Prices for SSD

[yelkenli]

I am looking to upgrade two MBP with new storage. I am confused about the compatibility of these drives. Amazon has Samsung 500G drives for $150 or so, but if you filter for mac compatible, the price jumps to $250 for a 480G. Are SSD drives unique to PCs and MACs?
Also, is the SATA level important to compatibility? the information I find on these MBPs are just 'serial ATA'.


these are my macs:
http://www.everymac.com/systems/app...re-i5-2.5-13-mid-2012-unibody-usb3-specs.html

http://www.everymac.com/systems/app...-13-early-2011-unibody-thunderbolt-specs.html

 

[treekram]

Sometimes the Amazon filters for computer products are not accurate. But it's better to omit than include something in the list that isn't compatible.

The 850 Evo, which is what I'm guessing is the SSD you're looking at (with no filter), is compatible with the 2011/2012 MBP's in your links. The 750 SSD's are not as good, price/performance wise and the anything in the 9XX range won't work in these MBP's. I have a couple of 250GB 850 Evo's in my mid-2012 13" MBP. As I look at the Amazon page for the 500GB 850 Evo today, the top review was one in which the 500GB 850 Evo was put in a mid-2012 MBP.

 

[Resist]

I recently put an OWC SSD in my Mid 2010 MBP

 

[windows4ever]

SATA SSDs work on PCs and Macs equally; they are not OS specific. The Samsung Evo 850s are the "gold standard" of SSDs and if in doubt, get one of those. The 850 Evos are the only SLC drives I would consider using. Otherwise, I would insist on a MLC drive (more expensive but more reliable). After you format and install the OS, be sure to enable TRIM (search the internet for details!)

 

[yelkenli]

Thanks treekram and windows4ever. I was hoping that was the case.

I did read one article talking about the pin arrangement of the drive cable, being different between PC and mac. But then, I would expect the technical descriptions to mention that, and possibly refer to a different or distinguishable industry standard (of which I see none).

So why pay $100 extra for a slightly smaller drive? This is what you get if you filter Amazon by mac, or use any of the other websites (crucial, OWC, etc.).

 

[Fishrrman]

Just about any SSD will do.

I make it a point to avoid Samsung drives. They can be the fastest, but when I see a post about "problems with an SSD", it's almost -always- a Samsung.

I prefer Sandisk and Crucial. Intel is ok too, but more $$$.

 

[Fancuku]

I did read one article talking about the pin arrangement of the drive cable, being different between PC and mac.

Only the retina MBPs mid 2012- 2015 models and Macbook Air mid 2013-2017 have proprietary SSDs.