2G MBA - buy the HDD now, and upgrade with an Intel 160GB X18-M SSD later?

[ducatidoc]

so like the heading says, i had an epiphany and am now thinking that if the connection for the drives has been updated to SATA, then it might be an easy upgrade in finding other SSD drives for this little lappie.

then i remembered intel's x18-m, set to debut any day now... and at a yummy 160 GB...

so whats the word here? i have read that the intel drive uses a SATA-300 connection. anyone know if this is the same in the apple, or is all SATA the same?

also, can we still order the 1.8 GHz chip with a regular HDD? if this upgrade is plausible, it would be worth saving the money until the intel drive debuts.

[Mactagonist]

so like the heading says, i had an epiphany and am now thinking that if the connection for the drives has been updated to SATA, then it might be an easy upgrade in finding other SSD drives for this little lappie.

then i remembered intel's x18-m, set to debut any day now... and at a yummy 160 GB...

so whats the word here? i have read that the intel drive uses a SATA-300 connection. anyone know if this is the same in the apple, or is all SATA the same?

also, can we still order the 1.8 GHz chip with a regular HDD? if this upgrade is plausible, it would be worth saving the money until the intel drive debuts.

This is why we need reviews and tear downs of the new models. If that drive is compatible and if the Apple drive doesnt offer similar performance I think a lot of people will be doing exactly what you suggested.

[KamiNoYadoru]

How much of a price slam are we going to take on that X18-M? It looks cool, but isn't it going to cost an arm and a leg? 160GB of speedy SSD in a MBA with a 9400M is REALLY appealing though....

[dinaluvsApple]

u cant change the hard drive in the MBA without voiding the warranty......

[KamiNoYadoru]

Let's be real about it, though, there's no seal to break, and just what, eight screws? If you pop out the stock drive and keep it somewhere, if you ever need service on it, you can pop the stock drive back in, and nobody would ever know, right?

[glitch44]

How much of a price slam are we going to take on that X18-M? It looks cool, but isn't it going to cost an arm and a leg? 160GB of speedy SSD in a MBA with a 9400M is REALLY appealing though....

the initial price i found was: "80GB version is priced at $595".

[ducatidoc]

How much of a price slam are we going to take on that X18-M? It looks cool, but isn't it going to cost an arm and a leg? 160GB of speedy SSD in a MBA with a 9400M is REALLY appealing though....

appealing... or downright sexy?

only issue is, do you get the 1.6 and save money now, or order a 1.8 and try to pawn off your solid state drive on ebay later??

[KamiNoYadoru]

Looks like the CTO option for the 1.8 is $200, where it used to be $300. That's pretty reasonable. What I really want to know is if the construction changed at all and whether the heat management in the 2G airs is going to be better.

[HiFiGuy528]

Spending any more than $100 on a HD for the Air does not make sense to me. The air was not designed to be anyone's main computer. It's for taking on the road to do light duty stuff.
Dropping $400+ on a SSD now is not a wise investment. By the time SSD drives are mainstream, your current Air will be a dinosaur or only good for web browsing. Save your time and money and just enjoy the Air to the fullest now. If you need storage, get a 500GB USB HD.

[KamiNoYadoru]

Spending any more than $100 on a HD for the Air does not make sense to me. The air was not designed to be anyone's main computer. It's for taking on the road to do light duty stuff.
Dropping $400+ on a SSD now is not a wise investment. By the time SSD drives are mainstream, your current Air will be a dinosaur or only good for web browsing. Save your time and money and just enjoy the Air to the fullest now. If you need storage, get a 500GB USB HD.

Actually, if I can get a decent amount of storage in my air, it will be my main and ONLY computer. Problem with your little USB HD theory is iTunes, remember? A 160GB HDD would be game over for me.

[Kenndac]

Problem with your little USB HD theory is iTunes, remember? A 160GB HDD would be game over for me.

I don't understand the problem - why can't you just tell iTunes to put its library on the external HD?

[zer0tails]

i think switching the HD later on will be difficult.

[KamiNoYadoru]

I don't understand the problem - why can't you just tell iTunes to put its library on the external HD?

What happens when I have to sync it with my iPhone? :)

[glitch44]

What happens when I have to sync it with my iPhone? :)

use a Time Capsule as your media drive and connect to it wirelessly. ;)

(Using Time Capsule as a Media Drive (http://theappleblog.com/2008/10/17/using-time-capsule-as-a-media-drive/))

[KamiNoYadoru]

That's what I'm doing right now, and it's moderately passable, but it gets extremely sluggish. It does WORK, just not all that well, even on a 5GHZ wireless N network. I'd prefer to get it all local, the performance will be WAY better (if the disk has good I/O speeds).

