Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple SSD Owners Unite!
- Thread starter iPhone1
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I don't know about them, but I am, and I don't earn enough money to buy everything that shows up, so at least for me, Apple's SSD is an impossible buy.
Ok, from Newegg:
OCZ 120GB - $327
Corsair 120GB - $285
Patriot 120GB - $290
Intel 80GB - $200
I'm still not seeing how the Apple drives are such a bad buy.
I'm not sure where you are getting your prices. But for the US store, its this:
128GB solid-state drive [Add $350.00]
256GB solid-state drive [Add $800.00]
512GB solid-state drive [Add $1,450.00]
Keep in mind, you also have to factor in your original drive. Apple just gives you the SSD. If you buy your own, you have two drives. You also will most likely have a longer warranty with the 3rd party drive.
128GB solid-state drive [Add $350.00]
256GB solid-state drive [Add $800.00]
512GB solid-state drive [Add $1,450.00]
Keep in mind, you also have to factor in your original drive. Apple just gives you the SSD. If you buy your own, you have two drives. You also will most likely have a longer warranty with the 3rd party drive.
I'm looking at the Macbook Pro 15", either the higher end i5, or the i7. I guess you're looking at the lowest end 13".
Yes, I said that in my post above, a 500GB HD is worth about $70. Even considering that the Apple drive is the better buy.
128GB Intel G2 based SSD for $230 (compared to Apple's $350 without stock drive):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820139135
256GB SF-1222 SSD for $515 (compared to Apple's $800 without stock drive):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820211472
3 Year warranty, and runs loops around Apple drives.
Shall we keep going?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820139135
256GB SF-1222 SSD for $515 (compared to Apple's $800 without stock drive):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820211472
3 Year warranty, and runs loops around Apple drives.
Shall we keep going?
All the above drives have a 3 year warranty. I'll be getting Applecare on my MBP regardless, so the warranty issue is a wash. Do you people actually do any research before posting?
Do people really buy lower quality SSDs for higher prices? Does everyone buy Applecare?
I guess you didn't do your research before posting.
The point is, if you're going to buy a 15" MBP, and Applecare, you pay an extra $200 for the 120GB SSD. It's still $30 cheaper than the cheapest pos 120GB SSD you could find on newegg. You get the same 3 year warranty. You don't have to install the drive, install the OS, or jump through hoops if something ever goes wrong with the drive.
Just so you see what I'm talking about:
128GB solid-state drive [+ R$ 1.050,00] about $500
256GB solid-state drive [+ R$ 2.625,00] about $1300
512GB solid-state drive [+ R$ 4.900,00] about $2500
So err, no. But I do see your point mcfly2. If the prices here were the same as in the US, I would probably buy from Apple as it would be less hassle with Intl. shipping, etc.
128GB solid-state drive [+ R$ 1.050,00] about $500
256GB solid-state drive [+ R$ 2.625,00] about $1300
512GB solid-state drive [+ R$ 4.900,00] about $2500
So err, no. But I do see your point mcfly2. If the prices here were the same as in the US, I would probably buy from Apple as it would be less hassle with Intl. shipping, etc.
For the 15" 2.4 its $300. For the other two versions its $200. SSDs don't perform the same. A quick guide here will help you get up to speed on SSDs. You can read it here:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/2738
'Cheapest POS 120GB'. Once again you prove that your ignorance on the subject. That 'cheapest POS' still outperforms Apple's Toshiba SSDs. It's based on Samsung's controller. Still far ahead of the game compared to Toshiba's drives. If that is a 'POS' to you, whats your Toshiba SSD?
For $250, you can go ahead and go to the top. Sandforce based SSDs:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231378
Toshiba drives are probably in the range of at most half as fast as Sandforce drives. They truly make Toshiba drives look like 'POS'.
So where do you get your information? It seems you just make stuff up until someone presses you with real facts. That MORE expensive Kingston drive you referenced does not outperform the Apple Toshiba drive. 200MB/s read, 110MB/s write for the Kingston, vs 230MB/s read, 180MB/s write for the Toshiba.
