Best SSD for 13" MBP

[ermir4444]

Hi guys i am looking to upgrade my hard drive to an SSD in my 13" MBP.
My budget is not more than 200 CAD and i would like it to be 60 GB or greater capacity. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I also have a list from the store where i will be getting the drive from.

http://canadacomputers.com/index.ph...id=HDD.859&mfg=all&sort=0&start=20&numPages=4

Thanks in advance guys.

 

[miles01110]

My budget is not more than 200 CAD and i would like it to be 60 GB or greater capacity. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Just so you know, you are going to have a hard time finding something with your budget.

 

[ermir4444]

Just so you know, you are going to have a hard time finding something with your budget.

I found a couple of them

1- OCZ solid series 60 GB - 150 CAD
http://canadacomputers.com/index.php?do=ShowProduct&cmd=pd&pid=020610&cid=HDD.859

2- Patriot Extreme Performance Warp 64GB - 190 CAD
http://canadacomputers.com/index.php?do=ShowProduct&cmd=pd&pid=019725&cid=HDD.859

3- G.Skill Falcon II SATA II 2.5" 64GB - 210 CAD
http://canadacomputers.com/index.php?do=ShowProduct&cmd=pd&pid=027239&cid=HDD.859

4- Kingston SSDNov V+ Drive 64GB - 205 CAD
http://canadacomputers.com/index.php?do=ShowProduct&cmd=pd&pid=025914&cid=HDD.859

5- Kingston SSDNow V-Series 2.5" 64GB - 163
http://canadacomputers.com/index.php?do=ShowProduct&cmd=pd&pid=023919&cid=HDD.859

They are all around 60 gigs and they are within my budget.


Which one would you suggest?

 

[MacKiddyWiddy]

to be quite honest, what are you doing on it, because to me 60gb seems pretty pointless, and the mbps are already fast enough unless you are say encoding movies or constantly moving files larger then 5gb... what is it that you will be doing?

 

[LTX]

to be quite honest, what are you doing on it, because to me 60gb seems pretty pointless, and the mbps are already fast enough unless you are say encoding movies or constantly moving files larger then 5gb... what is it that you will be doing?

SSDs aren't used for either of those tasks. Encoding movies is CPU-bound and requires very little disk activity (even then, it only does sequential reads, which HDDs still excel at). Moving large files is also better on a standard HDD because of their higher sequential read and write speed. He should get an SSD if he wants fast application launches and boots (random read is much better on SSDs), and snappier system response.

 

[ermir4444]

SSDs aren't used for either of those tasks. Encoding movies is CPU-bound and requires very little disk activity (even then, it only does sequential reads, which HDDs still excel at). Moving large files is also better on a standard HDD because of their higher sequential read and write speed. He should get an SSD if he wants fast application launches and boots (random read is much better on SSDs), and snappier system response.

That i exactly what i want it for. Faster boot up and shut down times as well as a snappier responding machine. I do a lot of HD content downloading (dont ask how) and moving them from my current internal drive to my external WD is a pain in the ass and it slows down the system too - like significantly. I upgraded the RAM to 4 GB but i think updating the ssd would make my computer way faster and not so much frustration during the coping and watching 1080p content.

 

[riveting]

Read the guide in anandtech, it is worthwhile to spend a bit more on Intel X25m G2 or OCZ vertex series. Why don't you wait till boxing day, I am sure there will be a deal on SSDs somewhere.
http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.aspx?i=3631&p=1

 

[FieryFurnace]

If you really want to have all benefits from a SSD, get the Intel G2, OCZ Vertex or Agility.

 

[Bonsai71]

That i exactly what i want it for. Faster boot up and shut down times as well as a snappier responding machine. I do a lot of HD content downloading (dont ask how) and moving them from my current internal drive to my external WD is a pain in the ass and it slows down the system too - like significantly. I upgraded the RAM to 4 GB but i think updating the ssd would make my computer way faster and not so much frustration during the coping and watching 1080p content.

The external interface is the limiting factor here, an SSD will not speed that up at all.

Your internal drive can manage 90MB/sec, your external 3.5inch can manage 120MB/sec (if its big), an SSD might manage 240MB/sec (SATA3.0 limit), however, if you are using USB2.0 the max rate is about 35MB/sec and FW800 is maybe 80MB/sec top.

Your external file copy will go at the slowest of all the above speeds, which is generally caused by the interface, not the internal drive.

Boot speed will be faster though, but not all SSD's are created equal, intels X25-E are the very best for speeding up small writes (IOPS), and very expensive.

I'm considering a similar move, but plan to wait at least 8 more months, for the performance to be better on the lower end drives.

 

[kernkraft]

Do you really need SSD?

I understand your problem, but I fear that SSD is not the best solution.