[Thiol]

so like the heading says, i had an epiphany and am now thinking that if the connection for the drives has been updated to SATA, then it might be an easy upgrade in finding other SSD drives for this little lappie.

then i remembered intel's x18-m, set to debut any day now... and at a yummy 160 GB...

so whats the word here? i have read that the intel drive uses a SATA-300 connection. anyone know if this is the same in the apple, or is all SATA the same?

also, can we still order the 1.8 GHz chip with a regular HDD? if this upgrade is plausible, it would be worth saving the money until the intel drive debuts.

The Intel X18-M is a SATA drive. The MacBook Air uses PATA connectors (a ZIF one to be exact). That drive won't connect. There are only a small number of SSDs that would work. Mtron makes one, and I bet the new ones will be Samsung.

[dehory]

The Intel X18-M is a SATA drive. The MacBook Air uses PATA connectors (a ZIF one to be exact). That drive won't connect. There are only a small number of SSDs that would work. Mtron makes one, and I bet the new ones will be Samsung.

As the OP states, the new MBA has switched to SATA drives...

[ducatidoc]

Actually, if I can get a decent amount of storage in my air, it will be my main and ONLY computer. ... A 160GB HDD would be game over for me.

+1

[Thiol]

As the OP states, the new MBA has switched to SATA drives...

Oh. I didn't notice that because I saw the word "if." Anyhow, looks to be true. The only catch now is if the X-18M is the right thickness. It's a 5 mm drive, so I bet it'll work just fine.

[dehory]

As I wrote in this thread (http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=581906), it doesn't seem like the SSDs in the new MBAs are going to be as fast and energy efficient as Intel's.

Depending on exactly how much better the Intel drives are and how much they end up retailing for once they're widely available, I'd probably switch out the HDD for an SSD too. Maybe it'll turn out that it's cheaper to upgrade to the X18-M than pick the 128GB SSD option when ordering.

For that reason, I'm waiting until reviews start coming out in November before I make my decision...

[Essjay]

I am thinking about doing the same but I was wondering is it very difficult to remove and replace the HDD in the MBA or is it a major hassle?

[Thiol]

As I wrote in this thread (http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=581906), it doesn't seem like the SSDs in the new MBAs are going to be as fast and energy efficient as Intel's.

Depending on exactly how much better the Intel drives are and how much they end up retailing for once they're widely available, I'd probably switch out the HDD for an SSD too. Maybe it'll turn out that it's cheaper to upgrade to the X18-M than pick the 128GB SSD option when ordering.

For that reason, I'm waiting until reviews start coming out in November before I make my decision...

Word on the street is that the Apple SSDs are likely Samsung MLCs. All MLCs except Intel have that bad controller that causes problems when multi-tasking. I think it's safe to assume that the Intel X18-M will be the better SSD. The catch is that I'm not even sure where to buy one. I got an X25-M for my Mac Pro from CDWG, but it doesn't seem as if they sell the X18-M...

[fteoath64]

The Rev B MBA uses a sata ZIF connector while the Intel X-18M uses the mini SATA edge connector. Sorry, unless Intel does a limited run of these with sata ZIF, I don't see any way, unless some 3rd party company comes up with a ribbon connector that does the gender-bender on it.

Besides, is there a second SATA port on the Rev B ?.:confused:

[habi00]

The Rev B MBA uses a sata ZIF connector while the Intel X-18M uses the mini SATA edge connector. Sorry, unless Intel does a limited run of these with sata ZIF, I don't see any way, unless some 3rd party company comes up with a ribbon connector that does the gender-bender on it.

Besides, is there a second SATA port on the Rev B ?.:confused:

I installed an intel X18-M into my air but its no job for the amateurs....

Xbench results...
http://db.xbench.com/merge.xhtml?doc1=435718&doc2=356983

Overall disk test score:
INTEL SSDSA1M080G2GN 204,93
APPLE SSD SM128 84,86

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=657341&page=3

[Mactagonist]

:eek: :cool:

Good work!

[stefobb]

I installed an intel X18-M into my air but its no job for the amateurs....

Xbench results...
http://db.xbench.com/merge.xhtml?doc1=435718&doc2=356983

Overall disk test score:
INTEL SSDSA1M080G2GN 204,93
APPLE SSD SM128 84,86

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=657341&page=3

Would it be possible to install (when out) one of the new Intel X18-M 160Gb on a MBA Rev. C? I'm between waiting for these new Intel SSDs and just getting a 128 Gb Runcore SSD.
What do you mean the installation was "no job for amateurs"? Basically because if there's a good change of damaging the MBA while installing the Intel drive I'll just go for Runcore

thanks!