So you've convinced me that you can spend more money and get a better performing after market drive. Wow, who would have thought. You've also pointed out a more expensive after market drive that performs worse.
Anyway, I understand that in some cases, the Apple drives are very overpriced. But in some cases they are not, so you can't just make a blanket statement that all Apples SSD's "are a ripoff".
All of you are forgetting one extremely important factor in choosing the right SSD for an OSX based system. Degradation over time.
Let me break it down for you... Apple and most after market SSD manufacturers will provide you a drive that's 128GB, 256GB, or 512GB. That's the maximum available capacity of the drive, and all of that is available for a consumer to use.
In a perfect world that's great, but in OSX world without native "TRIM" support, that means that your drive will have 0% of the drive dedicated for the over provisioning firmware that will take care of Block Management and Wear Leveling that causes degradation of your SSD over time.
Well that's why brands like OWC (besides using SandForce controlled SSD's) Over provisions at least 7% which makes a 128GB drive 120Gb, or leading standard whopping 28% which makes your 128Gb drive 100GB usable drive, but they guarantee that you will have NO DEGRADATION over 5 years. Not only the drive is fast out of the box, but it stays that way well for me for over a year.
Not to mention those guys are known for prioritizing Apple users and creating solutions for them.
Just my 2cents.
Let me break it down for you... Apple and most after market SSD manufacturers will provide you a drive that's 128GB, 256GB, or 512GB. That's the maximum available capacity of the drive, and all of that is available for a consumer to use.
In a perfect world that's great, but in OSX world without native "TRIM" support, that means that your drive will have 0% of the drive dedicated for the over provisioning firmware that will take care of Block Management and Wear Leveling that causes degradation of your SSD over time.
Well that's why brands like OWC (besides using SandForce controlled SSD's) Over provisions at least 7% which makes a 128GB drive 120Gb, or leading standard whopping 28% which makes your 128Gb drive 100GB usable drive, but they guarantee that you will have NO DEGRADATION over 5 years. Not only the drive is fast out of the box, but it stays that way well for me for over a year.
Not to mention those guys are known for prioritizing Apple users and creating solutions for them.
Just my 2cents.
BRAVO!!! Well researched and well said! THIS boys and girls, after reading the bliss of performance SSD's have over spindled HDD we should ALL consider before arguing price for our Mac's!!
SSD issue
I have a 128gb OCZ SSD. About six months old.
Yesterday it corrupted. Disk Utility said it needed to be repaired but couldn't repair it and recommended that I reinstall OSX and data from backup.
I think it may just be a one off issue but are there any setting or things I shod do differently now that my MBP has a SSD as opposed to having a normal hd?
Thanks in advance
I have a 128gb OCZ SSD. About six months old.
Yesterday it corrupted. Disk Utility said it needed to be repaired but couldn't repair it and recommended that I reinstall OSX and data from backup.
I think it may just be a one off issue but are there any setting or things I shod do differently now that my MBP has a SSD as opposed to having a normal hd?
Thanks in advance
Once again, I'd like to point you to this website so that you can further your knowledge about SSDs.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/2738
Pointing out irrelevent stats like sequential speeds is just showing your uninformed position.
RULE NUMBER 1.
Never pay for apple to upgrade parts you can do yourself, Apple makes billions out of people who knows nothing about computers and steve jobs thinks your an idiot hippy who cant use google.
RULE NUMBER 2
Never pay full price for a mac. Get the student discount even if your 103 years old.
RULE NUMBER 3
Please try your best to read about computers and how they work etc since people who only use PC's think people who only use macs are slightly thick and slightly more wealthy than the average Windows only user.
So if you can do all those 3 things.
Your macbook pro should look like this
i7 or i5 MBP
8gb RAM, 4gb from apple and 4gb put in your self for £100 instead of £300 from apple.
240GB Sandforce SSD drive, installed yourself and faster and better than anything apple sells. (or other better SSD) Also for £5 you get a 500GB external drive enclosure for storage and backup! using the old HDD from apple.
