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magbarn

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Oct 25, 2008
2,956
2,253
Have 2 2013 MBA 11 i5/4/256gb in hand. Both have Lg screens, but one has Sandisk SSD and the other Samsung. Which one would you keep? The samsung seems to have a higher write speed, but if it's anything like the 840 Pro, the fuller the drive is, it becomes much slower. The Sandisk has a lower write speed, but seems to be more immune to being full. Which one to keep?
 

scaredpoet

macrumors 604
Apr 6, 2007
6,627
342
Do you plan on filling up your SSD to near full? If so, it would seem you need to keep the Sandisk-equipped one. If on the other hand you plan on not being more than 80% or so full, then keep the Samsung.

In any case, I'm pretty sure that on their worst day, either one will still perform far faster than a hard drive-equipped laptop.
 

AXs

macrumors 6502a
Sep 7, 2009
515
2
When in serious doubt between 2 options, flip a coin.

If you didn't like what it landed on... you'll know.

personally, it is indifferent to me. Would just pick Samsung for the fanboyism.
 

scaredpoet

macrumors 604
Apr 6, 2007
6,627
342
You know, the more I think about questions like this, the more I ask myself: are you really going to do that much frequent writing to your SSD? If so, then it probably won't matter much which one you keep in the end, because you'll probably be replacing that SSD in a year or so, anyway.

And what good is incessantly benchmarking your SSD, if each iteration will just bring your drive that much closer to the end of its useful life?

Just be happy in knowing that even if you got the worst, slowest solid state drive that Apple's ever crammed into a Mac, you'll still smoke any hard-drive based laptop in existence. Use it and enjoy it.
 

happyhippo1337

macrumors 6502
Jul 3, 2013
258
141
Even if he'd be writing 50GB/day on it it's highly doubtful that the drive will die in a year. That's a common myth. They don't do that.
 

cedwhatev

macrumors 6502
Oct 22, 2011
316
38
Canada
It's a win/win situation. Personally, I'd keep the Sandisk, simply to try it out. I've had Samsung and Toshiba SSD's in my MBA's, so might as well give the new one a shot too. The differences are minimal though.
 
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