Newbie Advice SSD or HDD?

[tweety3]

I know there are some discussions on the forum with regards to SSD vs HDD, I've searched but found nothing that answers my questions really & as this is going to be my first Mac I'd appreciate a little advice, this will be also be the first laptop I've bought. I'm going to buy a new Macbook with 4GB Ram, but for my purposes I'm not sure of the other specs. I'll be using it for surfing, a little photo editing and playing around with Photoshop & Illustrator CS3/CS4. I'm not a pro, it's just a hobby really which is why I chose the Macbook over the Macbook Pro. My questions are would you get the 2.0 GHZ or 2.4GHZ version, and are there any advantages to going with a 128GB SSD over a HDD, price not being a huge factor?
Thanks in advance

 

[belvdr]

I'd just go with the HDD. The price really won't justify itself for the small stuff. And for proc, 2.0 is plenty fast enough for what you're doing.

But, in the end, if you have the money and it's really burning a hole in your pocket, I'd get the upgraded proc before the SSD.

 

[tweety3]

Thanks belvdr. What difference would a SSD make with the applictions I use? Would it make them work any quicker, or is that mainly down to the processor speed or RAM? In the past when I've created canvases in PS & Illustrator it seemed to take an age to save them! (Sorry if it's a dumb question, but I want to make sure I get the best model for my needs)
TIA

 

[tweety3]

I know there are a ton of questions to be answered with the new releases today, but I really don't know much about ssd vs hdd so I'd really appreciate it if anyone could help me out with my query.
Thanks

 

[kanpachi]

I would highly recommend going with the SSD if price is not a huge factor. Installed one in my former MBP and it made a world of a difference in terms of speed, snappiness and the overall user experience. Everything is just faster and best of all is the silent operation. No more annoying hard drive loading sounds to bug you.

 

[tweety3]

Thanks, I'm definitely leaning towards the SSD. I just want to be sure that it's worth it!

 

[mac jones]

Just a heads up

SSD's vary in every way much more than regular drives, although this is not talked about as the tech is evolving.

In other words, I would strongly suggest waiting to find out which SSD they are shipping.

The difference in these now can be astonishing.

You may find that you could have gotten a drive that is 3X faster (some specs 100x) for half the price.

read up on it.

 

[dwd3885]

Thanks, I'm definitely leaning towards the SSD. I just want to be sure that it's worth it!

SSD is better than standard drives in EVERYWAY. But please, buy the base macbook and then go to newegg and buy an SSD drive for MUCH cheaper. It is easy as cake to replace the hard drive in these macbooks, so you just take the old one out (can use it as an external drive if you want by just buying an enclosure) and then put in the SSD

 

[aleksandra.]

Thanks belvdr. What difference would a SSD make with the applictions I use? Would it make them work any quicker, or is that mainly down to the processor speed or RAM? In the past when I've created canvases in PS & Illustrator it seemed to take an age to save them! (Sorry if it's a dumb question, but I want to make sure I get the best model for my needs)
TIA

1. Find out what SSD they're putting in MacBooks and search for reviews;
2. Wait until reviews of new MacBooks (hopefully comparing performance of HDD vs SSD, like with Air) appear.

Most of SSDs are crap. But the good ones are way better than even fastest HDD. I suppose it's Samsung in the new Air, because its 64GB was used in previous generation Air, but then again, they lowered the price while Samsung's 128GB is still very expensive, and they did change Samsung's drives for Toshiba's in new iPod Classic.

Also if the SSD they're using turns out to be not really good, you can buy HDD version and swap the drives later (buying an enclosure for an old drive to use it as an external).

 

[MacinJosh]

Thanks, I'm definitely leaning towards the SSD. I just want to be sure that it's worth it!

If you can afford it, it's most definately worth it. I have had tons of HD problems and I've been waiting for SSDs for 10 years! I basically invented SSD in my own mind since I actually thought of it before it was actually available in any form...

 

[mac jones]

If you can afford it, it's most definately worth it. I have had tons of HD problems and I've been waiting for SSDs for 10 years! I basically invented SSD in my own mind since I actually thought of it before it was actually available in any form...

well that's an endorsement !

 

[tweety3]

Thanks for all your opinions, I appreciate you taking the time to answer, it's a big decision to make when you're talking about an extra £400!
Maybe I will just get the 250GB HDD & get a SSD drive from New Egg (if it really is as easy as swapping the two over as I'm NOT good with technology!)
Hmm, decisions decisions!!