Practical difference in SSD vs HDD? Give me the lowdown!

[WiLLGT09]

So, I just ordered my "17i5" (a nice shorthand there) with the 128GB SSD. I've been noticing here and there on these forums about people being worried about using SSD with large files, needing a lot of disk usage (I.e. Scratch disk), and limiting the amount of overall data one puts on the drive.

This will be my first experience with an SSD computer. Do I actually
need to worry about any of this? In terms of general usage, shouldn't the SSD be simply a much faster and energy efficient disk drive? I will of course keep in mind the normals things, like making sure not to drop below 5GB of remaining storage (OS X doesn't like that even with a standard platter hard drive - though I think that has to do with the writing RAM contents upon Sleep, which I disable anyway).

Are there things I should do differently in my daily computer usage with my new SSD?

Thanks!
William

 

[Luba]

I am trying to decide between the 128GB SSD or the 256GB SSD, jumping to the bigger 256GB is quite a jump in price ($400). I know I can buy a better SSD for a lower price and install it myself, but the Apple store told me that would void the warranty. Will call AppleCare to make sure.

Anyway, I have a similar question: If 128GB is enough, then I'll just order that version of the SSD. I figure system and applications will add to at most 28GB. The system is like 15GB, leaving 13 GB for programs so that seems plenty to me. I won't be video editing, at least I don't plan to, and I won't store lots of photos or music, as I will view this laptop as my commuting laptop (bring to work since I don't want to use their clunky PC desktop). If I am not missing anything, then I think I'll be ok with 128GB SSD. Am I not considering something that I should be??

Thanks.

 

[mattrothcline]

So, I just ordered my "17i5" (a nice shorthand there) with the 128GB SSD. I've been noticing here and there on these forums about people being worried about using SSD with large files, needing a lot of disk usage (I.e. Scratch disk), and limiting the amount of overall data one puts on the drive.

This will be my first experience with an SSD computer. Do I actually
need to worry about any of this? In terms of general usage, shouldn't the SSD be simply a much faster and energy efficient disk drive? I will of course keep in mind the normals things, like making sure not to drop below 5GB of remaining storage (OS X doesn't like that even with a standard platter hard drive - though I think that has to do with the writing RAM contents upon Sleep, which I disable anyway).

Are there things I should do differently in my daily computer usage with my new SSD?

Thanks!
William

The short answer is **no**.

This forum is filled with people who don't know what they are talking about and just parrot myths and nonsense about SSDs.

Use it just like a normal hard drive. Fill it up as much as you want - the "5 GB reserve" is a myth. I've filled up my drive so that it had 4 MEGABYTES of free space and it causes no problems - except, of course, not being able to save any new files.

Just drop it in and enjoy the speed increase. The hard disk is the slowest part of a modern computer, so a speed upgrade here is more noticeable than an upgrade almost anywhere else.

 

[edlowc]

HD vs. SSD

The short answer is **no**.

This forum is filled with people who don't know what they are talking about and just parrot myths and nonsense about SSDs.

Use it just like a normal hard drive. Fill it up as much as you want - the "5 GB reserve" is a myth. I've filled up my drive so that it had 4 MEGABYTES of free space and it causes no problems - except, of course, not being able to save any new files.

Just drop it in and enjoy the speed increase. The hard disk is the slowest part of a modern computer, so a speed upgrade here is more noticeable than an upgrade almost anywhere else.

I am about to return my 17 inch core 2 duo 3.06 7200 rpm MBP so I can get the i7. It's cheaper so I want to max out the speed so for at least a few weeks I can brag to my friends that I have the fastest MBP on the planet.
Anyway should I forgo the 7200 rpm 500 gig HD for the 256 gig SSD?
Definitively, is the SSD faster and is it worth the price?