Case or sleave bought off Ebay for £15 instead of the same one bought from apple store for £30
Windows partition for Bootcamp to play games on because we all know you cant really game on OSX yet.
So if your rocking all that hardware and all that Technology knowledge upstairs to match your pretty much good to go
Never pay for apple to upgrade parts you can do yourself, Apple makes billions out of people who knows nothing about computers and steve jobs thinks your an idiot hippy who cant use google.
RULE NUMBER 2
Never pay full price for a mac. Get the student discount even if your 103 years old.
RULE NUMBER 3
Please try your best to read about computers and how they work etc since people who only use PC's think people who only use macs are slightly thick and slightly more wealthy than the average Windows only user.
So if you can do all those 3 things.
Your macbook pro should look like this
i7 or i5 MBP
8gb RAM, 4gb from apple and 4gb put in your self for £100 instead of £300 from apple.
240GB Sandforce SSD drive, installed yourself and faster and better than anything apple sells. (or other better SSD) Also for £5 you get a 500GB external drive enclosure for storage and backup! using the old HDD from apple.
Case or sleave bought off Ebay for £15 instead of the same one bought from apple store for £30
Windows partition for Bootcamp to play games on because we all know you cant really game on OSX yet.
So if your rocking all that hardware and all that Technology knowledge upstairs to match your pretty much good to go
Since you're the expert, can you please point me to the section that explains where the $225 Kingston drive is is a better value than the $200 Toshiba drive upgrade?
the kingston is the worst of all the current drives so why would you try and compare that one to the Toshiba? Also what size?
If you read back through the thread, I've only been trying to understand why many people have such a low opinion of the Apple drives. I've pointed out that in some configurations, you can upgrade to an Apple 128GB SSD for $200, which doesn't seem like a bad deal. The user Vant referenced this more expensive Kingston drive because it was the closest 3rd party drive in price that he could find to the Apple $200 upgrade. He said that it runs circles around the Apple drive, and I'm asking for some facts that back this up.
Again, I understand that you can spend more money and get a better 3rd party drive. This is obvious. But for $200 the Apple 128GB SSD doesn't seem like a bad deal. Even as a starter drive, you could get the Apple 128GB, and later on get a better 2nd SSD and run 2 drives.
Apple SSD upgrades are not bad, esp for Joe Consumer who has the disposable cash.
Apple provides SSD performance upgrades to people who may typically not bother. In fact, I'm picking a lot wouldn't even know SSDs were available otherwise.
Apple does make a buck on SSDs, and they are not necessarily the fastest on the market, but Apple SSDs will out perform any spinning HDD, thus making them a valid option for those who want it.
Swapping in your own select SSD is easy enough, but does involve the user taking an active interest, including reading up, shopping around installing software and opening up the back of their computer. To those who say that all this is easy, you're right, but a lot of people will disagree. To them, hitting the upgrade button at the point of purchase, even if they know they're getting hit for a price, is still much better/easier than the other.
There are also hidden traps too for those who upgrade. For example, you may need to visit System Pref to redirect the computer to the newly installed SSD before you see the performance gains on start-up.
Apple provides SSD performance upgrades to people who may typically not bother. In fact, I'm picking a lot wouldn't even know SSDs were available otherwise.
Apple does make a buck on SSDs, and they are not necessarily the fastest on the market, but Apple SSDs will out perform any spinning HDD, thus making them a valid option for those who want it.
Swapping in your own select SSD is easy enough, but does involve the user taking an active interest, including reading up, shopping around installing software and opening up the back of their computer. To those who say that all this is easy, you're right, but a lot of people will disagree. To them, hitting the upgrade button at the point of purchase, even if they know they're getting hit for a price, is still much better/easier than the other.
There are also hidden traps too for those who upgrade. For example, you may need to visit System Pref to redirect the computer to the newly installed SSD before you see the performance gains on start-up.
RULE NUMBER 1.
Never pay for apple to upgrade parts you can do yourself, Apple makes billions out of people who knows nothing about computers and steve jobs thinks your an idiot hippy who cant use google.
