Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Yet another SSD/ram thread :)

gpsouza

gpsouza

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jan 1, 2012
380
79
Lisbon
So, last november I bought a MPB 13" base version (which get me pretty mad, since the revision came 1 month later) thinking about upgrades. As apple charges +200€ for 8gb ram and another 200€ for SSD, it was totally unacceptable for me to pay for this, so, i knew that i could get cheaper prices outside and i'll do it now :)

After some researches, i found out that 8gbs is good for me, since i run some VM, photoshop and some programming, I was feeling that 4gbs is pushing me down, too much lag. My question is, for 40€ i can get Crucial, G.Skill and OWC rams, but i don't know which one is better.

About the SSD, i really don't know which one to buy. I need only 120gb for SSD - planning later to buy that thing to substitute my optical drive - but i found too many options. Crucial M4, OCZ Agility, Corsair ForceSeries and some others that i don't remember.

So, can anyone help? :D
 
V

Vantage Point

macrumors 65816
Mar 1, 2010
1,169
1
New Jersey
Crucial, Gskill and OWC ram are all good brands for RAM - I have used both Crucial and OWC (currently have OWC in my MBP). The extra ram will do wonders for certain types of Photoshop work...

I would start out with getting the 8gb of ram since the price is so low and then see how it goes. Then later decide about a SSD - the longer you wait the better the price. An SSD will make your computer boot faster and applications will load almost instantaneously. With extra ram your applications will load a bit slower the first time but after you close an application it will likely reside in your extra ram so if you open it a second time (assuming you haven't shut down your computer) it will load almost instantly. In my case I needed more space so I upgraded my hard drive from the base 320gb, 5400 rpm drive to a 7200 rpm drive with 750gb - this make a noticeable difference in performance but can't compare to an SSD. If you need plenty of storage then a 7200 rpm drive of at least 500gb is a good option. If you want pure performance and don't need space then a SSD is a good way to go. I can't comment on which is best but OWC has a good reputation.
 
gpsouza

gpsouza

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jan 1, 2012
380
79
Lisbon
Thank you :D
I know crucial reputation and I have G.Skill on my PC, and it's great, but since is a PC, i don't know exactly the performance on macs.
i think i'll go with crucial just because they can ship cheaper to portugal than OWC.

I guess that i'll follow your suggestion and wait about the SSD. I have also a 500gb external drive, so space is not a problem.
I was thinking about the Momentus XT, but the price is nearly the same than a SSD and i don't think that it has that great performance comparing to SSD.

Again, thanks :)

----------

Oh sorry! I forgot to mention Corsair and Kingston!
I want to know about Corsair and Kingston too :D
 
V

Vantage Point

macrumors 65816
Mar 1, 2010
1,169
1
New Jersey
Kingston is also a good brand. Any of these are good so I would just find a place that has the best deal - including shipping and tax. Just make sure you get the right RAM - I think all 2011 models use 1333 while my 2010 uses 1066 mhz.

Regarding Momentus XT there are mixed reports on this drive - some people have frustrating problems while others have no problems at all - but I haven't checked for a while. The virtue of this type of drive is that, after several uses your most frequently used programs will reside in the flash drive so they will load faster and your computer will boot quickly - almost like an SSD. However, programs that have not been used for a while and accessing data from the drive, like a photo..., will take just as long as with a regular hard drive since that data needs to be accessed from a spinning drive. So there are a few distinct advantages - some people think those advantages are worth it. I would wait for someone else to jump in with more experience with these drives or do a search. I have read enough thread to scare me away.

As a side note I shop a lot on Amazon (bought my MBP from them) and also find it a great place to read reviews for products.
 
r0k

r0k

macrumors 68040
Mar 3, 2008
3,611
75
Detroit
I'm very happy with my Monentus XT. I rip movies using handbrake but the results to go a firewire drive. My boot times are under 30 seconds. The apps I use "every day" like chrome, mail, libre office, iwork and xcode launch from SSD.

My 500 GB drive is about 40 % full. I've thought about going "pure SSD" but I'd like to see prices come down to about half of what they are today before I make the jump.

As for RAM, I most often use Crucial but I've also picked up RAM in Microcenter when I couldn't wait for mail order. It turns out MC stocks Crucial RAM.
 
gpsouza

gpsouza

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jan 1, 2012
380
79
Lisbon
So its quite hard to decide which one is better by now xD Today i'm going to buy my new RAM, Corsair btw, and i'll see what happen... maybe next month or so i may buy a new SSD.
 
gpsouza

gpsouza

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jan 1, 2012
380
79
Lisbon
Wow, seriously, wow.

