Getting a MBP in Christmas: Really Need SSD Help

[Ride.]

Hey! (might've posted this in the wrong section originally...)

I'm getting an MBP for Christmas, and I've decided on SSD memory. So, I've done my research and, according to my research, SSD drives pre-installed by Apple are inferior to others, for example, the Kingston V100+'s. Because of this, I have some questions:

1- Are the Kingston drives reliable, and, regardless, are the ones pre-installed by Apple more reliable?

2- Is the performance difference between the two negligible, or is it fairly or very noticeable?

3- If I were to purchase a Kingston SSD, and I had software pre-installed on my Mac (I'm ordering online) how would I transfer my programs and iOS/OS since it will be new out of the box?

4- Any tips, warnings, or reasons why I should/should not do this?

Thanks! All help is greatly appreciated!

 

[Makosuke]

1- Are the Kingston drives reliable, and, regardless, are the ones pre-installed by Apple more reliable?

Frankly there just isn't enough long-term data on SSDs to say for sure of ANY brand at this point. My general guess would be no, since Apple tends to use higher-end parts, but I don't know who Apple sources SSDs from.

2- Is the performance difference between the two negligible, or is it fairly or very noticeable?

Maybe somebody else can answer this based on experience, but I doubt it--look at benchmarks, if you can find them, and make a call as to whether you think it'll make a difference. I'm going to bet you won't be able to tell in regular use, unless one or the other has free-space management issues down the road.

3- If I were to purchase a Kingston SSD, and I had software pre-installed on my Mac (I'm ordering online) how would I transfer my programs and iOS/OS since it will be new out of the box?

Since it's new out of box, you just put the new drive in, pop in the reinstall disc that came with the computer, and do a full reinstall. It'll end up in exactly the sate it came from the factory.

If you already had data on the drive of your own, you could also use a cloning program and an external case for the old drive to clone from the old one to the new one--Carbon Copy Cloner is free and works well. No point in doing this with a completely new computer, though--you might as well just do a fresh install.

4- Any tips, warnings, or reasons why I should/should not do this?

I'd just suggest you have a look at OWC's SSDs. They're a little on the pricy side, but they use the a Sandforce controller, which is a good thing, have a decent amount of reserve space to deal with long-term speed issues, they're explicitly designed for Macs (and I've seen real-world tests by photography guys showing that they do not suffer from slowdowns even without TRIM support in the MacOS), and StorageReview rated them among the fastest drives they'd ever tested. OWC is also a very cool company, and they'll be around to back their warranty if you need it.

If you've got the money and want extra reliability, you can even get the Enterprise version of OWC's drives; they have a LOT of space held in reserve (25%, I believe), which means you get less usable GB per dollar, but unless the controller fails they'll handle degrading flash memory better than almost anything else on the market.