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stick with crucial m4, or try to get samsung 830

O

onions

macrumors member
Original poster
Aug 17, 2011
69
0
so while i'm waiting for my new laptop and components to arrive, i did the stupid thing and started looking up different ssd options. i ordered the crucial m4, but now am having second thoughts and wondering if i should go through the trouble of returning the m4s and finding a pair of samsung 830s instead.

i read the anandtech article and the benchmarks are meaningless to me. i guess what i am looking for is performance and reliability. i don't mind paying more for it either if it means samsung 830 is better in those categories than the m4s.

aghhhh. i can't decide. anyone care to give their opinions on the matter?

please help. i have a few days to decide before the crucials are delivered.
 
onions said:
so while i'm waiting for my new laptop and components to arrive, i did the stupid thing and started looking up different ssd options. i ordered the crucial m4, but now am having second thoughts and wondering if i should go through the trouble of returning the m4s and finding a pair of samsung 830s instead.

i read the anandtech article and the benchmarks are meaningless to me. i guess what i am looking for is performance and reliability. i don't mind paying more for it either if it means samsung 830 is better in those categories than the m4s.

aghhhh. i can't decide. anyone care to give their opinions on the matter?

please help. i have a few days to decide before the crucials are delivered.
Click to expand...

Plenty of opinions and anecdotal info here. Read through the SSD sticky thread first.

All SSDs are fast. For reliability (which is what I wanted), you will see many references to Samsung, Intel, some to the Crucial M4 series.

Doesn't mean Sandforce or other drives are bad: some people love them, others have more issues per person (subjectively).

I need reliability, and went Samsung 830. I took a bit of a risk on a newer product (the 470 is well proven and could have gone that route) but I felt the track record was evidence enough for me.

- b
 
thanks bvanlieu, i did read through that thread and many others elsewhere. some threads have people say crucial's the best, others stick with samsung.

i'm drowning in indecisiveness and need a life preserver thrown my way.

maybe i'll stick with the crucials....

ugh.

do i need to enable trim on the crucial with the terminal hack?
 
onions said:
thanks bvanlieu, i did read through that thread and many others elsewhere. some threads have people say crucial's the best, others stick with samsung.

i'm drowning in indecisiveness and need a life preserver thrown my way.

maybe i'll stick with the crucials....

ugh.

do i need to enable trim on the crucial with the terminal hack?
Click to expand...

With the caveat that you hear more complaints then 'things work great' on all forums, I would order the drives from a less likely to have a problem as:

Intel
Samsung
Crucial

<others>

I went through what you are going through all summer as I watched threads, reports etc...I personally did not want to feel like I *had* to enable a TRIM hack, so I was drawn to some of the drives that don't need it as much, or are reported to be pretty good with internal GC.

I have a SATA II device but someday it will be a SATA III MBP, so having the ability to swap in a 'faster' drive was one thing that drew me to the 830...but the 470 very much was calling my name as well for *my* requirements.

Of course a week after I got my 830, Intel put a bunch of their 320's on sale with mail in rebates :)

For me, both Intel and Samsung are what I was looking for for my needs and I am happy with what I got. I work from my laptop and don't have time to risk with OWC or OCZ which, subjectively from the many threads here, are a higher risk for issues. I don't care if my drive only does 200 MB/s vs 260 that another brand may do...200 is plenty good for me.

JMHO,

- b
 
Go with the Samsung 830. I have one in my late-2011 15" MBP and it's awesome. Stay away from sandforce drives - there are too many issues with them.

I bought an OCZ Vertex drive back in the day for a PC and had to RMA it twice. (and then sold the new RMA to get rid of it) I'll never buy an OCZ drive again. I also mistakenly bought RAM from then, and it didn't run at the advertised timings. :mad:
 
onions said:
thanks bvanlieu, i did read through that thread and many others elsewhere. some threads have people say crucial's the best, others stick with samsung.

i'm drowning in indecisiveness and need a life preserver thrown my way.

maybe i'll stick with the crucials....

ugh.

do i need to enable trim on the crucial with the terminal hack?
Click to expand...

You will be fine with either drive. There is nothing about either of those SSDs that makes one stand out from the other. Don't sweat it. :)

You don't need to enable the TRIM hack. All these drives have firmware that performs garbage collection.
 
It's currently easier to update the firmware of the crucial M4's on a mac.

That's something to consider.
 
onions said:
i'm drowning in indecisiveness and need a life preserver thrown my way.
Click to expand...

I think you'll find success stories (and disasters) for any SSD.

maybe i'll stick with the crucials....
Click to expand...