I bought today my 8gb corsair ram and wow... It is a whole new experience when using my VM. I can use parallels in coherence mode without ANY lags ! That's amazing!
 
V

Vantage Point

macrumors 65816
Mar 1, 2010
1,169
1
New Jersey
gpsouza said:
Wow, seriously, wow.

I bought today my 8gb corsair ram and wow... It is a whole new experience when using my VM. I can use parallels in coherence mode without ANY lags ! That's amazing!
Click to expand...

Great!!! Like I first wrote above, "I would start out with getting the 8gb of ram since the price is so low and then see how it goes. Then later decide..."

Also, you may be able to sell your old ram to offset the cost - that's what I did. If one of your sticks of RAM does fail you can remove it and your computer will run with only one stick - this is also a way to determine if one of your sticks of ram is bad. At any rate, for a small investment, you just had a significant upgrade.
 
gpsouza

gpsouza

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jan 1, 2012
380
79
Lisbon
Vantage Point said:
Great!!! Like I first wrote above, "I would start out with getting the 8gb of ram since the price is so low and then see how it goes. Then later decide..."

Also, you may be able to sell your old ram to offset the cost - that's what I did. If one of your sticks of RAM does fail you can remove it and your computer will run with only one stick - this is also a way to determine if one of your sticks of ram is bad. At any rate, for a small investment, you just had a significant upgrade.
Click to expand...

I thought about that, but, how much they worth? And where to sell?

Well, if one of them fail, i can always return to the store xD Here he have 2 years warranty, plus the lifetime warranty given by Corsair :D
Thanl you very much
 
V

Vantage Point

macrumors 65816
Mar 1, 2010
1,169
1
New Jersey
gpsouza said:
I thought about that, but, how much they worth? And where to sell?

Well, if one of them fail, i can always return to the store xD Here he have 2 years warranty, plus the lifetime warranty given by Corsair :D
Thanl you very much
Click to expand...

Ebay. That's were I sold mine, and also where I sold my stock 320gb 5400rpm hard drive from my MBP, and were I sold my previous 2009 MB, 13" 2010 MBP, and 2009 iMac. Make sure you list the old ram as taken from a Nov 2011 MBP so it is somewhat new. It might be worth only about $15 USD. Since it is a 1333mhz and since there are no MBP's that used only 2gb of this type of ram (these are the people that may upgrade), then it might be tough sale. However, as prices drop you may want to upgrade to 16gb ram (2x8gb) so there would be a market for your 8gb (2x4gb). 16gb of ram for a MBP was going for $1,600 USD a year ago and now it is only $250. Hard drives are not much cheaper now than a year ago.

Anyway, sorry to be long winded, but your older ram has value but not much to drive yourself crazy - worth the price of a good meal. At any rate, you saved a bundle by not buying from Apple.
 
gpsouza

gpsouza

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jan 1, 2012
380
79
Lisbon
Vantage Point said:
Ebay. That's were I sold mine, and also where I sold my stock 320gb 5400rpm hard drive from my MBP, and were I sold my previous 2009 MB, 13" 2010 MBP, and 2009 iMac. Make sure you list the old ram as taken from a Nov 2011 MBP so it is somewhat new. It might be worth only about $15 USD. Since it is a 1333mhz and since there are no MBP's that used only 2gb of this type of ram (these are the people that may upgrade), then it might be tough sale. However, as prices drop you may want to upgrade to 16gb ram (2x8gb) so there would be a market for your 8gb (2x4gb). 16gb of ram for a MBP was going for $1,600 USD a year ago and now it is only $250. Hard drives are not much cheaper now than a year ago.

Anyway, sorry to be long winded, but your older ram has value but not much to drive yourself crazy - worth the price of a good meal. At any rate, you saved a bundle by not buying from Apple.
Click to expand...

The problem is that I would have to sell it from Portugal... But I'll find a way :) Yeah, since we are the only ones using 4gb from the beginning it's hard to find. Maybe i'll keep then just in case or use as a keychain xD

Thanks for your help :)
 
V

Vantage Point

macrumors 65816
Mar 1, 2010
1,169
1
New Jersey
You're probably right, too much work for too little reward. At least the good news is that RAM prices are very low these days. Hard drives have not budged much from a year ago but that is partly due to severe flooding in factories late last year. I know my Scorpio Black, 750gb 7200rpm hard drive which I purchased from Amazon.com last April for $110 USD, now costs $189 USD - a 50% price increase. I would expect this to drop rapidly in the upcoming months. So ram is a bargain while hard drives took a temporary step back.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom