Is an SSD my speed/usage solution??

[yellowmuffins]

Hi everyone,

I've spend the last couple days combing this forum and the web learning about ssd options for my 2009 unibody 17inch macbook pro with 4gb of RAM. In it I currently have a 500 gb western digital scorpio blue. I just don't think it's cutting it though...I like to run a lot of apps at once, usually around 10 or 11 dock apps with numerous background applications (menubar). Hence I get beachballs all the time, especially with Safari where I like to have open up to 6-7 windows filled with tabs. Safari often becomes unresponsive and things like spaces, dashboard, and expose always lag a bit. Am I right in thinking that a SSD is going to solve all these problems? I don't seem to think it's RAM since I monitor my ram usage and rarely seem to max out the 4gb. I'll have 1GB free and still experience this lagginess. I know it's not the processor, so hence it has to be the hard drive right? (I've even tried stuff like Onyx and repairing permissions and iDefrag with no avail!).

I hear all this talk about SSDs and how much faster bootup times are, or how much faster apps open, but I don't care about all this (I've seen all the youtube videos). What I care about is, will they let me run multiple apps and safari windows at once without hickuping or lagging.

Is my HDD my system bottleneck? Those of you with SSDs please chip in. If an SSD will solve this lag/beachball problem I have then I will place my order with OWC immediately! Been looking at optibaying my 500gb scorpio blue .

Thanks for your help Macrumors!

 

[Baral]

Your bottleneck is definitely your RAM. An SSD definitely will not help how many programs you can have open at once. That is the quintessential job of RAM. More RAM = more programs open at once.

An SSD will improve how fast your programs open, not how many you can open at once.

 

[Despicable]

Your bottleneck is definitely your RAM. An SSD definitely will not help how many programs you can have open at once. That is the quintessential job of RAM. More RAM = more programs open at once.

An SSD will improve how fast your programs open, not how many you can open at once.

+1, I totally agree with everything you said!!

 

[C64]

Your bottleneck is definitely your RAM. An SSD definitely will not help how many programs you can have open at once. That is the quintessential job of RAM. More RAM = more programs open at once.

An SSD will improve how fast your programs open, not how many you can open at once.

Sorry, wrong. When you're out of RAM you start to swap to the hard drive. And since an SSD is extremely fast, swapping to the SSD is fast as well, and definitely a lot faster than swapping to a normal HD. RAM will still be faster, sure, but in practice you'll still notice a significant speed increase.

 

[MikeinJapan]

Sorry, wrong. When you're out of RAM you start to swap to the hard drive. And since an SSD is extremely fast, swapping to the SSD is fast as well, and definitely a lot faster than swapping to a normal HD. RAM will still be faster, sure, but in practice you'll still notice a significant speed increase.

Yeah, that was my reaction when I read this.

 

[stylinexpat]

I have not done any testing like that but I can definitely feel websites opening faster on my MBP after an SSD upgrade and other applications responding quicker even while others are running. I have no regrets after my SSD upgrade.