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MBP 2.66 Mid 2010: Buy SSD or New Computer

B

Brett.F

macrumors member
Original poster
Mar 21, 2012
49
30
Manhattan, NY
Hello everyone. I just wanted to get people's opinions on this question:

Should I buy a 512 SSD ($400) for my MBP 2.66 i7 Mid 2010 or just sell it and get a new computer with a SSD?

The specs are:
MBP 15 inch, mid 2010
2.66 core i7
8 gb 1067 ddr3
Nvidia Geforce Gt 330M 512 MB

My laptop has been getting a bit slow starting up, opening applications and loading/running bootcamp and VM Ware. Thank you in advance for all your help!:D
 
A new ssd will certainly speed you up but now is the time to buy a rmbp if you were thinking about it. The cost is much higher though obviously.
 
I have a 2007 2.4 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo, and I was able to put off replacing it for over a year by upgrading the hard drive to an SSD. The extra speed you get is very noticeable, so if you want to spend a little cash now and keep saving up for your newer Mac, I would say upgrade the SSD. I'm glad I did that instead of buying that last MacBook Pro refresh, and now I have my order in for the Retina MacBook Pro.
 
RabidMacFan said:
I have a 2007 2.4 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo, and I was able to put off replacing it for over a year by upgrading the hard drive to an SSD. The extra speed you get is very noticeable, so if you want to spend a little cash now and keep saving up for your newer Mac, I would say upgrade the SSD. I'm glad I did that instead of buying that last MacBook Pro refresh, and now I have my order in for the Retina MacBook Pro.
Click to expand...

Do you run bootcamp? I heard that certain SSDs do not work with bootcamp.
 
I have almost the exact same setup as you but have the 17 inch AG display. I put in a Sumsung 256GB SSD last year and it's been a faster machine overall. The higher pixel density and Anti-Glare screen makes the pixels practically disappear so I am not tempted to get the RMBP yet. SSDs have come down in price quite a bit and you still have a very capable machine if you are just running daily tasks. So my answer to you is to keep your current machine and put in a dependable SSD such as the Samsungs. Much has been said about the upcoming chips from Intel next year.
 
Perfect. Thank you guy's for your opinions. I will probably buy the SSD. Any recommendation on brand? I read that macbooks don't run SATA III, is this true?
 
OCZ Vertex 4 512GB Results

Brett.F said:
Perfect. Thank you guy's for your opinions. I will probably buy the SSD. Any recommendation on brand? I read that macbooks don't run SATA III, is this true?
Click to expand...

I'm running SATA III with my early 2011 15" MBP (2.2Ghz MacbookPro 8,2). It's been running for five days with no issues and it's soooo much faster than my old 5400rpm 750GB drive. I don't know when the cutoff is for SATA III but there is a model at which it became usable. (tested read write speeds: 430/425MB/s on mine)
 
Your model notebook only supports SATA II speeds, but it will work with SATA III drives, just be slower.
 
Brett.F said:
Do you run bootcamp? I heard that certain SSDs do not work with bootcamp.
Click to expand...

I don't run bootcamp, but I haven't heard of and I can't think of why there would be any issues running bootcamp off of an SSD. Apple provides SSD upgrades for their computers, so there is an example where it doesn't have any issues at all. I had purchased an Intel SSD for my home computer because everyone talks about their reliability, but I bought a Crucial M4 SSD for my MacBook Pro at work.

If your computer has a SATA III connection, then buying a SATA III SSD will be the fastest. If your computer only has a SATA II connection, you might be able to save some money getting a SATA II SSD, but the SATA III drive will run just fine.
 
Considering loading times are usually a drive thing, wouldn't you want to consider the SSD either way? I don't consider them a necessity. I'm simply commenting relative to the problems you've encountered.
 
I know I'd be tempted by the quad cores in the latest models, but I'd probably just SSD up if I were undecided enough to ask this question :p
 
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