Are SSD's worthwhile purchases without TRIM Support?

[KarmaPolice]

Thanks for the help everyone. I've heard great things about both the MBP and the SSD. Good to hear the lack of TRIM isn't a performance killer. One last question, i guess. Is there any indication that SSD prices will drop before May? It is hard to justify spending the amount they currently cost, even though I know I will love the end result.

 

[tenderidol]

Thanks for the help everyone. I've heard great things about both the MBP and the SSD. Good to hear the lack of TRIM isn't a performance killer. One last question, i guess. Is there any indication that SSD prices will drop before May? It is hard to justify spending the amount they currently cost, even though I know I will love the end result.

There have been some deals on SSDs, but mainly on small(er) sizes (e.g., 40GB, 60GB, 80GB models). You rarely see a good deal on a 160GB Gen2 X25 drive. Since the demand is still high, the prices will most likely hover at the same level. If 160GB Intel is your target, you may get it for cheaper when Intel releases the 320GB version. I only mention this because you said you are OK to wait until September.

 

[tenderidol]

The only reason for the trim command is so the OS can tell the SSD which data blocks are free and ready to be written to. Essentially prolonging the life of the SSD.

Flash chips can only tolerate so many write cycles before they die. Enabling trim on any SSD will make it so the write cycles are spread around the SSD and not confined to any one spot.

So no trim support means that the SSD will wear out more quickly then a SSD with trim enabled.

No it doesn't. No trim support means once the hard drive has been fully utilized there will be a delay in writing of files while the drive deletes the block before writing a new file. This delay causes the slow down. With or without trim your drive will no wear out any quicker.

Also Trim and Wear leveling have nothing to do with one another. Nearly every SSD ont he market has Wear leaveling since day one, Trim on the other hand not so much.

This is an issue that always gets mixed up. Thanks for the clarification for everyone.

 

[ae3265]

My Questions:

1. How large of a hit will most SSD's take without TRIM?
2. Since I don't really need OSX, am I better off buying a similarly equipped Windows system that can support TRIM and save myself some cash anyway?

Ugh, OS X on HDD is better than Windows on anything, IMNSHO.

That being said, many SSD's do have garbage collection firmware these days, so TRIM is not as much at issue. I would not buy Windows solely for TRIM.

OS X on SSD is freaking fantastic! I maintain that since I moved to OS X, I'm much more productive with my computers than I was with Windows. No fiddling around with updates, viruses, virus software, defragging, and all the other crap maintenance and tuning it takes to keep Windows happy. Add SSD to the mix, and I spend most of my time actually using my computer for useful things and very little for maintenance.