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If you were me, which SSD would you buy?

Which SSD Would You Buy

  • Crucial M4

    Votes: 6 18.2%

  • Samsung 830

    Votes: 24 72.7%

  • OWC

    Votes: 3 9.1%
  • Total voters
    33
J

jbsmithmac

macrumors regular
Original poster
Sep 11, 2011
244
0
Please vote. I'm looking for the SSD that will be the most compatible, fastest, and reasonably priced (likely to buy a 128 or 256 GB).

Here are my machine's specs and a general description of how I use it.

Spec's
- Mid-2009 13" MBP, 2.26 GHz, 8 GB Ram, SATA II

Use
- Internet
- iTunes
- Web development (mostly freehand code, some Dreamweaver CS4)
- Mild image editing for web use - resizing, scaling, etc. No heavy graphic editing.
 
Samsung 830/840Pro or Crucial M4.

Those two are the most beloved here, especially for Macs.

Apple uses Samsung SSD's in their laptops.

I have the Samsung 830 (which is discontinued now, but still sold) and it's probably the most useful computer part I've ever bought in the past 5-10 years. What a huge speed bump!

I do have the 2011 MBP though, so it does support SATA III.

However, with your machine, it will give a huge boost.

Go with a Samsung. Any deals on the 830 or 840 (don't get Pro, it won't do you much good) is good enough.
 
SDAVE said:
Samsung 830/840Pro or Crucial M4.

Those two are the most beloved here, especially for Macs.

Apple uses Samsung SSD's in their laptops.

I have the Samsung 830 (which is discontinued now, but still sold) and it's probably the most useful computer part I've ever bought in the past 5-10 years. What a huge speed bump!

I do have the 2011 MBP though, so it does support SATA III.

However, with your machine, it will give a huge boost.

Go with a Samsung. Any deals on the 830 or 840 (don't get Pro, it won't do you much good) is good enough.
Click to expand...

This is right on.
 
T5BRICK said:
Whichever one is least expensive.
Click to expand...

Might be true, but if you go with the SanDisk/Vortex/ Blah blah you might have issues as these are frequently updated with Firmware and you don't want to be stuck with fiddling with it. Also most of the time you will need a Windows machine to do a firmware update (even with a Samsung, but they never update the firmware, it's usually rock solid from the beginning).

Samsung or Crucial, up to the op..based on price of course.

Also, the less people buy the crappy SSD's, the less the market will be filled with non-quality SSD's. The prices will still fall, regardless of how oversaturated the market it.
 
Spink10 said:
This is right on.
Click to expand...


what's the difference in these two samsung models...I don't see a difference on newegg's site (granted not in stock - and likely not to be since they are 830's).

MZ-7PC256N/AM
MZ-7PC256D/AM
 
YahonMaizosz said:
Why not INTEL SSD??
Click to expand...

I've been reading everything I can find on SSD's in the last few weeks and it seems like the majority are talking/using samsung or crucial...I threw OWC in there since the brand gets a lot of rep for mac stuff.
 
YahonMaizosz said:
Why not INTEL SSD??
Click to expand...

$$
Not worth it in case of OP. Intel is great for SATA III.

Also Samsung 840 Pro and Intel's top are very close in terms of performance.

Not to mention the fact that Intel is usually 240GB/480GB vs 256/512 with Samsung 830 (and 840 Pro) so you gain a few gigs.
 
SDAVE said:
$$
Not worth it in case of OP. Intel is great for SATA III.

Also Samsung 840 Pro and Intel's top are very close in terms of performance.

Not to mention the fact that Intel is usually 240GB/480GB vs 256/512 with Samsung 830 (and 840 Pro) so you gain a few gigs.
Click to expand...

Yes this is consistent with my reading...as it relates to my MBP model.
 
jbsmithmac said:
what's the difference in these two samsung models...I don't see a difference on newegg's site (granted not in stock - and likely not to be since they are 830's).

MZ-7PC256N/AM
MZ-7PC256D/AM
Click to expand...

You just want the bare drive, the upgrade kit is useless.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...7PC256B_WW_256GB_SSD_830_SERIES_INTERNAL.html

I've seen these in the $130-140 area a few weeks ago.

Check www.slickdeals.net for deals every day for the next week or two, if you can hold off.

Also Samsung 840 should be fine for you too. It is considered to be a little slower than the 830, but it is a newer model (but once again, has less gigs than the 830). It does use cheaper modules for the cell's, though. Samsung apparently made the 830 into the 840Pro and ramped up the speed. Those are considered enterprise SSD's now.

