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Holy #$%, this thing is a rocket!

J

JimAtLaw

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Sep 26, 2006
280
14
Bay Area, CA
Been using my new 17"/i7/8GB/512SSD/matte since last night, and all I can say is, holy heck. If you're having doubts about paying for the SSD, don't.

My machine sleeps, and wakes, instantly - zero wait, none whatsoever, I hit the wake button and half a second later I'm back in my app. Faster than my returned iMac 27" (R.I.P.) by far, it's not even comparable - the SSD makes a huge difference in usability if you're going to be using sleep mode at all. It also opens web sites, documents, etc. like it's on meth. Simply amazing.

I haven't tried anything too huge on it yet that would tax the i7, just installing Office, loading some work spreadsheets, etc., but so far, this thing makes every computer I have ever used pale by comparison. My only niggle is that it the screen is not entirely uniform, there is definitely a little yellowing on the bottom half, comparatively, but I'm not using this thing for anything too color critical so no biggie for me and it's not noticeable in normal use.
 
Hmm... I think Apple must have tweaked something since you get an instant wake/sleep. This can also be done with a HDD given that you choose to use SmartSleep.

I also own an SSD and I have to change the sleep config to SmartSleep as well. Don't know when Apple will officially support SSDs.
 
Yeah, SSD is possibly the greatest single upgrade I've ever done. I've got mine (Crucial C300) installed in my *old* 13" Core2 MacBook (2GB ram) whilst I await delivery of my 17" (same spec as yours) and the boot times are still unbelievable.

Glad you're enjoying your new machine :)

Oh, take a look at SmartSleep, you can save even more battery life by hibernating instead of sleeping (seems as resuming from Hibernation is superquick anyway).
 
Glad to hear it ... it was never a question of performance as much as it was price ;)
 
JimAtLaw said:
Been using my new 17"/i7/8GB/512SSD/matte since last night, and all I can say is, holy heck. If you're having doubts about paying for the SSD, don't.

My machine sleeps, and wakes, instantly - zero wait, none whatsoever, I hit the wake button and half a second later I'm back in my app. Faster than my returned iMac 27" (R.I.P.) by far, it's not even comparable - the SSD makes a huge difference in usability if you're going to be using sleep mode at all.

...
Click to expand...
So does my mechanical hard drive :D
 
JimAtLaw said:
Been using my new 17"/i7/8GB/512SSD/matte since last night, and all I can say is, holy heck. If you're having doubts about paying for the SSD, don't.

My machine sleeps, and wakes, instantly - zero wait, none whatsoever, I hit the wake button and half a second later I'm back in my app. Faster than my returned iMac 27" (R.I.P.) by far, it's not even comparable - the SSD makes a huge difference in usability if you're going to be using sleep mode at all. It also opens web sites, documents, etc. like it's on meth. Simply amazing.

I haven't tried anything too huge on it yet that would tax the i7, just installing Office, loading some work spreadsheets, etc., but so far, this thing makes every computer I have ever used pale by comparison. My only niggle is that it the screen is not entirely uniform, there is definitely a little yellowing on the bottom half, comparatively, but I'm not using this thing for anything too color critical so no biggie for me and it's not noticeable in normal use.
Click to expand...

Thanks so much for given us a nice review. You have the exact system I want to get ao I am very glad to hear about the SSD as I will also just buy the Apple one. All under one warranty and Apples CS is pretty damn good.

Thanks once again.
 
JimAtLaw said:
Been using my new 17"/i7/8GB/512SSD/matte since last night, and all I can say is, holy heck. If you're having doubts about paying for the SSD, don't.

My machine sleeps, and wakes, instantly - zero wait, none whatsoever, I hit the wake button and half a second later I'm back in my app. Faster than my returned iMac 27" (R.I.P.) by far, it's not even comparable - the SSD makes a huge difference in usability if you're going to be using sleep mode at all. It also opens web sites, documents, etc. like it's on meth. Simply amazing.

I haven't tried anything too huge on it yet that would tax the i7, just installing Office, loading some work spreadsheets, etc., but so far, this thing makes every computer I have ever used pale by comparison. My only niggle is that it the screen is not entirely uniform, there is definitely a little yellowing on the bottom half, comparatively, but I'm not using this thing for anything too color critical so no biggie for me and it's not noticeable in normal use.
Click to expand...

@ JimAtLaw: can you please run xbench ans post the results? i am very interestes in the performance (read/write) of this drive. thank you.
 
Don't use xbench. I don't understand why people use such an old benchmark tool. Hasn't been updated in years. Are today's vehicles tested to 1980 standards?

If you really want to test the drive, bench on Windows.
 
Is there another benchmark of overall system performance, accounting for CPU, drive speed, etc., that works on OS X? (I'll install Windows 7 in Parallels eventually, but prob. not for a couple of weeks while I get this thing set up.)
 
Sneakz said:
Don't use xbench. I don't understand why people use such an old benchmark tool. Hasn't been updated in years. Are today's vehicles tested to 1980 standards?

If you really want to test the drive, bench on Windows.
Click to expand...

Just for posting some benchmarks, I would never install windows on a Mac, sorry for that:)
 
JimAtLaw said:
Is there another benchmark of overall system performance, accounting for CPU, drive speed, etc., that works on OS X? (I'll install Windows 7 in Parallels eventually, but prob. not for a couple of weeks while I get this thing set up.)
Click to expand...

just download xbench and only select Hard Drive for testing. takes about 1 minute.
 
Hawke said:
LOL! I feel the same. But I am genuinely glad for you, OP. Someday... someday
Click to expand...

Thanks... I was feeling pretty bummed for quite a while after first having a lot of problems with my iPhone 3G (on my second one now, still wretched reception here), and then even worse having to return my flickering, yellow i7 iMac, and am now feeling much, much better - even more so 'cause this thing is not only even faster for most day to day work due to the SSD, but I can take it with me to work or the cafe! I'm also quite liking the antiglare - I have big windows behind my workspace at home and it makes a noticeable difference. Much, much love here. :cool:
 
An expensive computer like yours should perform appropriately. I am sure the drive makes a big difference.

My 13" with a 160GB intel feels faster than my 3.0Ghz Core2Duo desktop with the same ram (8gb) and 2 640GB Scorpio Blacks in RAID in.

It isn't faster but it achieves much higher I/O.
 
Oh, I'm sure I left off some stuff... no airplane adapter, etc., but the base HW is all maxed. I only buy a new one once every 5 years or so though, so I figure the extra $ is minimal amortized over time - less than $100 a month.
 
Congrats,awesome to hear,so would it be worth it to fork out $200 on a 80GB Intel SSD?Because,I don't need that much space and would like to get one for my MB if I can't get a MBP this fall.
 
That's what I wanted to hear. I pulled the trigger on a 512 SSD 17" i7 and am impatiently awaiting for it to arrive.:D
 
Just goes to show that SSD is probably the best upgrade you can make in any laptop. I wouldn't buy the Apple one though because there are better 3rd party SSDs (Intel in particular).
 
would a SSD really make much difference waking from sleep? all the info that's being loaded is saved to your ram, not your hard drive.
 
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