128 GB SSD versus 750 GB SATA

Keukasmallie · Jan 25, 2013, 02:19 PM

Not the most astute MBP owner, but I'm considering upgrading to a SSD. I don't really pressure my current system, and all appears to work well to this point (early 2011 build).

In any event, why is a 128 GB SSD "better" than a 750 GB SATA?

Thanks for your thoughts!

paulrbeers · Jan 25, 2013, 02:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Keukasmallie

Not the most astute MBP owner, but I'm considering upgrading to a SSD. I don't really pressure my current system, and all appears to work well to this point (early 2011 build).

In any event, why is a 128 GB SSD "better" than a 750 GB SATA?

Thanks for your thoughts!

Google some benchmarks of SSD's and compare them to benchmarks of Mechanical drives. The numbers are staggering. It's like going from a Toyota Yaris to a Corvette....

kohlson · Jan 25, 2013, 03:17 PM

The question you will ask yourself after after putting in an SSD is "why didn't I do this sooner?"
The 750 will rpobably be incrementally faster than your existing. The SSD will be significantly faster. App open within 1-2 seconds. Cold start times are reduced by 50%. You get the idea. For laptops, a real benefit is they are highly resistant to shock. That is, if you laptop bumps/falls/moves with an HDD, eventually you'll have a problem. No such issue with SSD. I've put them in both our MBPs -- very glad I did.

gnasher729 · Jan 25, 2013, 04:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Keukasmallie

Not the most astute MBP owner, but I'm considering upgrading to a SSD. I don't really pressure my current system, and all appears to work well to this point (early 2011 build).

In any event, why is a 128 GB SSD "better" than a 750 GB SATA?

Thanks for your thoughts!

Start copying files to each drive.

The first 128 GB, the SSD drive is a good deal faster.
After that, it is infinitely slower.

Yebubbleman · Jan 25, 2013, 05:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Keukasmallie

Not the most astute MBP owner, but I'm considering upgrading to a SSD. I don't really pressure my current system, and all appears to work well to this point (early 2011 build).

In any event, why is a 128 GB SSD "better" than a 750 GB SATA?

Thanks for your thoughts!

SSDs are faster, but hold less and cost more per GB. If that's not a problem for you, then I say do it. If it is, then I say don't do it.

Jedi · Jan 25, 2013, 06:02 PM

As a new MBP-R owner ( about 5 weeks ) , I can say that not only is it faster , but you will no longer have to worry about the antiquated rotating mass , also know as a HDD !

Sounds like your looking at a MBP / BTO with 128 GB option ?

Might be just as well off to get a 15" Retina model , that is what I have.

Anyway , best of luck

Later

Gary 

Uffish Thought · Jan 25, 2013, 06:47 PM

How about creating a Fusion Drive?
128GB SSD "fused" with the existing HDD, I'm guessing a 500GB?, will give you ~628GB of speed and storage.

I'm going to install one on my 2011 MBP; Install SSD where HDD was, remove Superdrive, intall HDD in its place, run Disk utility in Lion or Mt Lion to create one volume.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6679/a...s-fusion-drive

California · Jan 25, 2013, 07:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Keukasmallie

Not the most astute MBP owner, but I'm considering upgrading to a SSD. I don't really pressure my current system, and all appears to work well to this point (early 2011 build).

In any event, why is a 128 GB SSD "better" than a 750 GB SATA?

Thanks for your thoughts!

I did the 128gb SSD for a month or so, then ditched it for a fast 750gb 7200 RPM drive.

It's faster than my old 500gb 7200rpm drive and... much much more space than the puny 128gb. I still don't trust SSD's. Once they die, they DIE. At least with hard disk drives, you can play with a dying drive and get the info off it.

Also at a certain point, who cares how fast your machine boots or a program loads?

My Word processing programs are the same "speed" as they were in the year 2001 on my 1st Generation Titanium Powerbook.

