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Cant decide which one to get

U

upper

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 2, 2009
17
0
So my choices are between Macbook Pro 13" and a Macbook Air 13"
I wanted to buy a macbook pro because i thought it would be faster, but i've been reading that it's about the same?
I plan on using garage band, Playing some CS:S, some PC games, using microsoft words, and putting HD videos from my cheap video camera on to the computer and i guess cut it? I'm not really planning on playing games on high performance high quality. just casually. And i read that i had a choice of putting an SSD in the macbook pro's dvd drive place to make it as fast as the macbook air myself? would that void the warranty?


Thanks guys
 
Sorry, let me clarify that again. I meant swap out the DVD drive for the SSD drive or something like that.
 
The MBP offers more upgradeability and more interfaces than the MBA does and if you are okay with a 2kg notebook, I would go with the MBP, it is cheaper even and is almost three times faster than the MBA.
Btw, you can put the SSD into the standard HDD slot and put the old HDD into the ODD slot (OptiBay) and it will not void the warranty. Take a look at iFixIt and its guides.
 
There's a guide to swapping the old HDD with the ODD and placing the SSD in the original slot? I'll check into that. And what do i do with the ODD? is there a way to make it like a superdrive? lol
 
upper said:
There's a guide to swapping the old HDD with the ODD and placing the SSD in the original slot? I'll check into that. And what do i do with the ODD? is there a way to make it like a superdrive? lol
Click to expand...

iFixIt has guides on how to replace the HDD with another HDD or SSD.
If you buy an OptiBay, either MCETech one or another one (lots of threads), there will be instruction on how to do the procedure properly.
And MCETech also includes a caddy for the ODD (Optical Disk Drive). "SuperDrive" is just Apple's name for its ODD.
 
So what will be the benefit of having a SSD?
The startup speed will increase, but will it have any problem loading the other slower hard drive? or will the other hard drive be used like an external hard drive where it just pops up on the screen as just a storage unit.
How is copying files between the drives? will it be fast? or as fast as the slower hard drive allows it?
 
upper said:
So what will be the benefit of having a SSD?
The startup speed will increase, but will it have any problem loading the other slower hard drive? or will the other hard drive be used like an external hard drive where it just pops up on the screen as just a storage unit.
How is copying files between the drives? will it be fast? or as fast as the slower hard drive allows it?
Click to expand...

The SSD has faster sequential and random (important for day to day use) read and write speeds than a normal HDD, and the seek time is 100 times faster than with an HDD, which contributes in more snappiness of the system.

If you get an SSD, use it to store the OS and the applications you use, the HDD can be use to store all your data.
Transfer between the HDD and SSD will be limited by the HDD's speed, thus 75 to 100+ MB/s.
The HDD in the OptiBay will show up as internal HDD.
 
Placing an optibay in the MBP doesn't void the warranty? I would think it would but maybe I'm wrong. I guess you could always place the SD back in if you needed to take it in for an Applecare issue and they would never know.
 
acedickson said:
Placing an optibay in the MBP doesn't void the warranty? I would think it would but maybe I'm wrong. I guess you could always place the SD back in if you needed to take it in for an Applecare issue and they would never know.
Click to expand...

As you don't damage the computer, hopefully, you will not void the warranty.
 
I would go with the 13" MBP, throw an SSD in and your machine is much more powerful and at a similar price.

simsaladimbamba said:
As you don't damage the computer, hopefully, you will not void the warranty.
Click to expand...

Right, but as it's not a user upgradeable/replaceable part wouldn't it make it void? Has anyone taken their MBP in for a problem with an optibay in it? I'm not saying you're wrong but Apple used to be pretty strict unless they've loosened their views a bit.
 
So, which SSD should i get? just ~ 64GB for the OS and the application? any recommendation? and does it void the warranty? I'm kinda confused right now lol :confused:
 
upper said:
So, which SSD should i get? just ~ 64GB for the OS and the application? any recommendation? and does it void the warranty? I'm kinda confused right now lol :confused:
Click to expand...

Replacing the hard drive with an SSD doesn't void the warranty. The optibay may technically, and that's the clarification I'm looking for.
 
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