7200RPM HDD or MLC SSD for MacBook Pro?

[winsonli]

I am planning to upgrade my MBP's storage and cannot decide which drive to get: a 320GB 7200RPM HDD or a 64GB MLC SSD. They're both within my budget and capacity is not an issue. Which one would you recommend and why?

[thomahawk]

the HDD is great for your usual music, movies, editing and stuff. yea i rather get HDD
but then with SSD you can do literally anything to your macbook. toss it down the mountain, run 20 miles carrying it going up and down up and down. shake it like its a piggy bank. whatever!!! and the data in it will still be intact and unharmed

HDD is a disc, whereas SSD is solid state meaning its on flash memory so yea. its up to preferance
the SSD will give you a better ratio in keeping your data from shocks and stuff but its not fast and doesnt have space

but in the end i rather get HDD, i'll put a SSD in a MBA though

[winsonli]

Thanks for the reply.

I want my system to be snappy, short boot and application load times. Most reviews I've read are about SLC SSDs. I wonder if MLC SSDs would be better than the current generation 7200RPM HDD in terms of snappiness.

And also, loading RAW photos and using the repair tool in Aperture is so slow on my current 2.2Ghz Santa Rosa MBP. Would I see a performance increase with a 7200RPM HDD or a MLC SSD?

[Thiol]

Most MLC SSDs now do not work well when multitasking even lightly. The issue revolves around the controller. Only the new Intel X25 seems to have overcome this issue. Check out the Anandtech review, it's quite instructive.

[Wotan31]

Any 7200 rpm laptop drive will vastly outperform an MLC drive when it comes to writes. Reads may be similar although I suspect the traditional HDD wins there too. I'd take a 320 GB Seagate 7200.3 for $129 over a 64 GB MLC drive any day.

SLC flash drives are another story...

[aleksandra.]

http://www.anandtech.com/mac/showdoc.aspx?i=3287

I think it's better to listen to someone who has done it than to those who apparently never looked at any actual performance comparison between good HDD and good SSD (good being the keyword, I know there're many sluggish ones). And apparently snappiness was what improved. Although I'm quite possibly biased by having lost both HDD in my PC in less than a year... ;)

Here's more about Intel's 80GB MLC SSD vs Samsung's 64GB SSD vs Seagate 7200rpm: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/Intel-x25-m-SSD,2012.html
EDIT:
http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/intel/showdoc.aspx?i=3403&p=1 as well.

[winsonli]

Thanks for the replies.

The Intel X25 looks good. I think I'll get one when there's reports of successful installations into a MBP. Any idea if this thinner drive (7mm) could be properly installed in a MBP?

[pinktank]

SSD isnt created for system/random access

[Thiol]

SSD isnt created for system/random access

The major strength of an SSD is random reading.

[winsonli]

The major strength of an SSD is random reading.

Does that mean SSD is good for a system drive?

Also, is the intel X25 better than a 7200RPM 320GB HDD in all areas (except capacity)?