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Late 2011 15" MPB SSD Options

M

mjohns930

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 15, 2011
15
0
Hello all. I am looking for some help on getting an 240-256GB 6G SSD for my late 2011 15" MBP high end. My computer has the standard 750GB 5400RPM HDD and I will be moving it to the optical bay and putting the SSD in the main hard drive bay. I have searched pretty extensively on this but I can't find a lot of data about the late 2011 MBP.

There seems to be a couple schools of thought on this. The first being get what ever OWC sells since they test their stuff with Macs pretty extensively. The next being get a Samsung 830 and hope for the best since they make pretty good quality stuff.

My budget is $500 including an OWC Data Doubler and like I said I am looking for a 240-256GB size 6G SSD. I would like a drive that is as fast as possible, has good garbage collection without TRIM but seems to work well with TRIM enabled, is as reliable as possible, and has the ability to either update the firmware from within OSX or via a standalone piece of software.

What is the best choice for what I am looking for? An OWC Mercury Extreme Pro 6G or the Samsung 830? Is the Crucial M4 something to consider? Is there some other drive that is known to work well with the late 2011 15" MBP? I know the late 2011s are still a little unknown regarding 3rd party SSDs but what have you all been using and has it worked or not?

Also please post any links to any drives you are recommending. Sometimes there are similar models of the same drives that are hard to distinguish from each other.

Thank you for any information regarding this long post.
 
I'm going to install a Vertex 3 Max Iops (120gb) on the exact model you have on Wednesday. If you aren't looking to purchase this right away I could let you know how it goes.
 
dude i am in the exact same position you are. trust me when i say i've done hours of research on this.

it really comes down to two drives: Crucial's M4 series or Samsung's 830 drive.

you can't go wrong with either of those two choices.

edit: i've posted a similar thread here: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1294274/
 
mjohns930 said:
I've done that and it's little to no help hence the reason I am asking.
Click to expand...

I'm using Samsung 830 series (512GB) in my 15" 2010 & 15" 2011 MacBook Pros. Prior to these two, I've tried many brands and types of SSD's in the last few years (all top of the line at the time). If you don't want the fastest & best, a good alternative is Intel.
 
Samsung 830, Crucial M4, or Intel 320/510. I highly recommend the Samsung 830 though, since that's what I'm running myself.

Do NOT get an OCZ drive. OCZ products are *not* reliable.
 
Thanks for all the input so far. Now another question:

Has anyone had to deal with the customer service for any of the companies you are or are not recommending? If so what was the experience like?

I travel extended periods at a time to remote areas and need top notch customer service SHOULD there be a problem.

Thanks.
 
Ccrew said:
Have worked fine for me. Had one in my last machine and have one in the current. No issues at all.
Click to expand...

It's more the support than the actual drives. OCZ has terrible support from what I have heard and read.
 
I have the Corsair Performance Pro 128GB and all I can say is that in my 13" MBP with the full 6Gbps link speed, this machine is fast! Boots in about 6s....
 
Not that anybody probably cares anymore but I just thought I would give an update. I decided to go with the OWC Mercury Extreme Pro 6G 240GB drive for a few reasons.

First is customer service. From what I have read they are about on par with Apple and that is worth a lot to me.

Second, they are primarily geared towards Apple gadgets which gives me some peace of mind that they probably do a lot of testing with Apple computers. To me that means the drive should work as well as it can in my laptop.

Third, it appears that SandForce drives have the best garbage collection when used in a non-TRIM situation, which I will be unless performance just gets terrible after extended use.

Finally it is about as fast as any other SSD out right now.

It will be here Saturday and if anyone wants I will give my impressions here after I get the OS reinstalled and mess with it for a bit.
 
mjohns930 said:
Not that anybody probably cares anymore but I just thought I would give an update. I decided to go with the OWC Mercury Extreme Pro 6G 240GB drive for a few reasons.

First is customer service. From what I have read they are about on par with Apple and that is worth a lot to me.

Second, they are primarily geared towards Apple gadgets which gives me some peace of mind that they probably do a lot of testing with Apple computers. To me that means the drive should work as well as it can in my laptop.

Third, it appears that SandForce drives have the best garbage collection when used in a non-TRIM situation, which I will be unless performance just gets terrible after extended use.

Finally it is about as fast as any other SSD out right now.

It will be here Saturday and if anyone wants I will give my impressions here after I get the OS reinstalled and mess with it for a bit.
Click to expand...

how did the OWC Mercury Extreme Pro 6G SSD work out for you, I'm planing to buy on in two weeks. from my research i like OWC products
 
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