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best, biggest SSD drive I can put in MBP 4.1, Intel Core 2 Duo?

M

malch

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jan 20, 2008
466
9
Hi there,
I have a MacBook Pro that I bought in 2008. Still works great, but I'd like to give it a bit more pep.
I currently have a 500GB, 7200rmp drive in it, and if I replace it with an SSD, I'd like to get something of equal size.
Are there good 500 (or close to it) SSD options out there for an older MBP like mine?
thanks,
malch
 
I wonder where you can buy a Samsung 830... I've been looking, and can't find it. Is it really new or something?
malch
 
malch said:
I wonder where you can buy a Samsung 830... I've been looking, and can't find it. Is it really new or something?
malch
Click to expand...

Samsung 830 has just been replaced by the 840 and 840 pro, so it is almost sold out. It's a great drive though and on close-out prices.
 
Your MBP doesn't support SATA 6.0, so you can get away with a 3.0 drive.

Any drive, really, would do. It will definitely bring new life to your MBP, but don't expect to push the SSD to the max due to SATA 3.0.

P.S. Samsung 840 (from the reviews) doesn't seem to be much better than the 830. The 840PRO is highly marked.

I would get an SSD that you can afford. Black Friday (If in U.S.) is around the corner, so look out for good online deals from Amazon, NewEgg, etc.

----------
robvas said:
You can get a 512GB M4 for a little over $300
Click to expand...

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ..._Technology_CT512M4SSD2_512GB_m4_SSD_2_5.html

No tax outside of NY
 
SDAVE said:
P.S. Samsung 840 (from the reviews) doesn't seem to be much better than the 830.
Click to expand...

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6328/samsung-ssd-840-pro-256gb-review/2

Anantech's storage bench put the 840 pro at 20% faster than the 830. However the main boost for the 840pro is its increase in random read performance which jumps from 67MB/s (830) to 101MB/s (840pro).

For the purposes of the OP you are right. He probably won't notice the difference between the 2. But if you thrash your laptop with multitasking that eats all its RAM, an increase of 34% in random read performance is hugely useful.
 
Not really. Unless you have some seriously over clocked Quad Core you just cannot produce the load that would require such random reads. Afaik everything past 40MB/s is meaningless on anything but a desktop and even there.
These ultra high speeds only help if you have some multisocket server with 16 cores.

Not getting an SATA 3 drive wouldn't make sense either as there isn't much around to save money and one might want to bring the ssd into a future notebook. The Samsung has the benefit of slightly less power consumption.
 
malch said:
Hi there,
I have a MacBook Pro that I bought in 2008. Still works great, but I'd like to give it a bit more pep.
I currently have a 500GB, 7200rmp drive in it, and if I replace it with an SSD, I'd like to get something of equal size.
Are there good 500 (or close to it) SSD options out there for an older MBP like mine?
thanks,
malch
Click to expand...
You can put as "big" an SSD you want on there so long as your wallet allows it. A SATA connection is still a SATA connection. You'll gain less speed than on a newer machine as they are only SATA I, but you'll still see a big gain.
 
Samsung 830 512, no doubt about it. I have 2 of them in RAID 0.
Although you won't be benefiting from the SATA III speed because your MBP supports a lower one, It's still wise though to buy an 830 towards a SATA II SSD because in future if you decide to buy a new laptop you can transfer the SSD which would be up to date with the newer standard.
 
Last edited:
MaxPower72 said:
Although you won't be benefiting from the SATA III speed because your MBP supports a lower only a lower one, It's still wise though to buy an 830 towards a SATA II SSD because in future if you decide to buy a new laptop you can transfer the SSD which would be up to date with the newer standard.
Click to expand...

If OP is to buy a new laptop later then there may be SATA IV, V ,etc. Maybe there will be 850 which is much faster too.
 
malch said:
Hi there,
I have a MacBook Pro that I bought in 2008. Still works great,
Click to expand...

This might not matter but whatever you buy make sure you have another home for it if you ever buy a new macbook. By then Apple may no longer be offering an "upgradeable" MBP like they do now.
 
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