Spink10 · Jan 25, 2013, 07:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by California

I did the 128gb SSD for a month or so, then ditched it for a fast 750gb 7200 RPM drive.

It's faster than my old 500gb 7200rpm drive and... much much more space than the puny 128gb. I still don't trust SSD's. Once they die, they DIE. At least with hard disk drives, you can play with a dying drive and get the info off it.

Also at a certain point, who cares how fast your machine boots or a program loads?

My Word processing programs are the same "speed" as they were in the year 2001 on my 1st Generation Titanium Powerbook.

Backup!

California · Jan 25, 2013, 07:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spink10

Backup!

Oh, I back up. But never with SSDs. Or the Cloud (ridiculous).

Giuly · Jan 25, 2013, 11:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by California

Oh, I back up. But never with SSDs. Or the Cloud (ridiculous).

What's so ridiculous about little fairies in the cloud pointing a wand at failing hard drives and replacing them seamlessly and magically?

barkmonster · Jan 26, 2013, 04:13 AM

After losing a ton of stuff on one those infamous IBM Deathstar drives, I backup habitually to multiple drives.

I can't recommend SSDs as a boot drive enough and I've got no idea where that slowdown after 128Gb BS is based on.

They boot quickly, they have ultra fast access time, don't need defragmenting EVER and in the case of Sandforce based drives, don't even need TRIM because they handle it internally.

I can't think of a better setup than an SSD as the boot drive and the original drive as extra storage for iTunes etc... apart from maybe using a 7200rpm HDD alongside the SSD for the best of both worlds. I use multi-track audio so as a tie over, I'm currently still booting from the internal 5400rpm drive till I can get a firewire case for my 7200rpm drive. They're cheap now so if I was starting from scratch, didn't already have one and was using a laptop, not a Mac Mini, I'd just buy a fast SSD like a Vertex 3 to boot from, a fast 2.5" 7200rpm drive like the Western Digital Scorpio Black and an optibay or equivalent to mount the SSD in.

I use the optical drive from my Mac Mini externally with a £6 USB to optical cable and it's fine like that.

HarryKNN21 · Jan 26, 2013, 07:22 AM

SSD will not always solve the performance issues, from my experience the major bottleneck of the performance of a MBP is the integrity of the caches and permissions within the OSX system.

I once changed the HDD to SSD in my MBP, but last week when I put the HDD back into my MBP and did a clean install (real clean install, I reinstalled every app again not from Time Machine backup) of OSX, also repaired permissions and fixed some Spotlight issues, then the fresh installed OSX on HDD is blistering fast, just as fast as it was on SSD.

BTW don't use MacKeeper to maintain the OSX system, it will not make OSX go any faster. What I would suggest is keep using the stock HDD, and maintain the system carefully to avoid permission issues.

Keukasmallie · Jan 26, 2013, 12:01 PM

A lot to consider from several points of view. Right now I'm of a mind to keep what I have until such time as I need to make some sort of change. If I had to make a decision right now, I'd go the SSD route.

Thanks to all responders!!

Jan 25, 2013, 02:19 PM	#1
Keukasmallie macrumors member Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: WNY	128 GB SSD versus 750 GB SATA Not the most astute MBP owner, but I'm considering upgrading to a SSD. I don't really pressure my current system, and all appears to work well to this point (early 2011 build). In any event, why is a 128 GB SSD "better" than a 750 GB SATA? Thanks for your thoughts!
	0

Jan 25, 2013, 06:47 PM	#7
Uffish Thought macrumors member Join Date: Apr 2011	Fusion Drive How about creating a Fusion Drive? 128GB SSD "fused" with the existing HDD, I'm guessing a 500GB?, will give you ~628GB of speed and storage. I'm going to install one on my 2011 MBP; Install SSD where HDD was, remove Superdrive, intall HDD in its place, run Disk utility in Lion or Mt Lion to create one volume. http://www.anandtech.com/show/6679/a...s-fusion-drive __________________ 17" AG MacBook Pro 8,3 (early 2011) 2.3GHz i7, 1TB Fusion (256SSD/750HDD), 8GB RAM \| iPhone 4S, 64GB \| iPad3 64GB, 3G
	0

