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MBP Owners: Keep the Hard Drive Bay or Ditch it for SSD sticks

Keep or ditch the Hard drive bay?

  • Keep it

    Votes: 16 40.0%

  • Ditch it

    Votes: 22 55.0%

  • Undecided

    Votes: 2 5.0%
  • Total voters
    40
But you can buy an external 2Tb hard drive, they are very cheap nowadays.

It will be useful for static data, such as movies and songs : if you don't edit them,
the speed will be high, even through USB 2.0.
 
AppleMacFinder said:
But you can buy an external 2Tb hard drive, they are very cheap nowadays.

It will be useful for static data, such as movies and songs : if you don't edit them,
the speed will be high, even through USB 2.0.
Click to expand...

But most users don't want to carry around a bulky external. I want to be able to store all my stuff on the internal drive and have it with me. The external would defeat the purpose of having the thinner, lighter notebook that comes from the lack of hard drive.
 
I'm ready for SSD sticks. I can live with only 128 or 256 GB today, if I know I can upgrade tomorrow.
However, I can certainly see why many people need alot more space today. Apple's solution could be having drive bays in the 15 and 17 inch models. The 13 inch model always seemed to cater to a more casual crowd.
 
alust2013 said:
But most users don't want to carry around a bulky external. I want to be able to store all my stuff on the internal drive and have it with me. The external would defeat the purpose of having the thinner, lighter notebook that comes from the lack of hard drive.
Click to expand...

You aren't supposed to take the external drive with you. For instance I store all of my movies on a 2TB Firewire 800 Seagate GoFlex External HD and if I want to watch some movies I make sure to transfer a few that I want to watch.
 
as long as 256GB SSDs become economic enough, I'd like to have a 13" with dedicated graphic chip, keep it at around 10hr battery life (the sweet spot) and loss some weight, from today's 2kg to around 1.8kg
 
The way i would like best is if apple decides to ditch the optical drive. In the empty space that results, insert about 128-256GB of flash storage to be used as a boot + primary drive for apps. With the remaining space stick in a discreet graphic card and if there is any room left, a bit more battery.

The traditional hard drive bay should remain, and have maybe a decent 1TB drive..just for storage purposes.
 
Not to step on the toes of the other big thread thats going on in here, but I'm going to be pissed if Apple starts moving the "Pro" laptop into a more high-end consumer laptop. I need a laptop that is speedy enough to run Logic Studio and FCP and have plenty of space for the projects that I am currently working on.

In that regard, I would be totally happy if they dropped the optical drive and put in a SSD boot drive and a large spinny drive as the second drive.
 
I would like to see apple use a dynamic hybrid solution:
MacBook Pro with 64GB of flash and 500GB of HD, set up to look like a single drive. All system files/apps/caches/resources stored on flash drive for super speedy start up, everything else on HD for capacity.
Best of both worlds in my opinion
 
tharris0101 said:
Not to step on the toes of the other big thread thats going on in here, but I'm going to be pissed if Apple starts moving the "Pro" laptop into a more high-end consumer laptop. I need a laptop that is speedy enough to run Logic Studio and FCP and have plenty of space for the projects that I am currently working on.
Click to expand...

Hahaha Good one.

The ConsumerBook and the ConsumerBook Extreme have already gone to the high end consumer scene. SD Card slots? Yeah...no...The 17" MBPro is all that's left for power users.
 
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LoganT said:
alust2013 said:
But most users don't want to carry around a bulky external. I want to be able to store all my stuff on the internal drive and have it with me. The external would defeat the purpose of having the thinner, lighter notebook that comes from the lack of hard drive.
Click to expand...

You aren't supposed to take the external drive with you. For instance I store all of my movies on a 2TB Firewire 800 Seagate GoFlex External HD and if I want to watch some movies I make sure to transfer a few that I want to watch.
Click to expand...

Point taken, but I think many people want the ability to access all of their data at any moment and location. Cloud based? Larger SSD? I am not sure there is a one best solution yet at a friendly price point.
 
harry20larry said:
I would like to see apple use a dynamic hybrid solution:
MacBook Pro with 64GB of flash and 500GB of HD, set up to look like a single drive. All system files/apps/caches/resources stored on flash drive for super speedy start up, everything else on HD for capacity.
Best of both worlds in my opinion
Click to expand...

and get sued big time by Seagate, or whoever, or whichever patent troll company that holds the idea of the hybrid technology?
 
Apple being the largest consumer of flash memory has huge economies of scale, therefore it is reasonable to believe that it will be cost effective to use built in flash in all their MacBooks.
 
think like Apple

Guys, Gals,
There is another solution to the problem of the current density of SSD sticks. Apple quietly worked at adding ZFS into OS-X Server for several years and then recently backed it out. No reason was given, but many suspect licensing due the Oracle buyout of Sun. Apple on the other hand had job postings for advanced file system developers which would indicate that they certainly are working on something interesting.

Pooled volume managed file systems such as ZFS are an elegant and robust solution, whether it is actually ZFS or an Apple clone. The existing 256Gb sticks will only get cheaper. I suspect that 10.7 will bring at least the option for a ZFS-like file system so that multiple 256GB SSD sticks can be installed in the next gen MBP yet still present a unified storage image. Given that 4 SSD sticks would take up less physical space than one 2.5" HDD, I suspect that the next gen MBP will allow such, probably starting with a single 256GB stick with additional sticks field upgradable (outside chance that Apple might allow user upgradability as well).

SJ was pretty adamant that the new MBA was the future of apple notebooks and that would seem to indicate the end of the HDD.

dt
 
dtidmore@msn.co said:
Pooled volume managed file systems such as ZFS are an elegant and robust solution, whether it is actually ZFS or an Apple clone. The existing 256Gb sticks will only get cheaper. I suspect that 10.7 will bring at least the option for a ZFS-like file system so that multiple 256GB SSD sticks can be installed in the next gen MBP yet still present a unified storage image. Given that 4 SSD sticks would take up less physical space than one 2.5" HDD, I suspect that the next gen MBP will allow such, probably starting with a single 256GB stick with additional sticks field upgradable (outside chance that Apple might allow user upgradability as well).

SJ was pretty adamant that the new MBA was the future of apple notebooks and that would seem to indicate the end of the HDD.

dt
Click to expand...

Interesting thoughts.. I would say if Apple can figure out a way to stick 500Gb of flash memory into its top of the line MBP, make it appear as one logical drive and keep it around $2200 like it is now, most of us would jump all over that.

I just ordered a 15" i7, but I am keeping all of the packaging and will obsess over keeping it pristine as I have a sneaky feeling I will be selling it on ebay or craigslist next summer because of a big MBP redesign.
 
BeachChair said:
This is kind of a followup to the poll on weather to keep or ditch the Superdrive.
Given that we now know that it's possible to upgrade and replace the SSD sticks in the MBA...would you support Apple going in the same direction with the next iteration of MBPs?
Click to expand...

Maybe. I like the idea, but I think 240 GB should be the absolute bare minimum storage space, and 500 GB is more like what people would be expecting.

Provided that we can find a way to do that in a $2000 notebook, then I'll vote yes. :)
 
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