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2011 MBP SSD+External or HDD

J

Jeremy08

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 27, 2008
151
0
So I am about to order a new 2011 MBP 2.2 (i think 2.2, still haven't decided but leaning towards 2.2) and I am trying to decide which hard drive to use.

It sounds like people are saying that its best to mount an ssd in the main bay in the 2011 mbp's because of the Sata III capabilities not being present in the optical.

If i went that route, I dont think id put am HDD in the optical because of the lack of the shock protection.

I would probably go with an external firewire hard drive to store my music/movies/tv.

Has anyone gone this route? What have others done with their 2011 MBP?
Does anyone konw if you can stream media from an external, for example to a PS3?

For those of you who don't suggest this route, what would you do? Is a 7200rpm hdd in the main bay enough for speed?

Thoughts?
 
Don't be fooled by the SATA 6Gb/s issue. You can still run an SSD fine in the ODD and 99.9% of the time, you won't notice the difference between 3Gb/s and 6Gb/s. Besides, most of the SATA 6Gb/s SSDs suffer from severe issues so I wouldn't recommend them in the first place, you are better off with a reliable (and cheaper) SATA 3Gb/s SSD, such as Samsung 470 Series.
 
Jeremy08 said:
So I am about to order a new 2011 MBP 2.2 (i think 2.2, still haven't decided but leaning towards 2.2) and I am trying to decide which hard drive to use.

It sounds like people are saying that its best to mount an ssd in the main bay in the 2011 mbp's because of the Sata III capabilities not being present in the optical.

If i went that route, I dont think id put am HDD in the optical because of the lack of the shock protection.

I would probably go with an external firewire hard drive to store my music/movies/tv.

Has anyone gone this route? What have others done with their 2011 MBP?
Does anyone konw if you can stream media from an external, for example to a PS3?

For those of you who don't suggest this route, what would you do? Is a 7200rpm hdd in the main bay enough for speed?

Thoughts?
Click to expand...

I tried an SATA III drive in my new MBP 2011 13" from Plextor (128 GB) and it was messed up...I returned it and got an OCZ agility II and it works like a dream. I decided to keep my superdrive in case i ever do need to use a cd/dvd lol.
 
bb426 said:
Keep watching out for sales... they have them frequently.
Click to expand...

I got's me a Vertex 3 :D, so I'm not really interested in a 470 :rolleyes:.

I just found it odd that they went up in price; but you're right, with how many sales/deals NewEgg has, it's not like anything really has a "normal" price.
 
So what is the optimal/most economical route for someone who needs about 500gb of storage, at least as far as a hard drive is concerned? Does it seem reasonable to mount a HDD in the optical bay and have apple preinstall a 120 in the main bay?

Or should i just hold off on ssd's for now and just get a 7200rpm 500gb preinstalled in the main bay?

What would you do, have you done with the new MBP's?
 
Jeremy08 said:
What would you do, have you done with the new MBP's?
Click to expand...

I chose between the maxed out 13" model with 256 GB SSD and the 15" with a 500 GB 7200 rpm HDD. In the end, I went for the 15", even though it was $20 more.

What did I get instead of that 256 GB SSD?

- 2.2 GHz quad core i7
- 244 GB extra space
- 8 GB 1600 MHz RAM
- 2" larger screen, at 1680x1050 instead of 1280x800, and without that annoying piece of glass.
- 1 GB discrete graphics
- a "subwoofer". Wohoo! ;)
- reduced battery life and increased risk of dorsalgia. Doh!

To me, this indicates that SSDs are not worth the price yet, but in the end I guess it depends on if disc read/write speeds are critical to your work (or mental health).

Once SSD prices drop to sane levels, I'll get an optibay for the HDD, and a SSD that is cheaper, faster, and more reliable than the current models :D
 
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