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Crucial m4 or Samsung 830 for 2011 13" mbp?

G

guitarwiz23

macrumors member
Original poster
Aug 4, 2011
88
2
I have been thinking about switching to a 128 gb ssd from my 320gb 5400rpm hdd, my boot times are painfully slow, usually 1-2 minutes and I would hope that an ssd would lower that to around 20, no more than 30 seconds as well as help my sleep/wake time an the overall performance of the computer. The amount of space doesn't bother me I have ~70gb used and dont think I will ever hit 120 I really don't keep games or movies on my computer really, just files and music. The 830 comes with Batman arkahm city which I would be able to play on my pc and it is only 10 more dollars with a newegg promo code.

I am a college student so I will be downloading/saving a lot of files as well as deleting and moving things quite often, this makes me kind of worried about the ssd life and the write cycles and all, is this something I should be worried about? I will probably have this computer and drive for another 4-5 years, I also download a lot of other things like pictures and music(legally of course), I also delete some of these files when I "clean up" my computer every so often, will any of this diminish the life of the ssd? I am looking for the fastest and most reliable drive at that capacity and price point.

Thanks in advance
-guitarwiz23
 
That will be a nice upgrade for your system, you will appreciate the performance bump that you get from this.

Do not worry about the read/write cycles, it will not be an issue. Here is an interesting article to read on the subject:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/2829/6

Fastest would be the Crucial, most reliable would be the Samsung. So, it comes down to your choice. Given the fact that you want to keep this drive for 4 - 5 years, I would lean towards the Samsung.
 
I'll be "that guy" I've had OCZ drives for a couple years now and have had 1 problem that OCZ took care of quickly. While the M4 and the Samsung are quite popular here my Agility 3 uses the least power of all the 120ish GB SSD's. It's added close to 40 min over the Vertex it replaced.
 
I have samsung 830 and it is AWESOME. Have not had any issues, and the drives is good-looking too, not that it matters.
 
Just got a 128GB Samsung 830 for my MacPro.

It's faster than my OWC 128 that I had in there previously. Not that the OWC was sluggish.

It's a solid SSD so far and it came with Batman Arkham Asylum for Windows, which is a nice little bonus.
 
Crucial M4 owner here. Zero issues. This thread will be clear as mud as soon as everyone chimes in.

I wouldn't bog down on which model to chose. There isn't one SSD maker that knows anything the others don't. Base your decision on:

1.) Price
2.) Service after the Sale. (Warranty).
 
Go with the Samsung, you will never even know it's there! I have a 470 in a PC and a 830 in my new MBP and love em.
 
guitarwiz23 said:
What about updating the firmware for the Samsung... Isn't it impossible on Mac?
Click to expand...

Yes. Go to Samsung's website. You will want to install a small program called Magician. It will do FW updates, R/W tests, Performance Optimizer, Run Trim, etc. Great little program.
 
I would recommend the OWC Mercury Pro Extreme 6G, but that is just me.

http://www.macsales.com

That is the OWC website. Great drives, their RAM is great too, their SSD drives rate as some of the fastest read/write and most reliable and highest rated around.

I have the 120GB version of this in my 27" iMac, and it's greeeaat!
 
Toughbook said:
Yes. Go to Samsung's website. You will want to install a small program called Magician. It will do FW updates, R/W tests, Performance Optimizer, Run Trim, etc. Great little program.
Click to expand...

This software doesnt exist for mac though were you talking about the windows version?
 
Another vote for the M4. Have had mine since last summer with TRIM enabled and it has been absolutely flawless. Firmware updating is a breeze too (compared to PITA Sandforce drives)
 
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