[stoconnell]

Would it be possible to install (when out) one of the new Intel X18-M 160Gb on a MBA Rev. C? I'm between waiting for these new Intel SSDs and just getting a 128 Gb Runcore SSD.
What do you mean the installation was "no job for amateurs"? Basically because if there's a good change of damaging the MBA while installing the Intel drive I'll just go for Runcore

thanks!

The Runcore product already uses the native SATA-LIF interface. The Intel drive uses a different variant of SATA interface and some very careful cable work has to be done to splice and graft the ribbon cable from the motherboard to work with the Intel cable.

[stefobb]

The Runcore product already uses the native SATA-LIF interface. The Intel drive uses a different variant of SATA interface and some very careful cable work has to be done to splice and graft the ribbon cable from the motherboard to work with the Intel cable.

Alright, I guess I'll probably just stick to the idea of upgrading my MBA with the Runcore SSD and not getting myself into trouble with any cable work.
Thanks!

[Scottsdale]

Would it be possible to install (when out) one of the new Intel X18-M 160Gb on a MBA Rev. C? I'm between waiting for these new Intel SSDs and just getting a 128 Gb Runcore SSD.
What do you mean the installation was "no job for amateurs"? Basically because if there's a good change of damaging the MBA while installing the Intel drive I'll just go for Runcore

thanks!

I don't believe the Intel drive will fit, unless it's a different size than the past Intel SSDs. The MBA requires a 1.8" drive plus it can only be 5mm height. If it did fit, what a drive that would be. However, you still have to do some custom soldering to get the drive to work with an LIF cable; there's a thread that explains how to make a SATA-II drive work by soldering the MBA's LIF cable and the drive. It's definitely not "plug-and-play." It's going to be complex, but if you were to get it going it could be incredible. Do let us know if you attempt this project. Also, consider that the rev 3,1 MBA might use a different drive connection or even a different drive form factor. We really don't know what Apple has in store for the MBA.

[stefobb]

I don't believe the Intel drive will fit, unless it's a different size than the past Intel SSDs. The MBA requires a 1.8" drive plus it can only be 5mm height. If it did fit, what a drive that would be. However, you still have to do some custom soldering to get the drive to work with an LIF cable; there's a thread that explains how to make a SATA-II drive work by soldering the MBA's LIF cable and the drive. It's definitely not "plug-and-play." It's going to be complex, but if you were to get it going it could be incredible. Do let us know if you attempt this project. Also, consider that the rev 3,1 MBA might use a different drive connection or even a different drive form factor. We really don't know what Apple has in store for the MBA.

From what I have read, the installation of the Runcore SSD is pretty much plun-n-play, and I don't have the experience to try to make the Intel SSD work on the MBA, especially taking into account how fragile this notebook is... It would be probably amazing to fit one of those great Intel SSDs into the MBA, but like I say, my experience is too low and the pricetag on an Intel drive will probably sting, worse than the Runcore

[Scottsdale]

From what I have read, the installation of the Runcore SSD is pretty much plun-n-play, and I don't have the experience to try to make the Intel SSD work on the MBA, especially taking into account how fragile this notebook is... It would be probably amazing to fit one of those great Intel SSDs into the MBA, but like I say, my experience is too low and the pricetag on an Intel drive will probably sting, worse than the Runcore

I have the Runcore SSD, and I found it to be a simple installation. I have never tried to convert a non-LIF connected drive, but it sounds like it requires some excellent soldering skills. You will love a Runcore, and you will do fine with the Runcore installation. I included a basic writeup about it in the MBA section here, but iFixIt.com has a completely detailed instruction set for replacing the SSD on the MBA. Good luck.

[stefobb]

I have the Runcore SSD, and I found it to be a simple installation. I have never tried to convert a non-LIF connected drive, but it sounds like it requires some excellent soldering skills. You will love a Runcore, and you will do fine with the Runcore installation. I included a basic writeup about it in the MBA section here, but iFixIt.com has a completely detailed instruction set for replacing the SSD on the MBA. Good luck.

Sounds great! I asked about the Intel since, if I finally decide to upgrade, I'd like to get the best SSD made to FIT the MBA. I'm just regretting a tiny bit having bought the Rev. C MBA so late when the new ones are probably coming out very soon, but I'm sure that with the Runcore drive it will boost the machinge up nicely.

Thanks for the help :D