MacBook Pro: HDD vs SSD question.

[IceColdKilla44]

Hey everyone!

I'm about to get a new MacBook Pro, and there's one problem I need a little help solving.

I could either get a 500gb 7200rpm HDD at no extra charge, OR I could get a 128gb SSD for an additional $90. I'm slightly leaning towards the SSD for the general reasons you've all probably heard about by now.

Now let me just explain my reasoning here a bit. I should say beforehand that I already plan on getting a 1TB external USB drive, regardless of which internal drive I get. So space isn't really the issue.

From what I understand, if I were to buy the MBP with the 500gb HDD and just buy an SSD separately, that would total me around $220 (the price of a 128gb SSD nowadays). However, if I were to buy the laptop with the SSD and then buy a 500 gb HDD at 7200 rpm, it would cost me $90 + $70 = $160. So I'd be saving money by buying the SSD with the MBP it seems, not even counting the fact that I could sell the SSD for a higher price than what I actually bought it for!

I know it sounds like I might already have my answers, but I basically have three questions:

1) Does that argument make sense to you? As in, is there anything I'm missing or not considering?

2) Does anyone know what brand of SSD Apple ships in MBP nowadays?

3) I was planning on using my SSD for the OS/applications, and using the 1TB HDD for files/music/movies etc. Is that an ideal setup or is there something I'm missing about that as well?

I'd appreciate any helpful answers. Thanks!

 

[IceColdKilla44]

bump

 

[jbyun04]

If I was buying a new MBP I would most definitely upgrade to the 128GB SSD and swap out the Superdrive with a 500GB-1TB HDD. At $90 the 128GB is a steal and the SSD's they ship aren't necessarily bad.. if anything goes wrong it should be covered under warranty.

Just yesterday I switched out my Superdrive for my old 750GB and I'm absolutely loving the SSD+HDD combo.

 

[after5cst]

I'm a little confused with your plan to use a USB external 1TB drive for data, at least for a portable unit (the MBP). While that will work for infrequently used items, do you really want to haul around the USB drive and attendant cable(s) in case you feel like watching a movie while you're out and around?

And if you're tethered at home with the USB data easily available, is the MBP *really* the right form factor/screen size/etc. for practical media consumption use?

And are you really willing to constantly be moving data files you accumulate while "roaming" to the USB device?

And are you planning on using the 1TB drive for Time Machine as well? Or do you plan on buying a second drive for TM backups? Or do you have other or nonexistent backup plans?

 

[ctbear]

At $90 the 128GB is a steal

That does not include the cost of the HDD that should have been there.

Considering that and the speed of the SSD apple ships, I would suggest buying a faster SSD yourself. Get as much HDD space as you need when you order the computer, then buy a good SSD for the OS.

 

[2hvy4grvty]

If you go with an HDD + SSD combo, it makes very little sense to prioritize the 500 7200 RPM over the 750 5400 RPM. Extra vibration, extra battery consumption, less storage, minimal relevant speed gain.

The existing hard drive would retail for ~$60-$65, which puts the SSD cost at $150. This is still very competitive pricing. But do know, you're not getting the best of drives in terms of performance. What you do get is Apple's guarantee and full support.

I think a M4 can be had for just $50 more.

 

[IceColdKilla44]

I'm a little confused with your plan to use a USB external 1TB drive for data, at least for a portable unit (the MBP). While that will work for infrequently used items, do you really want to haul around the USB drive and attendant cable(s) in case you feel like watching a movie while you're out and around?

And if you're tethered at home with the USB data easily available, is the MBP *really* the right form factor/screen size/etc. for practical media consumption use?

And are you really willing to constantly be moving data files you accumulate while "roaming" to the USB device?

And are you planning on using the 1TB drive for Time Machine as well? Or do you plan on buying a second drive for TM backups? Or do you have other or nonexistent backup plans?

The USB drive that I have is small and made for portability:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136839

And it's only power source is through USB anyway, so that's good. I've been reading up on the configurations people have on this forum, and it seems a lot of people like to use an SSD as a main internal drive for the Operating System and Applications (usually a capacity extremely small, 128gb is high compared to those), and then use a LARGE capacity external drive for keeping large files like movies/music etc stored.

I just wanted to see if anyone could give me more info on this setup. I've seen some comments that suggest this setup won't be ideal for, say, iTunes. I think I read somewhere that iTunes doesn't like having all it's music stored via USB on an external drive. Can anyone confirm this?

Taking out the SuperDrive probably isn't an option for me; I'll definitely be using discs in this notebook as far as I can tell.

 

[2hvy4grvty]

Taking out the SuperDrive probably isn't an option for me; I'll definitely be using discs in this notebook as far as I can tell.

Wouldn't it make more sense to go with an optibay HDD and external optical drive instead of super drive and external hard drive?

Do you plan on using the optical drive MORE OFTEN than the physical hard drive itself?