New Intel SSD X25M Gen2 almost here

gl4662 said:
Thank you for your reply. I plan on getting the base model 13 MBP for 1099, then upgrading my ram to http://www.crucial.com/store/mpartspecs.aspx?mtbpoid=617B82A2A5CA7304 and upgrading to the SSD by an authorized apple service center. I know, I may be a bit off topic here, and I apologize in advance, but with the ram upgrade is there a difference between apples brand and say crucial? I know I save about 30 dollars upgrading my own ram, but when you get into 8gigs of ram it seems the price offered by apple is the same elsewhere, unless I am missing something.

Once again, I apologize for my ignorance, but with the "new" intel HD's supporting TRIMM for windows, and not knowing if it will be supported in SL, will there be a significant difference still between the "new" versus the old? Correct, me if I am wrong too, but the Sata issue of 1.5-3.0 has now been fixed?

Thanks very much.
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You can do whatever you want with your SSD, just be aware that SSD has a limited write lifespan. If you are doing a lot of stuff that requires more than 25% of your SSD capacity DAILY, you might be shortening your SSD lifespan to 2 years or less instead of lasting 5 years. Normally that wouldn't be bothering people since it is easy to upgrade the SSD in two years again. Your SSD won't fail like HD where you can't read data, it'll continue to read fine even if it can't be written again.

If I recall correctly, it is pretty easy to upgrade the SSD yourself in the 2009 models, no need to spend 100$ just to install SSD.

There are no differences between Apple's RAM and other brands. As long as you pick a good brand and not a generic brand. Normally ones with lifetime warranty would be excellent. Crucial is good but 8GB of RAM is still expensive everywhere. 4GB sticks will take a while for the prices to drop. If you can't find cheaper price, than get it at Apple.

SATA issue has been fixed with the EFI 1.7 update. TRIM will be in Snow Leopard and possible 10.5.7 (look up IOStorage::discard). I believe Apple is waiting for SSDs with TRIM support to come out first. Intel has something special inside their firmware that can restore performance when idling, which might be the idle garbage collection that's in Samsungs and Vertex. You won't notice a significant difference in performance like booting, multitasking, those are all noticeable because of super low latency which doesn't increase significantly over time at all. You will notice transferring speed drop over a time but Intel should restore it back to normal over time. You have nothing to worry about.
 
MikhailT said:
You can do whatever you want with your SSD, just be aware that SSD has a limited write lifespan. If you are doing a lot of stuff that requires more than 25% of your SSD capacity DAILY, you might be shortening your SSD lifespan to 2 years or less instead of lasting 5 years. Normally that wouldn't be bothering people since it is easy to upgrade the SSD in two years again. Your SSD won't fail like HD where you can't read data, it'll continue to read fine even if it can't be written again.

If I recall correctly, it is pretty easy to upgrade the SSD yourself in the 2009 models, no need to spend 100$ just to install SSD.

There are no differences between Apple's RAM and other brands. As long as you pick a good brand and not a generic brand. Normally ones with lifetime warranty would be excellent. Crucial is good but 8GB of RAM is still expensive everywhere. 4GB sticks will take a while for the prices to drop. If you can't find cheaper price, than get it at Apple.

SATA issue has been fixed with the EFI 1.7 update. TRIM will be in Snow Leopard and possible 10.5.7 (look up IOStorage::discard). I believe Apple is waiting for SSDs with TRIM support to come out first. Intel has something special inside their firmware that can restore performance when idling, which might be the idle garbage collection that's in Samsungs and Vertex. You won't notice a significant difference in performance like booting, multitasking, those are all noticeable because of super low latency which doesn't increase significantly over time at all. You will notice transferring speed drop over a time but Intel should restore it back to normal over time. You have nothing to worry about.
Click to expand...

thank you very much for the reply. I will wait for the new intel SSD's then. Also, after research I have come to the conclusion that If I replace the HD myself then it will void the warranty, however if I have an authorized dealer do it, my warranty (applecare) will stay in tact. am I right?

