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Apollo7011

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 15, 2009
40
0
Why does everybody say the SSD's that apple use are terrible? Is it the read/write speed on them? I'm a little confused, as to why theirs are so bad, vs lets say some from newegg.com what are the differences? Thanks
 

maximus06

macrumors regular
Nov 5, 2007
212
0
Why does everybody say the SSD's that apple use are terrible? Is it the read/write speed on them? I'm a little confused, as to why theirs are so bad, vs lets say some from newegg.com what are the differences? Thanks

You aren't guaranteed an Intel SSD if you order from apple, hence its worthless. Fact: only Intel SSDs are reliable right now.
 

ayeying

macrumors 601
Dec 5, 2007
4,547
13
Yay Area, CA
You aren't guaranteed an Intel SSD if you order from apple, hence its worthless. Fact: only Intel SSDs are reliable right now.

Uh, I don't remember reading anything about Intel SSDs from the OP.

Secondly, Apple uses Samsung or Toshiba(?) brand SSDs, not Intel, ever.

Thirdly, Intel SSDs are FAST. Their reliability is the same as any other SSD. The reliability for SSDs are a bit vague since they're only in the consumer market for a few years. Their real reliability is still being tested.

For the OP, Apple SSDs aren't horrible but their speeds are only ~2x faster then the fastest 7200RPM hard drive compared to Intel SSDs which really just flies away at 4x faster in Read/Write performance.
 

Labaguette

macrumors regular
Feb 21, 2010
151
0
Good ol' Germany
i just got an intel SSD 160GB, because these intel thingys don't have a wear level like other SSDs; they don't necessarily need the TRIM deletion. That's why they're more reliable - btw did you ever see in a test that an intel SSD died? but there were many indilinx-controlled SSDs that failed :D
 

ayeying

macrumors 601
Dec 5, 2007
4,547
13
Yay Area, CA
i just got an intel SSD 160GB, because these intel thingys don't have a wear level like other SSDs; they don't necessarily need the TRIM deletion. That's why they're more reliable - btw did you ever see in a test that an intel SSD died? but there were many indilinx-controlled SSDs that failed :D

Wrong.

Wear-Leveling prevents a certain sector of the SSD to fail prematurely due to a high level of writing. Wear-Leveling makes sure all areas on the SSD are worn out at the same rate so no specific area of the SSD will fail while the other parts are still working. Basically, if it's going to fail, the SSD will fail all together instead of in peices.

TRIM is to tell the SSD controller from the OS which blocks are "erased" and safe to write. But that doesn't matter since OSX doesn't have TRIM.

Intel SSD failures:

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1463831
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=281566
http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/T400-T5...-T400s-and-what-happened-6mo-later/m-p/221530
http://echeng.com/journal/2009/09/10/unibody-macbook-pro-17-and-intel-x25-m-ssd-failure/

etc.

I personally had a SSD fail on me within a week, so it's extremely possible.
 

drummerlondonw3

macrumors 6502a
Feb 10, 2008
542
0
London
You aren't guaranteed an Intel SSD if you order from apple, hence its worthless. Fact: only Intel SSDs are reliable right now.

apple use samsung ssds not intel.

I have a g2 myself and its great, well worth the purchase. Plenty of useful stuff on this forum :)
 

mac8867

macrumors 6502
Apr 5, 2010
457
22
Saint Augustine, FL
I personally use an OCZ vertex, which I specifically chose over the intel because of performance and reliability on the Mac platform. OCZ makes the only SSD on the market specifically designed and tested for Mac OS - and yes, that does make a difference.

With that said, the intel seems to be a very strong drive with lots of happy users. From what I understand, the choice you are looking to make is for a "chipset" --- there are 3 major ones, Intel's, JMicron and Indillix.

OCZ uses the Infillix, Intel clearly uses the Intel. The lower end SSD's use the JMicron controllers. From some reading I did, and I wish I had a link to share, the JMicron's had a LOT of trouble with lockups in the first generation. The problem was solved by putting 2 sets of chips on the controllers - a sort of "poor mans" patch.

