ssd for 2006 mpb

Launch the utility System Profiler (or whatever it's called) and check under SATA what's listed. FYI, I have the slower 3G SATA SSDs in both my early 2011 MBP 17" and 2011 MBA and they're awesome.

Replacing the HD on a preUnibody is a much bigger pain than for the unibodies. Watch the iFixit and YouTube videos to decide whether or not you're up to it.

As for an OptiBay-like device, you may not have a SATA connection, so you will have to order the proper optical drive caddy with the right connector.

Samsung 830 and Crucial m4 SSDs are probably the most highly sought SSDs now. I chose the Intel 320 because there are huge rebates that bring the cost to less than $1/GB.

1) What can I do right now to increase my performance, particularly for video editing applications?
Increase the RAM. Go to crucial.com and max it out.
2) Is a SSD compatible with my notebook? Which SATA is compatible?
It should be but don't quote me on it, that should be easy to look up online. Since it's not a Core 2 Duo, fewer things in general will be compatible.
3) Is a SSD worth the time and investment at this point? Will I benefit during my video editing?
If it works, it will speed up any machine. It may not be worth the money if you're doing editing because you'll need a LOT of space and that costs a LOT of money for an SSD, and some of the older editing programs had issues with SSDs when they first were released because they were actually returning data too fast, although I'm pretty sure that got ironed out.
4) Does it make a difference that my model MBP can't upgrade to Lion?
It might, but most likely not.
5) Where can I find a good guide to install a SSD in a 2006 MBP? Or can I just follow the instructions for "Hard Drive Replacement" found on ifixit.com but use a SSD instead?
Look for official apple documentation as well at least to suppliment.
6) Which SSD is the most affordable and reliable SSD for me to choose? I'm only looking to get about 120 gb.
There's no way that will be enough to edit any reasonable amount of HD video. I recommend seeing if you can put a smaller one in your expansion slot to use as a startup disk and have all your applications run off of, then store your files (docs, music, photos, videos, etc) on your larger internal HDD, or an external, or replace your optical (CD/DVD) drive with the SSD and keep the HDD for storage.

Danza said:

Thanks guys for your quick responses!

VMMan - Am I looking for the link speed in my Profiler? If so, it says "1.5 gigabit". Crucial has suggested an SSD for my computer (that's actually the reason I started looking into this in the first place) Here is one of the SSD's suggested. Based on the SSD they suggest, I suppose I'm looking at SATA II. I'll have to look into the Intel 320 to compare prices.

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Yes, you look at the "link speed" and it seems that you have SATA 1. SATA 2 and SATA 3 are supposed to be backwards compatible, but I've heard of occasional problems with compatibility.

Crucial m4 and Samsung 830 SSDs are the most desirable, now. When you get a newer computer, you can carry over your SSD to the new computer and take advantage of the SATA 3 (6 Gb/s) speeds then.

The Intel 320 SSDs have had and either currently or just recently had another big rebate. Some of the rebates apply to Amazon and Newegg purchases only. The Intel 320 has a "8 MB error" which causes a lot of people to become afraid of the possibility that the SSD can fail causing all your data to be lost. Mine works great, and I asked on this forum, and most people said it worked well, but one Mac user did state he had the 8 MB error.

To be candid, I'm not sure why you want to hang on to your 2006 MBP or upgrade it if you're going to sell it in 6 months. I'd just spend the money you would have on the SSD on a new MacBook. Video editing is pretty demanding even on current generation computers.

Yeah it will speed up your processing for sure, but I agree it might be better to put hat money towards a new MBP rather than dragging out the life span of this older model. However, if you want to wait for the possible refresh next year and need this comp heavily over the next few months, than go ahead with the SSD upgrade because as long as you chose a drive that's compatible it should most definitely speed up the OS and the apps (and the only think in your workflow that would slow you down would be the speed and connection type you're using with the external drives that are storing your video files). Either way I think you'll be pleased.

I have exactly the same MBP as you and I just did this mod. With an OCZ 60GB Vertex Plus which I paid 60 euros. It works great following the Ifixit tutorial.

Danza said:

Thanks guys you've been a lot of help! I'm still not entirely sold of the idea of upgrading my almost 6 year-old notebook but I just wanted to see what my options were and if it would really be worth it. Still unsure, but at least I'm much more informed. Thanks again!

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For video editing your bottleneck are both your older CPU and your hard drive, a SSD would help, but the computer would be just as slow when rendering.