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Need an opinion on SSD?

V

vjicecool

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 16, 2010
334
7
What do you guys think about

OCZ Vertex Series OCZSSD2-1VTX30GXXX 2.5" 30GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

VS

Crucial M4 CT064M4SSD2 2.5" 64GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)


Which one is best to Buy, Since i have limited Budget?
I have 2009 Mid Macbook Pro, 2.53 ghz, with 4gb RAM
 
The OCZ is first gen Vertex and to be honest, it sucks. The Crucial is brand new so definitely get it if it has to be between these two.
 
The crucial you're looking at uses SATA III, and although it is backward compatible with the SATA II laptop you own, you would be paying extra for a hard drive that is faster than what your laptop can support.

I'd look elsewhere and save money.
 
If you are looking at small size SSDs then it's not something that you would move to a new computer once you buy it. Based on that, SATA III is a waste of money, assuming it costs more than a comparable SATA II drive. But what I found looking at 128Gb SSDs for example is that I can get a Crucial C300 SATA III for $200, which is same price as OCZ Vertex 2 SATA II, and cheaper than any other 128Gb SSD. Not sure about 60Gb drives, but I suspect the situation is similar.

The question is, can you live with a 30-60Gb drive? I would look into hybrid drives like Seagate Momentus XT 500 GB for $100. Not ideal, but definitely faster than stock HD, especially if you don't change your usage habits, and plenty of space.

Polbit
 
Snaky69 say's...SATA 111 is not compatible with macbook pro of my model.
 
vjicecool said:
POLBIT ...you are saying that SATA 111 is not compatible with macbook pro of my model.
Click to expand...

SATA 6Gb/s is backwards compatible with SATA 1.5Gb/s and SATA 3Gb/s but you cannot take full advantage of it, since your interface is limited to 3Gb/s.
 
vjicecool said:
Snaky69 say's...SATA 111 is not compatible with macbook pro of my model.
Click to expand...

No, it IS compatible, it's just wasted speed as the SSD will not be running at it's maximum capacity. If it happens to be cheaper than a SATA II drive, then go right ahead, if not, I'd go to a SATA II just to save some money.

Think of it as buying a honda civic and sticking a ferrari engine in it, it'll never be able to use it to it's full potential because it just wasn't meant to do it.
 
Hellhammer said:
The OCZ is first gen Vertex and to be honest, it sucks. The Crucial is brand new so definitely get it if it has to be between these two.
Click to expand...

Ok man, I have read your posts, and respect your knowledge... but I have to politely disagree on one point, the OCZ first gen doesn't "suck". It's a pretty phenominal drive when compared with it's peer group. If you are running a 300 MB bus, then this drive screams. Over time it maintains its performance with very little degradation (subject to use characteristics).
 
mac8867 said:
Ok man, I have read your posts, and respect your knowledge... but I have to politely disagree on one point, the OCZ first gen doesn't "suck". It's a pretty phenominal drive when compared with it's peer group. If you are running a 300 MB bus, then this drive screams. Over time it maintains its performance with very little degradation (subject to use characteristics).
Click to expand...

If you are comparing it to Crucial m4, then it pretty much sucks:

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/129?vs=356

It is two generations old now, a lot has happened in the SSD world since it was launched. Unless it is ridiculously cheap, I would get something else.
 
Hellhammer said:
If you are comparing it to Crucial m4, then it pretty much sucks:

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/129?vs=356

It is two generations old now, a lot has happened in the SSD world since it was launched. Unless it is ridiculously cheap, I would get something else.
Click to expand...

I also think that the original Vertex drives were very good for their time.

Comparing them to the brand new M4 is like comparing a Vietnam era F-4 Phantom to an F-22, generationally speaking. F-4 in its day, great. Today? Not so much.
 
I finally got this, What you guys think

OCZ Vertex 2 OCZSSD2-2VTXE60G 2.5" 60GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
 
vjicecool said:
I finally got this, What you guys think

OCZ Vertex 2 OCZSSD2-2VTXE60G 2.5" 60GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
Click to expand...

Performance wise it's very good.

Reliability is below par. There are 1200 customer reviews of the Vertex 2 on Newegg. 200 of them experienced failure.
 
Let me see what happens after i install it
if it doesn't work, i will return it
Thanks for all your opinion guys,i really apprecite it
 
Last edited:
kdoug said:
I'll chime in. OWC charges a 15% restocking fee if not happy. Newegg will only exchange for the same model. If you're going to buy a SSD, Amazon or Buy.com. They have great return policy's.
Click to expand...

B&H, too. That's why I bought my pair of C300s there. They have an excellent return policy on most items with no restocking fee and almost no questions asked. I returned a camera lens there a few years ago because I changed my mind about the finish. I told the guy that and he said no problem (and they didn't have the other color in stock so I got a refund).
 
Weaselboy said:
Threadjack: Thanks for that link. I have been using Anand's web site forever and never ran across that. Nice tool for comparing drives.
Click to expand...

I absolutely love that tool. It's great for CPUs and GPUs as well. Makes comparing two products so easy.

johnnj said:
I also think that the original Vertex drives were very good for their time.

Comparing them to the brand new M4 is like comparing a Vietnam era F-4 Phantom to an F-22, generationally speaking. F-4 in its day, great. Today? Not so much.
Click to expand...

That is why I said if it has to be between those two drives in my first post ;) Vertex was a good drive back in its days but technology develops quite fast.
 
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