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13" MacBook Pro Upgrade, how's it look?

M

MilkMan4

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 22, 2011
150
0
It's fine, but I'd recommend getting an 8GB kit for the RAM instead of two individual 4GB sticks. It's a bit cheaper, and the RAM is matched (when you order individual sticks, they may, for example, have different brands of memory flash memory on the RAM, even though it's the same part number). Go with this G.Skill kit - I have it and it's been working perfectly.

Also, why not go with a SATA-III SSD since your computer supports it?
 
i havent really seen a sata III ssd out there that i havent heard somewhere people saying problems about it. like the vector 3 and intel 510 and owc with all the sandforce stuff. unless you know that any of these or others work as well as what i've heard about the samsung or an intel 320
 
also, i'm questioning even doing the ram, because i just don't know if 8gb will even benefit me. I'm not a gamer and i don't do hardcore editing stuff like that.
 
MilkMan4 said:
also, i'm questioning even doing the ram, because i just don't know if 8gb will even benefit me. I'm not a gamer and i don't do hardcore editing stuff like that.
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4GB is probably enough. It's certainly enough for me, at least 99% of the time, so the upgrade isn't really worth it to me. If you don't notice slowdowns now, I wouldn't bother with it.
 
MilkMan4 said:
also, i'm questioning even doing the ram, because i just don't know if 8gb will even benefit me. I'm not a gamer and i don't do hardcore editing stuff like that.
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Probably not then. If you put a list of what you actually use mac for, then some people could advise you.
 
MilkMan4 said:
i havent really seen a sata III ssd out there that i havent heard somewhere people saying problems about it. like the vector 3 and intel 510 and owc with all the sandforce stuff. unless you know that any of these or others work as well as what i've heard about the samsung or an intel 320
Click to expand...

There's always people who have problems with these drives, but the problems aren't design problems - in other words if it works, like 99% of them do, then it'll work fine. I bought one of the first Vertex 3's on release day and haven't had a single problem yet. A lot of other people on this board also have flawless Vertex 3's, so if I was going to recommend one based on my own experience, it would have to be that. Also, being that OSX doesn't support TRIM on non-OEM drives, I would recommend against Intel SSDs since they rely heavily on TRIM for garbage collection. Sandforce is much better in that regard.
 
I just use my mac for stuff like itunes, safari, photo editing, imovie, garage band the occasional game, and nothing that is really super hardcore past photoshop or imovie i guess. I mean i have a lot of them open at a time, but none are that insane.

and if lion does come with trim support i think i might get the intel 510 series. but i've also seen the OWC mercury pro 6g. I heard that the samsungs have good garbage collection too
 
MilkMan4 said:
I just use my mac for stuff like itunes, safari, photo editing, imovie, garage band the occasional game, and nothing that is really super hardcore past photoshop or imovie i guess. I mean i have a lot of them open at a time, but none are that insane.

and if lion does come with trim support i think i might get the intel 510 series. but i've also seen the OWC mercury pro 6g. I heard that the samsungs have good garbage collection too
Click to expand...

If that's all you do, why an SSD then? I just did an 8GB RAM and 500GB HDD upgrade in mine, and as fast as SSD's are, I still feel like they're more for people doing HD video editing where the video is just too big to fit in RAM. Not to mention they're small. Have you considered a Hybrid drive?
 
SSD = faster boot times, faster app launches, faster wake from sleep/hibernation, and the lost goes on..those sound like things that anyone would want.
 
DWBurke811 said:
SSD = faster boot times, faster app launches, faster wake from sleep/hibernation, and the lost goes on..those sound like things that anyone would want.
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Most of the apps people use everyday are tiny, Chrome opens instantly for me, boot time speeds up by a few seconds for that once a week I reboot. Sleep/hibernate? that's instantaneous on my HDD.

The cost is nuts to only get those few benefits, on top of limiting your internal storage.
 
DWBurke811 said:
SSD = faster boot times, faster app launches, faster wake from sleep/hibernation, and the lost goes on..those sound like things that anyone would want.
Click to expand...

My computer goes weeks at a time without rebooting, so boot time is irrelevant to me.

Waking from sleep has always been instant for me, and I've got a platter HD, I don't think an SSD helps anything here.

Faster app launches? Yeah, maybe, but I'm not in such a hurry that 5 seconds off an app launch will benefit me much...

The list goes on for me too: basically, not enough benefits for the price.
 
boot faster, launch apps faster, battery power, runs cooler, quiet....
 
If you think they're too expensive, that's one thing. To say they don't have numerous benefits over platter HDs is wrong. If money was no issue, there would not be a single person without a SSD.
 
DWBurke811 said:
If you think they're too expensive, that's one thing. To say they don't have numerous benefits over platter HDs is wrong. If money was no issue, there would not be a single person without a SSD.
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There are definite advantages, but nearly as many disadvantages, I still can't get over the fewer rewrites before a block is unreadable and must be skipped over. HDD's last longer and are generally more reliable, with higher capacities.

pazz said:
Its quieter. You dont hear the HDD spinning up if you run solely with SSD.
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I never hear my HDD spin up, Apple stock drive or this new 7200rpm one. I have to press my ear to the aluminum to hear it.
 
Currently, my computer is an HP desktop. I'm on it right now.
Want to hear the specs?
Windows XP Home
Intel Pentium 4 3.06GHz
1016MB RAM (4x256mb)
Some Intel Graphics card with 128mb memory (I never put in my ATI Radeon one :(
160 GB SATA 7200 rpm HDD

care to share thoughts on my powerhouse machine? :)
 
MilkMan4 said:
Currently, my computer is an HP desktop. I'm on it right now.
Want to hear the specs?
Windows XP Home
Intel Pentium 4 3.06GHz
1016MB RAM (4x256mb)
Some Intel Graphics card with 128mb memory (I never put in my ATI Radeon one :(
160 GB SATA 7200 rpm HDD

care to share thoughts on my powerhouse machine? :)
Click to expand...

If you added 1GB of RAM it would be as fast as your average office desktop.
 
Nuckinfuts said:
There are definite advantages, but nearly as many disadvantages, I still can't get over the fewer rewrites before a block is unreadable and must be skipped over. HDD's last longer and are generally more reliable, with higher capacities.
Click to expand...

Yeah. that's a real problem for me too. If my drive is going to start slowing down in 30 years - screw that! I'd rather stay with my much slower HDD that will die from a head crash well before that time.

/s
 
awer25 said:
Yeah. that's a real problem for me too. If my drive is going to start slowing down in 30 years - screw that! I'd rather stay with my much slower HDD that will die from a head crash well before that time.

/s
Click to expand...

lol it's just not cost effective yet for me, in 3 years or so when this MBP dies, I'll probably go SSD. It's just all about letting the technology mature, like why I'm not bummed my MBP doesn't have Thunderbolt.
 
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