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"Apple" SSD or Intel X-25 SSD?

J

JGeorge07

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 16, 2009
26
0
So, I've been doing a lot of reading for about a week or so, snd thought I'd see what you all have to say. I'm planning to buy a top of the line 15" MBP in a week or two (2.8cpu, SSD). The only thing is, I've noticed the Intel X-25 SSD is on Amazon for $499 and the SSD upgrade at Apple is $500. So I'm looking at the same price and wondering if anyone has seen a comparison or anything like that?

Would the gains from upgrading to the X-25 be pretty substantial over the Samsung drive that Apple ships?

And also, and this is the big reason I'm asking on this site, is there anything to installing the X-25 if I order it? I don't tinker with hardware much, but I know the new MBP is designed for easy consumer access to the HDD. Is it as easy as it sounds to install?

If I order the Intel SSD from amazon, do I pretty much just plug it in and install Leopard, or is there more to it than that?

One last thing, the 80gb vs 128gb doesn't bother me much. I never use more than about 30gb on my computer anyway.

Any help would be appreciated!

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001F4YIYY
 
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Unless there's a significant performance difference, I'd go with the Apple upgrade for one major reason: The SSD would be covered by Apple's Warranty and AppleCare, where a 3rd party drive wouldn't.
 
If you have the money X-25 hands down, it smokes the Apple one.
 
The Intel X-25 is the fastest one available right now I think. Samsung was supposed to have a super fast 250GB SSD coming out soon, and SanDisk also recently announced "the fastest SSDs", but they're probably not out for a few months.
 
I hate to crash the party, but you will be unable to use it with bootcamp. There is a confliction with it and the current EFI on the MBP.

I have one a it's stupid fast! I wish Apple would get on it and fix this issue. My iMac 3.06 works flawlessly with it.
 
Maven1975 said:
I hate to crash the party, but you will be unable to use it with bootcamp. There is a confliction with it and the current EFI on the MBP.

I have one a it's stupid fast! I wish Apple would get on it and fix this issue. My iMac 3.06 works flawlessly with it.
Click to expand...

Do you know of a site that explains this conflict. I was planning on getting one from Intel, but I NEED boot camp.
 
I guess nobody has commented on the fact that you can't buy the MBP with no hard drive. If the cost of upgrading the SSD is the same as making the MBP come with an SSD and the intel one seems a better option then i say go for it. If you buy that SSD seperately then you also get the normal hard drive that comes with the MBP which i assume with a little equipment you can use as an external hard drive therefore giving you two hard drives (one SSD) for the same cost ;)

Maybe for some people this could mean replacing the superdrive with a hard drive if they don't need it (i think it is possible with the latest macbooks)
 
I have the intel x25-m 80gb model and its hands down the fastest thing I've ever used on any type of harddrive.

And I came from a 2.8ghz 8 core mac pro, 16gb of ram and a 150gb raptor hdd as boot drive and hands down this 2.53ghz macbook pro with the intel x25-m SSD drive is faster!

All I can say is that those reviews are 100% accurate and just get it! You wont regret it.
 
You can use it with a regular VM - which from what I've heard is pretty fast, as the HDD is all SDD.

Anyone have any comments on perf of a VM on a SSD?

Thanks,
Dan
 
louden said:
You can use it with a regular VM - which from what I've heard is pretty fast, as the HDD is all SDD.

Anyone have any comments on perf of a VM on a SSD?

Thanks,
Dan
Click to expand...

I use vmware fusion with windows vista to play party poker and run a few apps.

Suspending vmware fusion takes 3 seconds and resuming takes 3-4 seconds and once its up and running (even with only 512mb RAM attributed to it) it never lags and responsive as hell. I didnt even know that I only have 512mb of RAM attributed to vmware fusion and it feels like it has 4gb of RAM to it!
 
Maven1975 said:
I hate to crash the party, but you will be unable to use it with bootcamp. There is a confliction with it and the current EFI on the MBP.

I have one a it's stupid fast! I wish Apple would get on it and fix this issue. My iMac 3.06 works flawlessly with it.
Click to expand...
I'm waiting for a bigger cheaper SSD, bootcamp is not a deciding factor... There are no Windows cooties on my Mac :D
 
I would personally go for the Intel one, but of course I would also only go for the E-version AKA with SLC flash.
 
alphaod said:
I would personally go for the Intel one, but of course I would also only go for the E-version AKA with SLC flash.
Click to expand...

Why would you want the SLC flash only? The price is too much for a 32gb model. If you look at all the comparison charts the x25m (MLC) has a little bit faster read and it has a sustained 79 mb/s write.

Sure the SLC has a write of 100 mb/s but the intel x25-m still has a faster write time in most cases than even a velociraptor!

Anyways if your reason for an SLC SSD drive is of life span the intel x25-m can write more than 100GB per day for 5 years..

