Another "Is SSD Worth it"

[BrandinoMino]

I want to purchase a 27" iMac next month and was set on the 27" Core i5 with the 1TB HD + 256 SSD option, but got to thinking that I also would like a Macbook/Macbook Pro for my traveling and what not purposes.

So, basically I know that an SSD helps the boot-time dramatically and with opening applications faster...but is it really worth the $750? Because I could just throw that towards a MB/MBP and get it so much quicker.

I have a iMac Core 2 Duo 3.06 GHZ 4GB RAM currently and wish my applications would start up quicker...but not sure if I see spending that much cash on ssd is a real advantage.

I know I'm jumping all over the place with this post but, would upgrading to more RAM do the job for me with an i5 Quad-Core? Or do I just need to be patient and throw down the extra cash for the + SSD option (and maybe be extremely pleased?), then soon after just save up longer for the MBP?

Thanks.

 

[GoDuke1]

The biggest advantage to SSD is, it's less likely to fail due to the lack of moving parts, and it's size. IMO the price they want isn't justified for me to get one yet.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

This question is always best answered with "what is your time worth?", specifically, "what is the time savings in the faster reads at SSD speed vs. hard drive?". If you add up all those differences of seconds over the course of the time you'll be using the new iMac and that number exceeds the cost to add the SSD, then you can justify it. If not, you can't.

I have an iMac with the SSD, but my justification is not so much in how fast it boots (hardly every boots- mostly functions in sleep & wake modes) or in application loading (not that big a deal either, not that many different applications having to be loaded in the day to day). In my case, I work with a lot of big libraries of media, mostly images, which I regularly "read" but rarely "write". I find browsing this media stored on the SSD to be much faster than when it was stored on the HDD. Thus, the time savings in my case adds up pretty quickly.

BUT, if I didn't need to very regularly access big banks of static media, I doubt I could justify the SSD cost vs gain... and I work on my computer about 10+ hours every day.

 

[v604mustangjoe]

Now i know SSD has no moving parts, but i also have read that it can only read and write so many times before it wears out? Has this problem been solved, or is this number much larger than the life-expectancy of a mechanical storage drive?

 

[DanielCoffey]

Excluding the budget SSDs, the majority of the mainstream SSDs have manufacturer's warranties of around 3 years. The higher quality ones have 5+ year warranties. They deal with the problem of "wearing out" by reserving a proportion of memory cells in advance (typically 120Gb of a 128Gb drive is available for the user). When a cell fails a health check, it is taken out of service and one of the reserved cells is put to work in its place.

 

[mjsmke]

I use an SSD as my boot drive so I just have Snow Leopard + Applications. It make a huge difference in the boot time and load time of applications. The Mac feels quicker switching between apps too.

Using it this way wont ware it out quickly at all. Using it as a scratch disk or working drive will.

 

[BrandinoMino]

Thanks guys for the info. I think i've come to terms that the added SSD is not really worth it for me currently. So I'm just gonna put the extra $750 towards a MBP, and maybe in a year or two when the SSD's become cheaper I will sell my iMac and upgrade to that one. Thanks again.