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Macbook Pro Retina 512 vs 768 SSD?

H

herculez

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 21, 2010
4
0
Hi there,
I'm planning to order the 2.6GHz model with 16 GB RAM. My debate is between the 512 and 768 GB SSD drive. Is it worth adding $500 for the additional flash storage? I will be using the computer for video editing, so I'll be working with lots of HD footage. But would it be better to save the money and rely more on external drives for editing/media storage? Or just spring for the extra internal storage now in case I need it?

Thanks for your feedback!
 
Go 768

I went for 768 Gb. I don't work with videos, just with photography. I like to have space in the computer. It is possible to work with external hard drives, but even if you get an expensive Thunderbolt, it will be slower than the SSD.

I know $500 is a lot, but it will also allow me to use the computer longer. I got a Mid-2009 15 inch MacBook Pro with a 256 SSD (the biggest available at that time, it costed me almost $1000 more) but I never regretted it.
 
768GB for 500 is pretty cheap.
Just think how much SSD price has dropped.
Couple of years ago, 512Gb SSD cost nearly 1000USD...

And since these rMBP have flash storage and not the traditional 2.5in SSD, its hard to find these flash storage sticks.
 
I'm pretty caught up on resale value so from that point of view the SSD upgrades aren't worth it. What some paid $500+ for will be available for $100 in a few years. SSD prices are dropping too quickly for it to be worth it FOR ME.

Of course, some people have the money to drop on it and not worry about resale so more power to them.
 
I wish I had enough to have been able to buy the 2.6 model with the 512 or 768. But I'm a college student who probably doesn't need that much space. I did max out the RAM thanks to the Apple Education discount, I figured it would be wise since it's soldered on.

I agree with Rizzn, I will upgrade the SSD when they get cheaper because the high price jumps were not worth it to me right now. I currently use a 17" i7 MBP with a 1TB drive that has 900GB of free space, so storage space is not a concern at the moment.

But congrats to those with the higher models, must be nice! :)
 
yusukeaoki said:
He's buying the 2.6GHz model...
Which means 512GB comes in stock.
Click to expand...

Sure, but you said $500 for 756Gb was cheap. The cost of the basic 512Gb is included in the base price, so the $500 is the extra for 256gb, which is not cheap.

I agree $500 for a 756 Gb would be good value but not what is happening here.
 
The upgrade to 768gb ssd is not a deal at all, for that price I would rather spend the money on a $399 crucial m4 512gb Ssd and a seagate goflex thunderbolt adapter. Or if it's just for storage and you don't really need the speed any external USB 3.0 solution would offer much better value for the money.
 
Is it possible to purchase the base model and have a local Apple reseller upgrade the SSD to 768 GB? I prefer the extra battery life of the 2.3 GHz but would prefer more space. The other option would be to get the base model and wait for an OWC solution.
 
Mike Boreham said:
Sure, but you said $500 for 756Gb was cheap. The cost of the basic 512Gb is included in the base price, so the $500 is the extra for 256gb, which is not cheap.

I agree $500 for a 756 Gb would be good value but not what is happening here.
Click to expand...

This is correct. $500 is not a steal in this case.
 
Mike Boreham said:
Sure, but you said $500 for 756Gb was cheap. The cost of the basic 512Gb is included in the base price, so the $500 is the extra for 256gb, which is not cheap.

I agree $500 for a 756 Gb would be good value but not what is happening here.
Click to expand...

Im my opinion, 768GB for 1000USD is still cheap.
2 years ago, 512GB was over 1000USD.
And the price for 512GB is separated for the CPU upgrade as well.
600USD for CPU upgrade and extra storage is pretty cheap.
Although 768GB is cheap, I agree its not what this person is trying to do.
 
yusukeaoki said:
Im my opinion, 768GB for 1000USD is still cheap.
2 years ago, 512GB was over 1000USD.
And the price for 512GB is separated for the CPU upgrade as well.
600USD for CPU upgrade and extra storage is pretty cheap.
Although 768GB is cheap, I agree its not what this person is trying to do.
Click to expand...

At $500 per 256GB thats $1500 Apple dollars your really spending. Just cause 256 or 512 is embedded in the price does not mean you're not paying....

so this is a $1500 768 GB drive.
 
Answer to the question is NO. $500US for 256gb of extra storage is a major sham. This is how apple is absorbing "cost" to "maximize" profit. Crucial has a 512 GB SSD drive of under $500US. Do the math. Also, anytime you have a lack of options across all platforms something has to up. And its not in your favor. Why can't you upgrade the 2.3GHz model's storage? Also check the SSD upgrade price on the 2.9GHz 13" macbook pro.. $900US??? Anyone have any answer regarding $900 for a 512 SSD storage?

I suppose this is whats in store for post jobs era.
 
wdotwalker said:
Answer to the question is NO. $500US for 256gb of extra storage is a major sham. This is how apple is absorbing "cost" to "maximize" profit. Crucial has a 512 GB SSD drive of under $500US. Do the math. Also, anytime you have a lack of options across all platforms something has to up. And its not in your favor. Why can't you upgrade the 2.3GHz model's storage? Also check the SSD upgrade price on the 2.9GHz 13" macbook pro.. $900US??? Anyone have any answer regarding $900 for a 512 SSD storage?

