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MBP - SSD or HD?

S

sma1001

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 6, 2011
13
0
Hi. I am about to buy a MBP - likely the 13 inch basic model (but open to suggestions). The Anandtech review suggests that the single best upgrade is to an SSD - but these are expensive above the 128gb.

Assuming i'd be getting the 320gb HD, what are your views on "upgrading" this to a 128 SSD?

I am not a heavy user - and want the MBP to support my masters studies (creation of documents, spreadsheets etc) as well as iTunes, net access and some light gaming - Starcraft II for example). So i was thinking the SSD speed would make usability easier - and perhaps 128gb is enough?

Suggestions gratefully received. :)
 
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For what you will be doing, you won't need the SSD. The prices of SSD should be dropping in a couple months.
 
I was also thinking about upgrading to an SSD, but in the end I decided against it.

I am very happy with my HDD. It is very quiet and now I don't have to worry about storage space.

In a few years I might replace the HDD with an SSD. Then the SSDs will be much cheaper and it will probably feel like more of an upgrade when you have actually used the MBP for a few years (thus you will feel even more satisfied).
 
I concur with the previous posters, you need no SSD for your usage.

Besides SSDs will decrease in price in the future and then it will be a better deal.
 
*ANY* technology will get cheaper over time. Sorry guys, that's a poor excuse not to get one.

I bought a 13" and immediately upgraded to a SSD and 8gb of mem.`. No regrets whatsoever. Thing boots in like 15 seconds after the Apple comes up and things like Windows VM's under Fusion, and Photoshop load in seconds. Good example, I have Adobe Design premium on it and Photoshop loads inside of 3 seconds.

Yeah, it'll be cheaper down the road, but the next MBP will probably be near the same price and have better features. By everyone's logic we'd never ever upgrade.
 
Ccrew said:
Yeah, it'll be cheaper down the road, but the next MBP will probably be near the same price and have better features. By everyone's logic we'd never ever upgrade.
Click to expand...

Umm I understood the OP as implicitly asking if an SSD would be worth it for what he'll use the computer for. It isn't.

For about the same that Apple charges for the 128GB ($250), he can install a superfast cheap SSD like the 40GB OWC Mercury Extreme (99$), to be used as boot and applications drive, and an extra harddrive, like the Seagate Momentus XT, the WD Scorpio Black, in the optical bay using an MCE optibay ($99).
 
I think what people were referring to is the fact that mainstream ssd's are still relatively new, hence they will drop in prices more significantly as they become more mainstream. So for someone that won't make full use of it, it is probably not a good time to buy one right now.
 
I think SSD is definitely worth it.

I'm a heavy user with tons of data. 512GB SSD or larger would be ideal for me, but at the price I don't see it as worth it.

You can pick up a 40GB SSD for $90-100.

Word docs, etc.. don't take up much space. It really depends on how much data you have and how much of it you need to have with you.

Right now I'm doing 40GB SSD and 2.5TB external storage.

No SSD under 512GB would be able to hold a significant amount of my data, so I opted to get a drive large enough to load my programs, which leaves me with 20GB free space for when I'm on the go.
 
With OS X Lion right around the corner, I would wait on any SSD purchase. We still don't know what SSD's will have TRIM support under the OS, beyond the expensive ones Apple provides as an option at purchase.
 
My most recent computer purchase has the SSD and after using it I would never go back to a mechanical hard drive. That's how much of a difference it makes. To me, the determining factor should be how much storage space you need. If you have a lot of stuff to load and need 500 GB, then you'll have to get a standard hd. But if you can get by with 256 or 128 GB, then definitely get an SSD.
 
I am new poster, considering the same questions as the original poster. I've seen general statements that SSD should be prone to failure at a lesser rate than tradional HDDs because there are less (or no?) moving parts. Does anyone know of a source or studies looking at the failure rate of both?

(I've tried to search the forum, but did not see any cites or links to the requested information).
 
I went with the 128GB SSD, it will make a world of difference, plus it sound like you don't need more than 128GB so it would be perfect.

I was reading an article this morning (but can't seam to find the link) saying that the SSD drives have a life cycle of 5000 rewrites, which translated to writing 72 Terrabytes, witch is 40GB of data every day for 5 years straight. Regular hard drives would be lucky to aquire this sort of endurance. Plus SSD drives have no moving parts. The hybird drives do have moving parts though.

I've seen many regular hard drives messed up because people have bumped their laptops while the drive was spinning. I think this is the main reason regular hard drives need replacement.
 
Just got mine with a 128GB SSD a couple days ago. Why go with Apples? Go try to find a 120-128GB SSD that will work with OS X's factory TRIM support. If you could (which you won't) it would still cost you as much, or up to $50 more for that same capacity. Further more I would rather buy a WD Scorpio Black HDD for the optibay that will come with a 5yr warranty. Better than what ever Apple is throwing in their MBP's from factory.

BTW, the Apple SSD actually has a usable capacity of 121.33GB. But still, find a 120GB SSD for $200 or less with OS X TRIM support. It does not exist (currently).
 
just got a 120GB SSD a couple days ago. It's night and day, even for trivial tasks. I will never, ever get a HDD for my main OSX drive again. Just saying.
 
popped an ssd in my pre-unibody macbook pro 2008 and this machine feels way more responsive than my production machine at work (2 x 2.8ghz Quad Xeon w/8gb RAM). best $160 i've ever spent on a computer for sure. Rationalize it all you want but but its really like night and day...got another 2 years with this bad boy for sure (i work mostly with artsy apps fwiw).
 
I think an SSD definitely enhance everyday life, provides a very snappy system, dramatically reduce load times.
 
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