6mb/s or 3mb/s from opti bay? 13" MBP 2012.

[murkeywaters]

Hi all,

I'm a new here and gradually progressing from PC to the world of Apple..and I love it

At the moment I have a mid 2012 MacBook Pro 13" i5 4gb 500gb HDD, basic model but geekbenching at around 6800 standard, I plan a few upgrades and this is where the questions come in and would be most grateful for some techy answers -

I have purchased a Crucial M4 256gb SSD, will this operate at the same read/write speed in the opti drive bay as if I mounted it in the HDD bay?? I ask this question as it seems bit of a gray area whether its 3mb/s or 6mb/s speed dependent on year or 13" or 15" model??

Also I will upgrade the RAM from 4gb to 16gb, is this worth it or should I just go with Apple's suggestion of 8gb?? money is not the issue here as 8 to 16 gb is a few ££ more.
For stability I will buy the Crucial RAM as its 1.35v compared to most other upgrades which are 1.5v

What is the best connector for a hooking up the MBP to a external monitor with dual DVI connections??

Really sorry about all the questions but I'm keen to get my Mac flying but also super reliable so any advice or answers will be very welcome.

 

[simsaladimbamba]

I have purchased a Crucial M4 256gb SSD, will this operate at the same read/write speed in the opti drive bay as if I mounted it in the HDD bay?? I ask this question as it seems bit of a gray area whether its 3mb/s or 6mb/s speed dependent on year or 13" or 15" model??

Go to Finder > Applications (CMD+SHIFT+A) / Utilities (CMD+SHIFT+U) / System Report > Hardware > Serial ATA > optical drive > Link Speed and see for yourself if it is S-ATA 3.0 Gbps (S-ATA II) or S-ATA 6.0 Gbps (S-ATA III).
You could always put the HDD into the optibay, if you only get S-ATA 3.0 Gbps (S-ATA II) speeds there, though you would lose the Sudden Motion Sensor for the HDD.

Also I will upgrade the RAM from 4gb to 16gb, is this worth it or should I just go with Apple's suggestion of 8gb?? money is not the issue here as 8 to 16 gb is a few ££ more.
For stability I will buy the Crucial RAM as its 1.35v compared to most other upgrades which are 1.5v

2011 and 2012 MBPs support 16 GB of RAM using two 8 GB 204-pin DDR3 SO-DIMM RAM modules, I don't remember the correct voltage though.

What is the best connector for a hooking up the MBP to a external monitor with dual DVI connections??

Mini DisplayPort to DVI adapter would do fine.

Mini DisplayPort (MDP) / Thunderbolt

Mini DisplayPort is the current digital standard on all current Macs to transfer video to an external display or TV. It has been introduced in 10/2008 with the release of the Unibody MacBook and MacBook Pros and has gradually been adopted on all other Macs.
MDP is capable of transmitting video, and since 2010, audio too. MDP is a miniaturised version of DisplayPort. It is also license free and can support resolutions of up to 2560 x 1600, which Mini DVI and Micro DVI are not able to do.
Since 2011, all Macs come with a Thunderbolt port, which is meant for fast data transfer and also as means to connect to an external display device to mirror or extend the Mac's screen.

To learn more about Thunderbolt (TB) and its compatibility with Mini DisplayPort (MDP): Introducing Thunderbolt​

MDP adapters and cables can be bought online from:

Apple Online Store (or the physical Apple Store)

• MDP to VGA adapter
• MDP to DVI adapter
• MDP to Dual-Link-DVI adapter
• Moshi Mini DP to HDMI Adapter with Audio Support adapter

Monoprice

• Mini DisplayPort + USB to Dual-Link DVI adapter
• Mini DisplayPort to DVI adapter
• Mini DisplayPort to VGA adapter
• Mini DisplayPort to HDMI adapter
• Mini Displayport Male and USB Male/Toslink Audio to HDMI Female Converting adapter
• Mini Displayport Male and USB Male Audio to HDMI Female Converting adapter - *NOTE* Will only support 2 channel stereo. Will not support 5.1 Dolby Surround like the above adapter.

• Mini DisplayPort to Mini DisplayPort cables
• Mini DisplayPort to VGA cables
• Mini DisplayPort to DVI cables
• Mini DisplayPort to HDMI cables
• Mini DisplayPort to DisplayPort cables

Also of interest: "What is "Mini DisplayPort"? Is it an industry-standard? How is it different from or better than Mini-DVI and Micro-DVI?"
​

from

Most common video interfaces on external computer displays and TVs

Common video interfaces on Macs and the appropriate adapters to connect to other display devices
​

Really sorry about all the questions but I'm keen to get my Mac flying but also super reliable so any advice or answers will be very welcome.

To learn more about Mac OS X: Helpful Information for Any Mac User by GGJstudios​

 

[murkeywaters]

Go to Finder > Applications (CMD+SHIFT+A) / Utilities (CMD+SHIFT+U) / System Report > Hardware > Serial ATA > optical drive > Link Speed and see for yourself if it is S-ATA 3.0 Gbps (S-ATA II) or S-ATA 6.0 Gbps (S-ATA III).
You could always put the HDD into the optibay, if you only get S-ATA 3.0 Gbps (S-ATA II) speeds there, though you would lose the Sudden Motion Sensor for the HDD.

Wow thanks for quick answer,

So having a look at the info you suggested i have this for the opti drive -

Intel 7 Series Chipset:

Vendor: Intel
Product: 7 Series Chipset
Link Speed: 6 Gigabit
Negotiated Link Speed: 1.5 Gigabit

And this for the HDD

Intel 7 Series Chipset:

Vendor: Intel
Product: 7 Series Chipset
Link Speed: 6 Gigabit
Negotiated Link Speed: 3.0 Gigabit

From this i take it that both connections are SATA3= 6mb/s and the Negotiated Link Speed is the speed of the drive connected.

I would like to know if anybody has had a reliability issue with SSD's in the opti drive bay, I ask as its a new MBP with 2 years warrantee and I wouldn't want to devoid it by adding upgrades that could cause hardware issues.