P.S. Skip the OWC.
 
Last edited:
Get either a Samsung 830/840 Pros, Corsair SSDs, Sandisk SSDs, or OCZ Vertex 4. The rest of the vendors are either expensive per GB, not as reliable, or slow in write speeds, especially Crucial's M4.
 
SDAVE said:
Might be true, but if you go with the SanDisk/Vortex/ Blah blah you might have issues as these are frequently updated with Firmware and you don't want to be stuck with fiddling with it. Also most of the time you will need a Windows machine to do a firmware update (even with a Samsung, but they never update the firmware, it's usually rock solid from the beginning).

Samsung or Crucial, up to the op..based on price of course.

Also, the less people buy the crappy SSD's, the less the market will be filled with non-quality SSD's. The prices will still fall, regardless of how oversaturated the market it.
Click to expand...

I completely agree with you. Chances are, out of the 3 drives OWC won't be the cheapest. I'm running the M4 in my MBP, and I actually had a Samsung 830 as well, but I ended up putting it in my PC. They're both great drives.

----------
boto said:
The rest of the vendors are either expensive per GB, not as reliable, or slow in write speeds, especially Crucial's M4.
Click to expand...

It isn't going to matter in a mid 2009 MBP, it's limited to SATA II.
 
It isn't going to matter in a mid 2009 MBP, it's limited to SATA II.
Click to expand...

Exactly.

Also by the time the OP want's to reuse the SSD in another system, they will all be super cheap by then and he will buy a new one. So it doesn't make sense trying to catch a few extra MB/sec when it comes to SSD's especially on a SATAII machine.
 
Blue604 said:
Prob Samsung 830.

I am in the same boat with u. 2009 Macbook Pro 13". Last weekend I just bought M4 512GB and it crashes 2 times in 2 days.

This is the thread I started
https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=16410388#post16410388

I am looking for Samsung 830, but the price for 512GB are high.
Click to expand...

Yeah I've read that thread. I also have seen in a couple places that the sleep issue has happend to those with the main SSD in the optibay. Some say having the startup disk in the location is the cause as OSX is not expecting it to be in that location.
 
Blue604 said:
Prob Samsung 830.

I am in the same boat with u. 2009 Macbook Pro 13". Last weekend I just bought M4 512GB and it crashes 2 times in 2 days.

This is the thread I started
https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=16410388#post16410388

I am looking for Samsung 830, but the price for 512GB are high.
Click to expand...

512GB is definitely not worth it, imo, especially if you have a 2009MBP. Save your money. Anything over 100GB you're definitely will be using it as "storage". Mostly applications take advantage of SSD's and multi-tasking. Your MP3's or movies are not going to gain anything from an SSD.

You can get a 256GB SSD (even a 128) as the main drive and take out your optical and put in a 500GB/1TB drive for storage, or just use an external. I might be doing that soon.
 
I put 2x 128GB Samsung 830's in my iMac and they are badass.
But... I have also put Corsair ForceGT's in my Mac Mini, 1 was in my iMac before the Samsungs and 1 in my wife's older '09 MBP 15".
 
I'm actually leaning toward a 128gb drive because it currently has (came with) 160gb and its got about 70 free. Most of what is being used up is from other family members that now have their own machine.

When I get the ssd it will b a clean install of ML and then a handful of my apps. I don't see the OS and apps taking more than 15gb...and all my files are generally stored on my local file server that has TB's of free space.
 
The Samsung 840. That promo clip with Laina (aka overly attached girlfriend) just rocks. Best commercial I've seen in decades. :D

More seriously, there's a great thread here on the SSD 830. So why not buy one and benefit from others experience? They've already done all the hard work, and there's plenty of positive feedback to go around.
 
I would get either the Samsung 830 or 840 Pro. Samsung did a good job with the 840 (non-pro), but it is a TLC (three bits per ram cell) design rather than an MLC (two bits per ram cell) design. TLC SSD's are cheaper because they need fewer transistors for the same number of bits. However, they are slower and wear out faster.

There are great articles and reviews about this on www.AnandTech.com. Here's a relevant page from the 840 review: www.anandtech.com/show/6337/samsung-ssd-840-250gb-review/2
 
I have both, no perceptible difference in performance...

Startup disk is 256GB Samsung 830 SSD, data disk is 512GB Crucial m4. The reason I went with the Crucial was that I could get it for $300 in 512GB size whereas Samsung was considerably more expensive. If I could get 512GB Samsung 830/840 Pro below $400, I'd probably pay the $100 difference and buy Samsung;)
 
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