MBP 15" Mid-2009 HDD-SSD

[dariuscook]

Hi I've tried looking in the past forums for awhile but couldn't quite find an answer.

My machine is a 15inch MacBook Pro mid 2009 version. It has 3.06ghz processor, 512mb dedicated graphics, upgraded (from crucial) to 8gb ram, 500gb 7,200rpm HDD.

This machine was a beast when I first bought it. It still does pretty well but I'm looking to upgrade it to last a few more years before I fork out another 2k on a new beastly MBP! I am in architectural engineering so use a variety of apps. Typically use at a given time, safari, mail, Skype, iTunes, ms word, excel, illustrator, sketch up and autocad mostly.

I upgraded the ram from 4gb to 8gb last year and wasn't too impressed with the results, maybe I just forgot how the performance was with 4.

Now I am looking to upgrade to a SSD. Looking to get a 256-320gb one and install OS X from there with my apps to improve performance, will this have much of an effect and make sure my machine is still worth in 2years time?

My laptop is currently in repair for a minor screen issue, and talked about doing the optical bay switcheroo which I have thought about for awhile. I was going to to do it myself but they will do it for 15£ plus parts so I thought I would just leave it to them whilst its there.

My SATA speed when I check in both HD and optical bays was 3gb max I believe with a figure of 1.5gb/s also mentioned below when I checked in system profiler. Sorry do not have the machine on hand at the mo.

I want to put the the SSD in the optical bay as I'm thinking its better to keep the HDD in the original position due to noise and sensor control. If the SSD is in the optical bay and I use this as my start up drive and HDD is reformatted just as a storage device, will this present any issues? I didn't think it would but the guy at the shop said it would. I didn't feel totally convinced. What do you think?

Also does the manufacture of SSD make a big performance difference? I think the shop only sells sansdisk. I've heard a lot about the samsung 830/840 would it be worth just doing it myself? Is it particularly difficult, I don't have any soldering skills etc..!


Many thanks!

Darius

 

[ramram55]

I would say get the SSD 830 will be cheaper, anyways you can always use the SSD say 3 years down the line(hope so).
SSD as main drive is the way to go, non ssd in optical bay is right. I could be wrong. With SSD your mbp could be like a new machine for the next few years though.
You can google and see how easy to get the optical drive replace with HD, I know you have to get the optical adapter to do it, OWC has been pretty popular one. they have video, to show you how to DIY.
http://eshop.macsales.com/?utm_sour...aign=adwords&gclid=CP_pzcrn97YCFa5DMgoddDcAhA

 

[B...]

I would say get the SSD 830 will be cheaper, anyways you can always use the SSD say 3 years down the line(hope so).
SSD as main drive is the way to go, non ssd in optical bay is right. I could be wrong. With SSD your mbp could be like a new machine for the next few years though.
You can google and see how easy to get the optical drive replace with HD, I know you have to get the optical adapter to do it, OWC has been pretty popular one. they have video, to show you how to DIY.
http://eshop.macsales.com/?utm_sour...aign=adwords&gclid=CP_pzcrn97YCFa5DMgoddDcAhA

No, I disagree. The main drive has an SMS (Sudden Motion Sensor) which is essential for HDDs. The SSD doesn't need that.

 

[dariuscook]

Update.

Got my laptop back from the repair shop, unfortunately not a apple store as there isn't one in my area.

They performed some diagnostics, changed the screen around and cables, and the same pink issues were occurring. Finally found that the problem was the connection of the graphic chip onto the logic board. Reconnecting is risky and could result in the chip being defunct and needing replacing of that or possibly whole logic board. Think am going to have to buy a new rMBP when the refresh comes out.

Bought myself an OWC vertex 3 (reason being its capability to lock to SATA 2) as I heard it had good reliability in themid 2009 MBP. Now I need to return this and get £180 back, already spent £100 on diagnostics of the screen issue.

Thinking if it is worth to keep the SSD and put it in as I was thinking if using the laptop permanently connected to my plasma and hifi, to stream movies etc.. I have a decent external DAC (sound card) and active monitors, so the laptop with screen issues could be used quite effectively in that scenario I think.