My M4 (512gb) has been purring along for quite some time now. No trim enabled - no degradation in read/write speed.
 
i guess i'm sticking with the m4's cause even if i wanted to get the samsung drives, they are no where to be found. i guess that's a good sign for the drive itself.
 
actually, if i get the desktop kit, can i stick the drive in the mbp or do i need the laptop kit bracket to mount it successfully?
 
onions said:
actually, if i get the desktop kit, can i stick the drive in the mbp or do i need the laptop kit bracket to mount it successfully?
Click to expand...
You never said what MBP you ordered, but assuming it is one of the latest 2011 models: The MBP normally has one HD installed in a HD bay. It also has an optical drive installed. You can install one SSD in place of the original HD, and to do that you need a #00 Philips head screw driver to remove the back panel of the MBP (careful those screws are small), and a #6 Torx driver to remove the lugs on the side of the HD and put them on the SSD. There are lots of guides on the web for doing the install (iFixit has a good one).
The optical drive can be replaced with a bracket to hold another HD or SSD, available on ebay (search Optibay?) or from OWC (Data Doubler?). Sorry, I don't know much about this option, having never done it.
So, no you do not need the laptop kit bracket (assuming by that you mean an Optibay type of bracket) just to install one SSD.
 
davidlv said:
You never said what MBP you ordered, but assuming it is one of the latest 2011 models: The MBP normally has one HD installed in a HD bay. It also has an optical drive installed. You can install one SSD in place of the original HD, and to do that you need a #00 Philips head screw driver to remove the back panel of the MBP (careful those screws are small), and a #6 Torx driver to remove the lugs on the side of the HD and put them on the SSD. There are lots of guides on the web for doing the install (iFixit has a good one).
The optical drive can be replaced with a bracket to hold another HD or SSD, available on ebay (search Optibay?) or from OWC (Data Doubler?). Sorry, I don't know much about this option, having never done it.
So, no you do not need the laptop kit bracket (assuming by that you mean an Optibay type of bracket) just to install one SSD.
Click to expand...

i ask because the height of the samsung drive is only 7mm instead of the usual 9.5mm of 2.5" drives. so they package their ssds in two ways: one with a desktop kit, and one with a laptop kit. the desktop kit comes with a mounting bracket for a 3.5" drive bay. the laptop kit comes with one to make the 7mm drive taller to fit more snugly in a laptop. i was hoping someone who's installed a samsung drive could tell me if the laptop kit was necessary for the height-increasing bracket.
 
I've had my M4 256GB installed since Sunday and it's been great so far. Still to early to tell though how it will be down the road.

In regards to the latest firmware. What revision # do you have should be able to check on the box next to the serial # sticker or on the actual SSD itself. Mine was revision # 0009 if I remember correctly and the information I've gathered online that has the latest firmware.
 
onions said:
i ask because the height of the samsung drive is only 7mm instead of the usual 9.5mm of 2.5" drives. so they package their ssds in two ways: one with a desktop kit, and one with a laptop kit. the desktop kit comes with a mounting bracket for a 3.5" drive bay. the laptop kit comes with one to make the 7mm drive taller to fit more snugly in a laptop. i was hoping someone who's installed a samsung drive could tell me if the laptop kit was necessary for the height-increasing bracket.
Click to expand...

I did not use the spacer at all and have not read of anyone needing it either. I got the laptop kit more for the little SATA/USB adapter. The side mount screws on my 830 lined up perfectly as is.

2010, 15" MBP.

- b
 
onions said:
i ask because the height of the samsung drive is only 7mm instead of the usual 9.5mm of 2.5" drives. so they package their ssds in two ways: one with a desktop kit, and one with a laptop kit. the desktop kit comes with a mounting bracket for a 3.5" drive bay. the laptop kit comes with one to make the 7mm drive taller to fit more snugly in a laptop. i was hoping someone who's installed a samsung drive could tell me if the laptop kit was necessary for the height-increasing bracket.
Click to expand...

I supposed you could order the desktop kit - but you'd have a 3.5" bracket left over. Does the desktop kit also come with the SATA to USB cable? (for file transfers)

I order a 256 GB Samsung 830 laptop kit and I've been very happy with it. I'm getting ~500 MB/s reads! :D

See my pictures here: https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/13955986/

The height spacer is not needed. I didn't use it when I installed mine. Once you look at my pics in the above link, it will be clear why. Simply put, there will be some extra headroom above the SSD - and that's it.
 
acejam2k said:
i order a 256 gb samsung 830 laptop kit and i've been very happy with it. I'm getting ~500 mb/s reads! :d
Click to expand...

Similar specs with the M4 the OP is getting:

2011-12-22 06.58.15 pm.png

Like I said. Plenty of success stories regardless of brand. It's the warranty that matters and how quickly the manufacturer takes care of you.
 
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