Once again, thank you.
 
gl4662 said:
thank you very much for the reply. I will wait for the new intel SSD's then. Also, after research I have come to the conclusion that If I replace the HD myself then it will void the warranty, however if I have an authorized dealer do it, my warranty (applecare) will stay in tact. am I right?

Once again, thank you.
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As long as you do not break anything, then your warranty will still be void on your laptop - with the exception of the hard drive(s) - the one you put in new and the one you took out.

If you break something though, then that does void the warranty on that part.
 
bamf said:
As long as you do not break anything, then your warranty will still be void on your laptop - with the exception of the hard drive(s) - the one you put in new and the one you took out.

If you break something though, then that does void the warranty on that part.
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did you mean if i do it and i dont break anything it will still be intact? The fear is that from what I have read, there are tabs (stickers?) that you have to break in order to get the stock hd out, and the only ones who can replace that to keep your warranty in tact is a Authorized apple center?
 
gl4662 said:
did you mean if i do it and i dont break anything it will still be intact? The fear is that from what I have read, there are tabs (stickers?) that you have to break in order to get the stock hd out, and the only ones who can replace that to keep your warranty in tact is a Authorized apple center?
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There was a thread in here yesterday I believe about this, and they had some good cites from the Apple website that should give you more comfort - so you may want to just search for it...

I believe you should be able to get to the HD without having to break any "Warranty Void if Removed" type stickers. There are several tutorials on the web on how to do this. In fact, I watched one last week (believe it was on YouTube) where someone had a new (2009) MBP and it was 9 screws to get to the HD I believe. He did the whole switch (including RAM) in less than 10 minutes.
 
gl4662 said:
did you mean if i do it and i dont break anything it will still be intact? The fear is that from what I have read, there are tabs (stickers?) that you have to break in order to get the stock hd out, and the only ones who can replace that to keep your warranty in tact is a Authorized apple center?
Click to expand...

This question gets asked a lot more than it should. Read your manual, it specifically tells you that you are able to upgrade your hard drive and even shows you the procedure to do it.
 
Thanks Bamf, I did get a chance to read that.


mcpryon2 said:
This question gets asked a lot more than it should. Read your manual, it specifically tells you that you are able to upgrade your hard drive and even shows you the procedure to do it.
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Yes, I have read the manual and I am aware it says that, however it does not state anything about the warranty. I'm just trying to get clarification, because I have asked the apple genius bar guys, and I have asked an Authorized Apple center, and the answers are contradicting, but anyways, thank you for your input, i feel we're getting off topic, sorry guys and thanks! Much appreciated
 
Sorry to be computer illiterate, but what is TRIM support?

Can the new Intel SSD's run Windows 7 and Snow Leopard fine without a firmware update?

And how would one go about updating the SSD firmware (I'm assuming thru Intel's website, and then having to reinstall your OS?)
 
MikhailT said:
...just be aware that SSD has a limited write lifespan. If you are doing a lot of stuff that requires more than 25% of your SSD capacity DAILY, you might be shortening your SSD lifespan to 2 years or less instead of lasting 5 years...
Click to expand...

I think you have this backwards. Per Intel:

The useful life of Intel SSDs are five years. That useful life is dependent on write cycles. The parameter being 20GB a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year for five years. In other words, if you write a quarter (25 percent) of your capacity (of an 80GB drive) for five years, it will last. If you write less than that, it will last even longer
Click to expand...
 
But!!!

New Intel 160gb

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OCZ Vertex 128gb

vertex_hdtune_write.jpg



Write is not important?
 
I want one! I just can't decide between the 80GB and the 160GB, I find that the base Leopard installation takes quite a bit of space... :(
 
Keep in mind that Snow Leopard will be 'lighter' than Leopard.

80gb should be enough if you're not storing too much media on the laptop.

Heck, I'm old enough to remember being in awe of 1Gb!
 
glavoie84 said:
I want one! I just can't decide between the 80GB and the 160GB, I find that the base Leopard installation takes quite a bit of space... :(
Click to expand...

Yeah like said once snow leopard comes out it'll be a non issue, but in the interim did you take out the language packs and the printer drivers? You should be able to get it pretty lean.
 
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