non power user, SSD worth it?

[fibrizo]

Here's how the average consumer perceives an SSD:

A 160GB SSD, is close to $500.
A 500GB laptop drive costs $100.

500GB is worth my money and I'm not spending $500 for 160GB.

The average consumer could really care less how fast an SSD is. The average consumer looks at the price vs. capacity, and that's about it. In their minds, the HD wins.

Agreed. I think people in general do not understand the differences in numbers, except higher is better. I've helped alot of friends and family buy computer stuff, and they have no idea what ram, HD space, cpu speed, bus speed, L2 cache, etc is or does. I also agree that SSDs are not ready for prime time. Most normal users do not get enough benefit per cost ratio on the drives. I personally cannot go to SSD because I do use my DVD drive, and I use about 180gb between my 2 partitions already. The added expense of an SSD now, would probably be better spent on just buying a higher spec laptop or new one when it comes out. Don't get me wrong, shock protection is great, and the high end SSDs are blazingly fast. Just that size and cost constraints make it not economical. I kinda learned my lesson after we rushed out to buy the 3x CD-Rom drive back in the day for 450$... which is much more in 2009 dollars... but heck it was 50% faster than all the 2x drives lol, and even needed a CD caddy.

But if money is no object, or your file system requirements are small, SSDs are great. When flash hits about 1$ per gigabyte for a fast drive of >160gb, we're going to see alot more adoption.

 

[cadfaeltex]

I too am about to get an new MBP 13 and was considering the SSD option. After digging through this thread and a couple of others I've about decided to not do it. The differences I have from the OP FWIW are:

1. Looking to a little Aperture work on it sometimes
2. WOW when I'm traveling
3. Occasional trips to rugged environments (ie Afghanistan)

Any of those impact for or against my decision not to get the SSD? (the last one was the strongest case initially in my mind for getting the SSD over a HDD)

TIA,
Tony

 

[Niiro13]

I too am about to get an new MBP 13 and was considering the SSD option. After digging through this thread and a couple of others I've about decided to not do it. The differences I have from the OP FWIW are:

1. Looking to a little Aperture work on it sometimes
2. WOW when I'm traveling
3. Occasional trips to rugged environments (ie Afghanistan)

Any of those impact for or against my decision not to get the SSD? (the last one was the strongest case initially in my mind for getting the SSD over a HDD)

TIA,
Tony

1) Aperture would benefit greatly from an SSD in that images would just pop up faster when loading and saving.

2) WoW would only be noticeable in the loading screen and even then it's not as much.

3) Ruggedness really depends. You can move your laptop more with an SSD inside and not have it interrupt as much as a hard drive would.

To be honest, from those three things, the benefit of an SSD would not outweigh the cost. If you can afford it without regret, you'll definitely be happier and notice the performance increase with an SSD.

 

[nutsnbolts]

1) Aperture would benefit greatly from an SSD in that images would just pop up faster when loading and saving.

2) WoW would only be noticeable in the loading screen and even then it's not as much.

3) Ruggedness really depends. You can move your laptop more with an SSD inside and not have it interrupt as much as a hard drive would.

To be honest, from those three things, the benefit of an SSD would not outweigh the cost. If you can afford it without regret, you'll definitely be happier and notice the performance increase with an SSD.

Sorry to tell you but working with RAW files with aperture, you'll run out of HD space before you know it but yes, your images would load up so fast..oh so fast. (as long as it's not on an external).

 

[mrsir2009]

I'm a casual user, don't store much on my Mac, and I'm getting a SSD in my new MBP.

 

[Niiro13]

Sorry to tell you but working with RAW files with aperture, you'll run out of HD space before you know it but yes, your images would load up so fast..oh so fast. (as long as it's not on an external).

Yes, that is definitely true (work with RAW myself). I figured the poster knew that, tho, since the factor of storage is usually brought up in an SSD thread and they had read several others.

But yeah, if you can fit it on an SSD, then definitely super fast. If you're using like an external hard drive, then no difference whatsoever (if anything it's slower cause it's going through firewire which is considerably slower than SATA).

 

[antskip]

3. Occasional trips to rugged environments (ie Afghanistan)

Any of those impact for or against my decision not to get the SSD? (the last one was the strongest case initially in my mind for getting the SSD over a HDD)

TIA,
Tony

If you are going to very tough hot environments where security of your data is important, hopefully cost is not a major factor. In that case a SSD is much better able to handle sudden impact, runs much cooler, has no spinning parts, and maximizes the effectiveness of the computer overall. But choose an SLC-based SSD rather than MLC if you can - it is a huge leap ahead of the more common MLC SSD in expected life span. The other thing I would do is install 2 MLC SSD's if at all possible - one for OS and programs, one for data; - or a RAID 1 mirror. Nothing would beat a twin-MLC SSD system for mobile storage. The very best would be the 64GB Intel X25-E series (SLC). Otherwise, there is a lower cost option with the 60GB OCZ Agility EX SSD (SLC). http://www.guru3d.com/article/ocz-agility-ex-ssd-60gb-review-test/11. If you stay with MLC SSD's options are much wider, and the storage capacity go much bigger. I would go for the 160GB Intel X25-M (MLC), or one of the Samsung or Indilinx - driven 250GB MLC SSD's from OCZ or others.

 

[cadfaeltex]

If I went with the SSD it would be from Apple with it. Don't really feel like swapping out anything on a laptop right now.

 

[tenderidol]

If I went with the SSD it would be from Apple with it. Don't really feel like swapping out anything on a laptop right now.

It is REALLY simple. Have you watched any videos on youtube? It takes 5 minutes (or less). Most likely, for the same price, you can get a better/bigger SSD.

 

[tenderidol]

I too am about to get an new MBP 13 and was considering the SSD option. After digging through this thread and a couple of others I've about decided to not do it. The differences I have from the OP FWIW are:

1. Looking to a little Aperture work on it sometimes
2. WOW when I'm traveling
3. Occasional trips to rugged environments (ie Afghanistan)

Any of those impact for or against my decision not to get the SSD? (the last one was the strongest case initially in my mind for getting the SSD over a HDD)

TIA,
Tony

Tony,
What you listed as 3 items should not prevent you from getting an SSD. 1 and 2 would benefit, and 3 will be taken care of by the structural integrity of the SSD - as mentioned above.