The intel x25-m can clearly last 15+ years for me so life span isnt an issue whatsoever, unless your running a huge server.

All I can say is wow this is the best upgrade I've ever made since 3d graphics!!

Also transfering 4.3gb to my 1tb external seagate hdd from the intel x25-m takes 45 seconds via fw800! Now this is what I call true speeds.

Also my current setup with the intel x25-m is faster in overall OS speed than I can remember with the 2.8ghz 8 core mac pro with 16gb of ram + 150gb raptor drive, it blows the mind!
 
I have a Unibody MBP with a X-25M in it and I'm happy. Just don't use WDE on it otherwise you'll notice a pretty big performance hit.

Otherwise in general the machine definately feels faster with Intel's drive.

QUOTE=huussi;6945285]I found this on Xtremesystems.

Someone compared the X25-M performance to the Apple SSD.

The Intel seems to be much faster.

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=208896

I ordered a X25-M for my early 2008 mbp, and waiting for it to arrive :D[/QUOTE]
 
Heres a thought.. and is my current solution. Use the SSD drive for OSX and replace the CD/DVD drive with the standard HD drive for Bootcamp/Storage.
 
I've made up my mind to go with the X-25. Now Amazon has the 160gb version for about $900. It's a lot of money, I know, but the I can keep that drive even if I swap computers down the road or whatever.

So once I install the SSD, I just pop in the Leopard DVD and install like new right? Do I have to do anything out of the ordinary at all to install a fresh copy? I've performed clean installs of OS X before, but always on a drive that already had the OS on it.
 
JGeorge07 said:
I've made up my mind to go with the X-25. Now Amazon has the 160gb version for about $900. It's a lot of money, I know, but the I can keep that drive even if I swap computers down the road or whatever.

So once I install the SSD, I just pop in the Leopard DVD and install like new right? Do I have to do anything out of the ordinary at all to install a fresh copy? I've performed clean installs of OS X before, but always on a drive that already had the OS on it.
Click to expand...

I must warn you though, one drawback of the intel x25-m and the only drawback is that you CANNOT install windows via bootcamp or any other method.

Since I dont need windows I knew this beforehand and made the jump. I use vmware fusion to run a few programs so it doesnt matter to me but it might for people who wants to game.

I think you should opt for the $499 for the intel x25-m because it is expensive but its not like its costing you an arm and a leg for the performance. Also 80gb is plenty of space, with leopard and microsoft office and all my apps with vmware fusion installed, I still have 53GB of free space and I just keep everything in my 1TB HDD.

Anyway, I figured I'll use my intel for the next 1.5-2.5 years and once the SLC versions of whatever brand comes out with even double or tripple of the intel's performance in read/write, I'd just sell my current intel SSD drive for something like $250 and lose only about $250 to upgrade to the next best thing instead of losing a lot more for paying almost $1k right now.
 
JGeorge07 said:
I've made up my mind to go with the X-25. Now Amazon has the 160gb version for about $900. It's a lot of money, I know, but the I can keep that drive even if I swap computers down the road or whatever.

So once I install the SSD, I just pop in the Leopard DVD and install like new right? Do I have to do anything out of the ordinary at all to install a fresh copy? I've performed clean installs of OS X before, but always on a drive that already had the OS on it.
Click to expand...

Thats all you need. Install the HD, Turn on the MBP, Insert Restore disc 1, Hold down C.

Have fun Baller! Thats a nice ass drive you got there!!!!
 
jjahshik32 said:
I must warn you though, one drawback of the intel x25-m and the only drawback is that you CANNOT install windows via bootcamp or any other method.
Click to expand...

I don't use Windows, but that is something to think about. You never know, I might want to play around with it someday.

Is this something that will be fixed via a patch, or even could be? I would hate to be handcuffed to not trying Boot Camp for the next 3 years, even if I don't see any need for it at the moment.
 
JGeorge07 said:
I don't use Windows, but that is something to think about. You never know, I might want to play around with it someday.

Is this something that will be fixed via a patch, or even could be? I would hate to be handcuffed to not trying Boot Camp for the next 3 years, even if I don't see any need for it at the moment.
Click to expand...

From what when have been able to tell through trouble shooting, it will require an EFI update.

Who knows... the 160GB may work perfectly. We will have to depend on those that buy it for results.
 
Maven1975 said:
From what when have been able to tell through trouble shooting, it will require an EFI update.

Who knows... the 160GB may work perfectly. We will have to depend on those that buy it for results.
Click to expand...

I'm hoping to have the 160 in my hands with the new MBP in about 10 days or so. I don't have a copy of Vista, but maybe I can download the Windows 7 beta and report back.

I wonder if the beta will still be available late next week?
 
Can anybody who has a X-25 in a mac laptop comment on how it affects heat and battery life?
 
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