RULE NUMBER 2
Never pay full price for a mac. Get the student discount even if your 103 years old.
RULE NUMBER 3
Please try your best to read about computers and how they work etc since people who only use PC's think people who only use macs are slightly thick and slightly more wealthy than the average Windows only user.
So if you can do all those 3 things.
Your macbook pro should look like this
i7 or i5 MBP
8gb RAM, 4gb from apple and 4gb put in your self for £100 instead of £300 from apple.
240GB Sandforce SSD drive, installed yourself and faster and better than anything apple sells. (or other better SSD) Also for £5 you get a 500GB external drive enclosure for storage and backup! using the old HDD from apple.
Case or sleave bought off Ebay for £15 instead of the same one bought from apple store for £30
Windows partition for Bootcamp to play games on because we all know you cant really game on OSX yet.
So if your rocking all that hardware and all that Technology knowledge upstairs to match your pretty much good to go
Rule #1, ignore this entire post if you're a business owner as I am. It's not that I don't use the student discount at times, but being a business owner with tax write-offs, discounted products don't do my any justice, the more we can write off the better.
Rule #2, ignore the part of this post that I highlighted if you're an iMac 27" owner. Except for the ram, it's a lot more involved installing upgrade components in an iMac and you risk losing your warranty over it. As I mentioned I'm a business owner, not all of us are nerdy teens or college students who do nothing but Facebook all day while constantly upgrading their computers and who have no financial responsibilities, some of us need to get work done so paying for the manufacturer to preinstall hardware upgrades isn't a rip off and makes perfect sense. I have a degree in electronics and computer science and I can easily build my own computer but as a business owner I need to buy my computers, get them out of the box, turn them on and get my work done, period.
Rule #3, ignore Pandamonia's rule #3. If you have the extra money to buy a Windows license just so you can play some games then read my post for Rule #2.
Rule #1, ignore this entire post if you're a business owner as I am. It's not that I don't use the student discount at times, but being a business owner with tax write-offs, discounted products don't do my any justice, the more we can write off the better.
Rule #2, ignore the part of this post that I highlighted if you're an iMac 27" owner. Except for the ram, it's a lot more involved installing upgrade components in an iMac and you risk losing your warranty over it. As I mentioned I'm a business owner, not all of us are nerdy teens or college students who do nothing but Facebook all day while constantly upgrading their computers and who have no financial responsibilities, some of us need to get work done so paying for the manufacturer to preinstall hardware upgrades isn't a rip off and makes perfect sense. I have a degree in electronics and computer science and I can easily build my own computer but as a business owner I need to buy my computers, get them out of the box, turn them on and get my work done, period.
Rule #3, ignore Pandamonia's rule #3. If you have the extra money to buy a Windows license just so you can play some games then read my post for Rule #2.
Last time I checked, my RAM upgrade in 09 was just as easy to write off as my whole laptop expense. Paying more to Apple doesn't help my finances.
"The more we can write off the better". Tell me. How does spending $300 more than I should help my finances? When I write that $300 off, I get a tax savings of around $100 for that write off. Or, I can just be smart about things and spend $100 and write that off saving about $30 (on top of the $200 you never spent).
This thread is about upgrading SSD's, not ram, okay? I was just using an example to make a point, plus my taxes are different than yours and you if you really knew anything about doing taxes you'd understand that the more money you have to write off the better your chances of raising the threshold to qualify you for larger refund. I don't know what work you do, but I run a business so every bit of write off counts. No need to get all Mr. Serious on me.
Just to mention that replacing HDD and RAM with after market versions does NOT void your warranty. It's in your MBP manual, you can have apple care and walk in with your favorite HDD, they will have to service it.
It's extremely easy to replace a HDD in MBP even if you are a novice.
Just research the net, educate yourself, and make sure you are satisfied after you dump your $300+.
It's extremely easy to replace a HDD in MBP even if you are a novice.
Just research the net, educate yourself, and make sure you are satisfied after you dump your $300+.