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DaftMonk

macrumors member
Original poster
Mar 23, 2008
34
4
United Kingdom
Hey all. I made the leap and ordered a new MacBook Pro, since my old one looks like it went through the Death Star's trash compactor (well okay, not that bad but it's still broke'd). I have a question for y'all: I have around $300 left, and I'm wondering which upgrade would be better: an 8GB RAM upgrade, or a 60GB SSD? Both would be from OWC.

SSD: http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other World Computing/DDMBSSD060/

RAM: http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other World Computing/8566DDR3S8GP/

The SSD is a bit more expensive, but I have a feeling it might be the better upgrade. But I want your input!

Thanks all. :)
 

Corndog5595

macrumors 65816
Jul 16, 2010
1,112
0
You don’t want just an SSD in there. Especially a 60GB one.
I suppose you could get an OptiBay and boot apps and the system from the SSD and store everything else on the hard drive, but that will add 100 bucks to the price.
 

yetanotherdave

macrumors 68000
Apr 27, 2007
1,768
12
Bristol, England
I'm guessing you have 4 gig of ram in there already? I'm in a similar position, definitely SSD for me. No competition there.

You don’t want just an SSD in there. Especially a 60GB one.
I suppose you could get an OptiBay and boot apps and the system from the SSD and store everything else on the hard drive, but that will add 100 bucks to the price.

you can get caddy's exactly like optibay's for 10% of the price on eBay.
$100 is ludicrous for a a drive enclosure.
 

jclardy

macrumors 601
Oct 6, 2008
4,138
4,319
The SSD will benefit everyone...the RAM will depend on what you do.

I am doing a RAM upgrade because I open up some large PSD files that push over the 4GB unless I close all my other apps. The SSD would help because it would be faster than the 5400 while paging but if I am not paging in the first place (With 8GB RAM) I will have better performance.
 

DaftMonk

macrumors member
Original poster
Mar 23, 2008
34
4
United Kingdom
You don’t want just an SSD in there. Especially a 60GB one.
I suppose you could get an OptiBay and boot apps and the system from the SSD and store everything else on the hard drive, but that will add 100 bucks to the price.

Sorry, guess I should have mentioned that. I am planning on dual internals; the link for the SSD includes an optibay.
 

Corndog5595

macrumors 65816
Jul 16, 2010
1,112
0
Okay. I was too lazy to check the link. I just assumed you did your research and selected a good SSD so I didn’t bother to click through.

Okay. What kind of apps do you run. Sometimes you really don’t need more ram. I usually max out at 75%, so I know that I really don’t need more. But anybody running anything will benefit from an SSD.

in 90+% of cases, the SSD is the obvious choice.
 

mulo

macrumors 68020
Aug 22, 2010
2,267
5
Behind you
the only time the SSD makes a difference is when loading apps for the first time off the drive. If you like I rarely turn your mac off the apps will usually stay in the RAM, hence making the extra speed from the SSD kinda meaningless
 

Corndog5595

macrumors 65816
Jul 16, 2010
1,112
0
I believe installing an SSD in a second enclosure (optibay, etc) only voids the SuperDrive warranty.
 

vsighi

macrumors 6502
Jun 22, 2010
413
3
San Diego, CA
Get an SSD...I hope 60 Gb will be enough for you.!? For me 128 Gb SSD was to small.:cool:
__________________
:apple: 15" Macbook Pro 2.66GHz i7Intel, Crucial 512 Gb SSD/8GB Ram.
:apple: iPhone 4 32GB
 

avediswolf

macrumors regular
Jul 23, 2008
190
1
Ohio
Upgrade the RAM and install a Momentus XT with 4GB of "self-learning" SSD-Cache instead of a real SSD, = $310.

If you ordered a 15" or 17" MBP, you'll add the 8GB instead of replacing the existing one, gives you 12GB of RAM, btw. If you want 8GB total, you'll only need 4GB of RAM, leaves you with $210. Add $70 and get your 120GB SSD.

The MBP only has 2 slots for memory. Factory has 2x2GB, so if he gets 2x4GB for 8GB, thats all he will have. The original 2 chips have to come out.
 
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