I also have a 13.3" MacBook Pro (and had several other 13.3" MBs, MBAs). I upgraded the memory to 4GB and I also upgraded the HDD. I don't know about your laptop, but mine was already a bit noisy, so I thought that just as well I can install a 7200 rpm HDD. I purchased this one:
ST9320423AS,
http://www.misco.co.uk/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=374485

For £45 (around 72$), I have a very fast HDD. If I put my old one on Ebay, where these basic HDDs sell for around £25, the whole upgrade from a small and slow hard drive to a very fast one cost 20£ (around 32$). That makes sense to me. In the US or Canada, they might be even cheaper. Seagate claims that it draws only 1% more power and is hardly noisier than a standard drive. There is some extra noise, but not that terrible. Alternatively, there are some great HDDs from Western Digital.

With the SSD, however, you would have very small capacity for a lot of money. You could upgrade to SSD in two years' time, when prices will be closer to acceptable. But today, you pay around ten times more for an SSD. Can you really justify that? With HD content, that 64 or 80 GB fills up easily, too. My music collection is more than that on my computer.

From the 4GB upgrade, I assume that you have the basic 2.26 GHz version. I don't mean to be mean, but that machine is pretty slow. I know, because I have the same. For the first time, I bought the cheapest MBP as it was a temporary thing until Apple brings out something decent with a 13.3" matte screen. Then I will get a fast processor and maybe some more expensive options. But until then, I don't see the point of spending a lot of money on this 2.26 GHz machine. That is not to say that it's not worth spending some money on it, in fact the memory upgrade is vital, then perhaps the faster HDD that I was talking about above. But no sensible person puts a V6 in a Corolla. If you want a V6 or V8, then get a proper car first, THEN you can upgrade that.

 

[Artagra]

From that list, the only one I would consider is the Falcon II as it uses an Indilinx Barefoot Eco controller. It's not as fast as the full-blood Indilinx based drives (OCZ Vertex, original G.Skill Falcon, etc) but it's quicker than the Micron based drives.

Otherwise, I'd *seriously* consider waiting a bit and getting either the Intel 80gb or the Falcon 64gb: http://canadacomputers.com/index.php?do=ShowProduct&cmd=pd&pid=024472&cid=HDD.859

 

[ermir4444]

I understand your problem, but I fear that SSD is not the best solution.

I also have a 13.3" MacBook Pro (and had several other 13.3" MBs, MBAs). I upgraded the memory to 4GB and I also upgraded the HDD. I don't know about your laptop, but mine was already a bit noisy, so I thought that just as well I can install a 7200 rpm HDD. I purchased this one:
ST9320423AS,
http://www.misco.co.uk/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=374485

For £45 (around 72$), I have a very fast HDD. If I put my old one on Ebay, where these basic HDDs sell for around £25, the whole upgrade from a small and slow hard drive to a very fast one cost 20£ (around 32$). That makes sense to me. In the US or Canada, they might be even cheaper. Seagate claims that it draws only 1% more power and is hardly noisier than a standard drive. There is some extra noise, but not that terrible. Alternatively, there are some great HDDs from Western Digital.

With the SSD, however, you would have very small capacity for a lot of money. You could upgrade to SSD in two years' time, when prices will be closer to acceptable. But today, you pay around ten times more for an SSD. Can you really justify that? With HD content, that 64 or 80 GB fills up easily, too. My music collection is more than that on my computer.

From the 4GB upgrade, I assume that you have the basic 2.26 GHz version. I don't mean to be mean, but that machine is pretty slow. I know, because I have the same. For the first time, I bought the cheapest MBP as it was a temporary thing until Apple brings out something decent with a 13.3" matte screen. Then I will get a fast processor and maybe some more expensive options. But until then, I don't see the point of spending a lot of money on this 2.26 GHz machine. That is not to say that it's not worth spending some money on it, in fact the memory upgrade is vital, then perhaps the faster HDD that I was talking about above. But no sensible person puts a V6 in a Corolla. If you want a V6 or V8, then get a proper car first, THEN you can upgrade that.

Thanks for the post. I agree with you in all the points above and I might wait as well. But upgrading to a bigger HDD which is a bit faster is not worth it as well i shall say. As you said the 2.26 that i have is a relatively slow machine so i wanted something that could boost my performance significantly and a good SSD can do that but i highly doubt a faster DD could have the same impact. But I am going to wait for one more year to give some time to the drives to grow up and get cheaper with greater capacities.

 

[ermir4444]

Thanks for all the answers guys. After some thinking I realized that waiting is the best solution right now. I shall wait till prices drop and capacities increase and then just pull the trigger

 

[Transporteur]

Moving large files is also better on a standard HDD because of their higher sequential read and write speed.

HDDs don't have higher sequential speeds, neither in writing, nor in reading.

Sequential Read Intel G2: 270MB/s (limit of SATA II)
Sequential Write Intel G2: 110MB/s

Other SSDs like the OCZ Vertex have indeed significantly higher writing speeds, little slower reading speeds though.

A single SSD has about 100% better sequential speeds than the fastest HDDs you can get.
Even the fastest 2TB drives level off at about 140MB/s.