

Removed - old HDD, optical drive, 2GB RAM stick.

Everything all shiny and perfect.  New SSD in the upper left.  Optical drive absent in the lower right.
A thorough cleaning was in order.  I took out the fans to to get at recalcitrant dust bunnies.
Compressed air is the tool of a true geek.

Hmmm.  These didn't go back in.  Everything will probably work.

The general in his labyrinth.  Will it format?

The 10.7 key I've "borrowed" from Richard for ~ 2 years.  This project would not be possible without it.

Success.  10GB of RAM and 250GB of SSD.  Everything restored.

OK, now for the results.  I weighed the computer using two different scales.  One read 5.8 pounds and the other read 6.2 pounds.  (Maybe I should find a more precise scale.)  Apple lists an official weight of 6.6 pounds for the MacBook Pro 17 as shipped.  The machine feels much speedier and I get the beach ball of death much less than before.  That's confounded because of the clean system install and the extra RAM, but I don't care - it just feels better.  Here's the closest I got to doing any science ... I've read that startup is where the SSD makes the most difference vs. HDD.  So, here are the numbers.

Startup from cold to login screen:
141 seconds - "Old" 17 MacBook
13 seconds - Upgraded 17 MacBook
11 seconds - Wife's shiny new MacBook 15 Retina

That's pretty good.