I suppose this is whats in store for post jobs era.
Click to expand...

You say this as if Apple used to offer reasonable upgrade prices. I recall nothing but outrageousness on bto ram and storage upgrades.
 
plucky duck said:
The upgrade to 768gb ssd is not a deal at all, for that price I would rather spend the money on a $399 crucial m4 512gb Ssd and a seagate goflex thunderbolt adapter. Or if it's just for storage and you don't really need the speed any external USB 3.0 solution would offer much better value for the money.
Click to expand...


Excuse my ignorance, but can you connect ssd to the thunderbolt adaptor??

Would you need an enclosure with a thunderbolt port?
 
herculez said:
Hi there,
I'm planning to order the 2.6GHz model with 16 GB RAM. My debate is between the 512 and 768 GB SSD drive. Is it worth adding $500 for the additional flash storage? I will be using the computer for video editing, so I'll be working with lots of HD footage. But would it be better to save the money and rely more on external drives for editing/media storage? Or just spring for the extra internal storage now in case I need it?

Thanks for your feedback!
Click to expand...

I purchased the MBP-R with 16 GB Ram, 768 GB SSD, 2.7 Ghz i7. The configuration works quite well for me. But I'm used to Macs since '89. I used to try upgrades on the computers, but because of endless difficulties or incompatibilities I ran into, I usual purchase max RAM and max storage. I always wanted solid state drive with no moving parts, and that's why I went with 768 GB SSD (I just figured, hey, no moving parts gotta last longer--but that's my layman's view but it makes sense to me). I could only get 240 GB SSD external through LaCie (powered) and daisy chain able or 240 GB SSD through Elgato. Since the internal SSD offering was a higher capacity than I could currently get externally, I went for that. But, I do have two of the LaCie SSD drives and one of the Elgato for when I travel as backup drives.
 
Get as small an SSD as you can get away with for now, because the pricing is ridiculous. There will be cheaper 3rd party options available in the future (OWC already has one but its not cheaper yet). And in a year or two you may want to upgrade the laptop anyway with Haswell & 802.11ac on the near term horizon. If you don't, by that time you'll likely be able to add a 1TB SDXC card that'll be about as fast as a 5400rpm drive anyway, and possibly even a 256GB or 512GB flush mount micro-sd + adapter. Both of which will probably cost much less than the $500-1000 Apple's charging now for memory that you won't need until later.
 
parallax33 said:
The SSD is actually upgradable unlike the RAM which is soldered.

I have gone for 512 and will upgrade to 768 if I need it at a later date...
Click to expand...

You probably won't do that though, because once the prices dropped enough, it's almost time to buy a new mac anyway.

And I wouldn't bet on these specific SSDs being produced for a long time; adapters change and Apple is king at it. SSDs from last year's MBA don't fit into this year's and the MBA SSDs aren't compatible with the rMBP SSDs...
 
The prices for these special ssd's will never/barely drop. You just pay it...oh and good luck thinking you'll sell the old one to defray costs. You'll need the old one if you ever need service. Should they find the wrong ssd in your rmbp you warranty is over.
 
0x000000 said:
You probably won't do that though, because once the prices dropped enough, it's almost time to buy a new mac anyway.

And I wouldn't bet on these specific SSDs being produced for a long time; adapters change and Apple is king at it. SSDs from last year's MBA don't fit into this year's and the MBA SSDs aren't compatible with the rMBP SSDs...
Click to expand...

They are already being produced (though not more cheaply yet). And you can be sure that they'll be cheaper in the future (on an inflation adjusted basis).

There's no reason to pay Apple stupid prices now for memory that you don't need now. In the near future you'll be able to:

1. Trade up the whole laptop for Haswell, GPU upgrade, 802.11ac, and possibly even extra drive space or...

2. Buy a larger rMBP specific flash drive or...

3. Buy a 512GB - 1TB SDXC card that's as fast as a 5400rpm HDD...

...all for less than the $500 that Apple's charging for 256GB of flash storage today that you're not going to be using until later.
 
get a large clunky external hard drive. you already paid enough for this gadget go ahead and splurge a little more.. nothing to lose. did you order up to 3 additional thunderbolt displays for it yet, you gotta do that too, gasp, you did right?
 
Last edited:
External Storage for Security

I no longer store anything critical on my internal drives. If the computer fails, you may find yourself losing that data or at least facing the cost of recovery. All my work files are stored redundantly on external drives — makes storage upgrades easier and reduces the need for internal storage.
 
I do very little HD video editing and they gobble up a lot of space.

256GB extra storage isn't going to take you very far and it's costing you $500 for that upgrade.

512GB SSD. As many have suggested, use the $500 on a USB3 external harddrive, you can get 2-3TB for under $200.

Save yourself $300 and get 10 times the storage space.

---
I edit photos mostly and I am completely satisfied with the following set up:

256GB SSD internal (still have 150GB free- I only keep the most recent 4 projects I'm working on).
1TB external USB3.
1TB wireless home storage.
 
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