Jan 26, 2013, 04:13 AM	#12
barkmonster macrumors 65816 Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Lancashire	After losing a ton of stuff on one those infamous IBM Deathstar drives, I backup habitually to multiple drives. I can't recommend SSDs as a boot drive enough and I've got no idea where that slowdown after 128Gb BS is based on. They boot quickly, they have ultra fast access time, don't need defragmenting EVER and in the case of Sandforce based drives, don't even need TRIM because they handle it internally. I can't think of a better setup than an SSD as the boot drive and the original drive as extra storage for iTunes etc... apart from maybe using a 7200rpm HDD alongside the SSD for the best of both worlds. I use multi-track audio so as a tie over, I'm currently still booting from the internal 5400rpm drive till I can get a firewire case for my 7200rpm drive. They're cheap now so if I was starting from scratch, didn't already have one and was using a laptop, not a Mac Mini, I'd just buy a fast SSD like a Vertex 3 to boot from, a fast 2.5" 7200rpm drive like the Western Digital Scorpio Black and an optibay or equivalent to mount the SSD in. I use the optical drive from my Mac Mini externally with a £6 USB to optical cable and it's fine like that. __________________ 16Gb iPhone 5 • 2.53Ghz Mac Mini (8Gb, 60Gb Vertex 2) • Mbox2 • LG W2343T • Samsung SyncMaster 913n
	0

Jan 26, 2013, 07:22 AM	#13
HarryKNN21 macrumors regular Join Date: May 2012 Location: Hong Kong	SSD will not always solve the performance issues, from my experience the major bottleneck of the performance of a MBP is the integrity of the caches and permissions within the OSX system. I once changed the HDD to SSD in my MBP, but last week when I put the HDD back into my MBP and did a clean install (real clean install, I reinstalled every app again not from Time Machine backup) of OSX, also repaired permissions and fixed some Spotlight issues, then the fresh installed OSX on HDD is blistering fast, just as fast as it was on SSD. BTW don't use MacKeeper to maintain the OSX system, it will not make OSX go any faster. What I would suggest is keep using the stock HDD, and maintain the system carefully to avoid permission issues. __________________ cMBP: 2.6 i7, 16GB, 500 Hitachi 7mm 7,200rpm Phone and Tablet: Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 3G iPod Touch 5th Gen, Product Red, I'm back to iOS again
	0

Jan 26, 2013, 12:01 PM	#14
Keukasmallie Thread Starter macrumors member Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: WNY	Thanks for your thoughts! A lot to consider from several points of view. Right now I'm of a mind to keep what I have until such time as I need to make some sort of change. If I had to make a decision right now, I'd go the SSD route. Thanks to all responders!!
	0

Jan 25, 2013, 03:17 PM	#3
kohlson macrumors regular Join Date: Apr 2010	The question you will ask yourself after after putting in an SSD is "why didn't I do this sooner?" The 750 will rpobably be incrementally faster than your existing. The SSD will be significantly faster. App open within 1-2 seconds. Cold start times are reduced by 50%. You get the idea. For laptops, a real benefit is they are highly resistant to shock. That is, if you laptop bumps/falls/moves with an HDD, eventually you'll have a problem. No such issue with SSD. I've put them in both our MBPs -- very glad I did.
	0

Jan 25, 2013, 06:02 PM	#6
Jedi macrumors regular Join Date: Apr 2008	As a new MBP-R owner ( about 5 weeks ) , I can say that not only is it faster , but you will no longer have to worry about the antiquated rotating mass , also know as a HDD ! Sounds like your looking at a MBP / BTO with 128 GB option ? Might be just as well off to get a 15" Retina model , that is what I have. Anyway , best of luck Later Gary 
	0

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