Help choosing an SSD for my mid-2010 Macbook?

[ivbaseball06]

Hi all,

My wife is a teacher and has a mid-2010 white unibody Macbook. You can get all of the specs by going to this page:

http://www.powerbookmedic.com/identify-mac-serial.php

And typing in the serial: W8033GD6F5W

She's a teacher and doesn't use her computer for anything intensive. However, it's not a very powerful machine and is starting to slow down. I'd like to put a SSD in it for her to make it snappier. She doesn't need anymore than a 120 or 128 GB drive.

Can anyone lend some advice for a good SSD (but affordable) that will also be compatible with the system? I tried to look it up on iFixIt but they only offered one SSD choice. Is that the only one that will work in her Macbook?

Any help is appreciated!

 

[simsaladimbamba]

You can get any 2.5" SSD you want, the most recommend one right now is the Samsung 830 SSD series, 120 GB cost less than 100 €, 240 GB cost less than 180 €.
You could also think about upgrading to 8 GB RAM for less than 50 €.

Upgrading RAM in MacBooks and MacBook Pros​

MacBook, MacBook Pro: Replacing the Hard Disk Drive, transferring data to the new HDD

the guide includes:

• 0. Identify your MacBook or MacBook Pro
• 1. Getting a new HDD
• 2. Guides to replace the internal HDD with a newer one
• 3. Transferring data from the old HDD to the new HDD
• 4. Using the optical disk drive (ODD) slot for placing an SSD or HDD inside the MB/P (OPTIBAY)

​

 

[ivbaseball06]

You can get any 2.5" SSD you want, the most recommend one right now is the Samsung 830 SSD series, 120 GB cost less than 100 €, 240 GB cost less than 180 €.
You could also think about upgrading to 8 GB RAM for less than 50 €.

Upgrading RAM in MacBooks and MacBook Pros​

MacBook, MacBook Pro: Replacing the Hard Disk Drive, transferring data to the new HDD

the guide includes:

• 0. Identify your MacBook or MacBook Pro
• 1. Getting a new HDD
• 2. Guides to replace the internal HDD with a newer one
• 3. Transferring data from the old HDD to the new HDD
• 4. Using the optical disk drive (ODD) slot for placing an SSD or HDD inside the MB/P (OPTIBAY)

​

Do I need to buy a SATA II SSD or will a SATA III work? When I go into 'About this Mac' it says 'Link Speed = 3 Gigabit' and 'Negotiated Link Speed = 1.5 Gigabit'.

 

[simsaladimbamba]

Do I need to buy a SATA II SSD or will a SATA III work? When I go into 'About this Mac' it says 'Link Speed = 3 Gigabit' and 'Negotiated Link Speed = 1.5 Gigabit'.

I have an S-ATA 6.0 Gbps (S-ATA III) SSD in my 2009 MBP (which only has that S-ATA 3.0 Gbps (S-ATA II) interfac) and it works fine.
Your negotiated speed is probably due to the HDD being only S-ATA 1.5 Gbps (S-ATA I), which is more than okay, as no notebook HDD can even saturate S-ATA 1.5 Gbps (S-ATA I).

 

[ivbaseball06]

I have an S-ATA 6.0 Gbps (S-ATA III) SSD in my 2009 MBP (which only has that S-ATA 3.0 Gbps (S-ATA II) interfac) and it works fine.
Your negotiated speed is probably due to the HDD being only S-ATA 1.5 Gbps (S-ATA I), which is more than okay, as no notebook HDD can even saturate S-ATA 1.5 Gbps (S-ATA I).

Thanks for the help! I think I'm going to go with a 120 GB Kingston SSDNow SATA III. I had one of those in my old Macbook Pro and it worked really nice. And they're pretty affordable. Do you think that sounds like a good idea?