Apple BTO SSD vs third-party SSD in SATA 1.5 MBP

[reggiegu]

Hi. New forum member here with a question....

Given the SATA 1.5 downgrade in post-WWDC Macbook Pros, are there significant real-life benefits (as opposed to stats on benchmarks) of third-party SSDs such as Intel or OCZ Vertex over BTO SSDs from Apple?

From the standpoint of a newly 'switched' PC --> Apple user, would this benefit outweigh the comfort of purchasing a single product completely covered under warranty by Apple and guaranteed to consist of compatible parts?

On a related note, can BTO Macbooks be serviced in brick-and-mortar Apple retail stores? And has anyone experienced problems/resistance from Apple in the servicing of macbooks upgraded with third-party components?

Thanks.

 

[friareunuch]

I'm going to be buying the new MBP soon, and I will be putting in an intel x25-m. All this noise with the 1.5 SATA is pointless IMO, as far as normal activities go. For a boot/app launcher drive, the intel will still destroy just about anything else.

I hear what you're saying about the peace of mind of having a machine that's 100% covered, but everything I've read about the latest revision of the x25 mentions excellent reliability (much better than the crap HDDs in the standard MBPs), so it's not likely that the SSD will be the component that fails. Putting it in yourself does NOT void the warranty, it's just not covered by Apple. (but it is, by intel)

Anyway, it's a lot of money, but spending $315 on the intel is a MUCH better value than the $300 processor upgrade or the 8gb RAM upgrade even.

I'm no expert, but I've done a TON of reading on this, made numerous forum posts, and talked to a few pros, and everything points to the x25 as the way to go.

 

[qpid]

Apple does fix things in store btw: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6izXkHns_ww

 

[macat]

I'm going to be buying the new MBP soon, and I will be putting in an intel x25-m. All this noise with the 1.5 SATA is pointless IMO, as far as normal activities go. For a boot/app launcher drive, the intel will still destroy just about anything else.

I hear what you're saying about the peace of mind of having a machine that's 100% covered, but everything I've read about the latest revision of the x25 mentions excellent reliability (much better than the crap HDDs in the standard MBPs), so it's not likely that the SSD will be the component that fails. Putting it in yourself does NOT void the warranty, it's just not covered by Apple. (but it is, by intel)

Anyway, it's a lot of money, but spending $315 on the intel is a MUCH better value than the $300 processor upgrade or the 8gb RAM upgrade even.

I'm no expert, but I've done a TON of reading on this, made numerous forum posts, and talked to a few pros, and everything points to the x25 as the way to go.

I just bought the new 13" MBP and have been playing with it for a few days. It is a great machine, probably one of the best apple laptops to date. I also just upgraded the laptop with the Intel x25-m SSD drive. From a normal user perspective(my wife), who only surfs the web, there is no speed difference. I notice that it boots quicker and feels a bit snappier(maybe because my wallet is lighter), but otherwise the entry level 13" mbp is plenty fast.

So, IMHO, if you don't care about the SATA issue then save your money because it is not really worth the cost, currently.

just my $0.02...

 

[Unprocessed1]

I just bought the new 13" MBP and have been playing with it for a few days. It is a great machine, probably one of the best apple laptops to date. I also just upgraded the laptop with the Intel x25-m SSD drive. From a normal user perspective(my wife), who only surfs the web, there is no speed difference. I notice that it boots quicker and feels a bit snappier(maybe because my wallet is lighter), but otherwise the entry level 13" mbp is plenty fast.

So, IMHO, if you don't care about the SATA issue then save your money because it is not really worth the cost, currently.

just my $0.02...

Hmm...the average user should see huge differences with boot times/app loading, and overall speed

 

[qubex]

I currently own a mid-2007 15.4" MacBookPro with a 7200 RPM HD that runs on a SATA-1 bus.

I've just ordered a 13" MacBookPro with the 256GB SSD option.

At the very least, I won't lose any performance compared to my current machine, and overall, the machine should be much "snappier" with the SSD, even if the interface is artificially capped at 1.5 Gbps.

Personally, I'm expecting the cap to be removed in an (imminent) firmware update, and therefore I'm not particularly concerned. But as I said, at the worst, I'll still be better off than I am now. It's a minimax.

 

[NATO]

Hmm...the average user should see huge differences with boot times/app loading, and overall speed

Absolutely, I went from a WD Caviar Black 1TB HDD in my iMac to an OCZ Vertex SSD 120GB and the difference is night and day, it's like a whole new machine in terms of how snappy everything is.