This link has a pretty extensive benchmark study on SSD's, but it does not include the Intel - they explain why.
http://www.laptopmag.com/review/storage/high-speed-ssd-shootout.aspx?page=1
 

maximus06

macrumors regular
Nov 5, 2007
212
0
Uh, I don't remember reading anything about Intel SSDs from the OP.

Secondly, Apple uses Samsung or Toshiba(?) brand SSDs, not Intel, ever.

Thirdly, Intel SSDs are FAST. Their reliability is the same as any other SSD. The reliability for SSDs are a bit vague since they're only in the consumer market for a few years. Their real reliability is still being tested.

For the OP, Apple SSDs aren't horrible but their speeds are only ~2x faster then the fastest 7200RPM hard drive compared to Intel SSDs which really just flies away at 4x faster in Read/Write performance.

Wrong. Intel SSDs are some of the slowest in the industry, yet they are the only commercially available option that has proven to be reliable (X-25 G2).

Wether apple will choose to use them or not I do not know, but the fact that you aren't guaranteed (or like you said, not even an option) an Intel SSD makes ordering an SSD from Apple a complete waste of money.
 

wheelhot

macrumors 68020
Nov 23, 2007
2,082
269
Or you can always check out OWC SSDs which seem to have been getting good reviews.
 

JoshGlzBrk

macrumors 6502a
Aug 27, 2009
760
15
Uh, I don't remember reading anything about Intel SSDs from the OP.

Secondly, Apple uses Samsung or Toshiba(?) brand SSDs, not Intel, ever.

Thirdly, Intel SSDs are FAST. Their reliability is the same as any other SSD. The reliability for SSDs are a bit vague since they're only in the consumer market for a few years. Their real reliability is still being tested.

For the OP, Apple SSDs aren't horrible but their speeds are only ~2x faster then the fastest 7200RPM hard drive compared to Intel SSDs which really just flies away at 4x faster in Read/Write performance.

The samsung drives that come with the macbooks if they are the pm800 series are faster than the Intels....


The X25-M reads up to 250MB/s and writes up to 150MB/s.

The Samsungs read up to 220MB/s and write up to 200MB/s.


Faster write speed pretty much overrides the small gap in read speed.
 

Ice Dragon

macrumors 6502a
Jun 16, 2009
989
20
Oy vey! Another SSD topic that sends me into confusion. I've heard Apple is bad but Intel is good and Intel is bad but Apple is good.

I saw the Anandtech chart and I thought... the Intel drive ranked quite well overall. Am I wrong?

I have heard good things about OWC as well, but for a Mac newbie like myself who wants something good. I should get myself an X-25M G2 right?
 

jimbowdang

macrumors newbie
Jan 23, 2010
6
0
Sequential read and write speeds are only one small part of the equation. Where the Intel drives really kill is in random reads and writes which has a higher impact on real world usage.
 

ayeying

macrumors 601
Dec 5, 2007
4,547
13
Yay Area, CA
The samsung drives that come with the macbooks if they are the pm800 series are faster than the Intels....


The X25-M reads up to 250MB/s and writes up to 150MB/s.

The Samsungs read up to 220MB/s and write up to 200MB/s.


Faster write speed pretty much overrides the small gap in read speed.

But they aren't. They max out around 150MB/s for both read and write.
 

mac8867

macrumors 6502
Apr 5, 2010
457
22
Saint Augustine, FL
Oy vey! Another SSD topic that sends me into confusion. I've heard Apple is bad but Intel is good and Intel is bad but Apple is good.

I saw the Anandtech chart and I thought... the Intel drive ranked quite well overall. Am I wrong?

I have heard good things about OWC as well, but for a Mac newbie like myself who wants something good. I should get myself an X-25M G2 right?

Yes, or an OXC Vertex. These threads always go the same way... everyone posts their xbench numbers and points to the same links. It always comes down to two drives, the intel and the ocz. It will not matter which you choose, you will be amazed.... and just think, once you install one you can join the threads about the missing "trim" feature .....
 

Ice Dragon

macrumors 6502a
Jun 16, 2009
989
20
I'll deal without the TRIM honestly. I would rather have a cool and quiet drive than a hot and mechanical one even without the cost of speed.
 
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