Purchasing first MBP

[jakesleepy]

Just torn right now between spending the money for the 128 SSD or sticking with a 500 standard drive. Is the SSD really worth it? I know 128 gigs will not be near enough, so should I get the SSD and buy an external 500 gig drive, or just go with the standard drive...

Any insight helps & I do plan on waiting for the refresh... any idea if the refresh will affect my dilemma will also help

Thanks

 

[mdgm]

Pricing for drive upgrades should change with the refresh. If you can afford it, a SSD will be better. Boot times will be quicker, apps will load faster, and more. Anything where the disk speed is the limiting factor will benefit.

It's up to you what you choose to use. You could always get one with a mechanical hard drive and then later on buy a SSD and put that in once SSD prices have fallen some more.

 

[mmulin]

My advice, go with the standard drive and buy the SSD aftermarket, replace it and use the standard drive as an external, or OptiBay it as second drive in your MBP. Reasoning; the SSD option from Apple is way overpriced. You could buy a 256GB SSD instead, which might be even faster as well. Speed wise it is well worth it.

 

[richard.mac]

the standard hard drive is 5400 rpm and if you dont want to spend the cash on an SSD you could get an aftermarket 7200 rpm hard drive for a bit more and install it yourself for a little bit of a speed boost.

 

[torbjoern]

Just torn right now between spending the money for the 128 SSD or sticking with a 500 standard drive. Is the SSD really worth it? I know 128 gigs will not be near enough, so should I get the SSD and buy an external 500 gig drive, or just go with the standard drive...

Any insight helps & I do plan on waiting for the refresh... any idea if the refresh will affect my dilemma will also help

Thanks

The SSD that comes as a BTO option is NEVER worth it when you buy MBP. You can replace it yourself and at the same time get 1/3 off the premium AND keep your original HDD which you can then use in a $10 external cabinet as a backup drive.

 

[Wesko]

Having the same problem over here... I think I’ll just wait and see what the new line-up brings in terms of price and upgrades.. An aftermarket SSD is definitely cheaper, but that’ll also void the warranty I guess?

 

[torbjoern]

Having the same problem over here... I think I’ll just wait and see what the new line-up brings in terms of price and upgrades.. An aftermarket SSD is definitely cheaper, but that’ll also void the warranty I guess?

Absolutely not. The MBP even comes with instructions for how to replace the disk by yourself. No way will it void the warranty per se.

 

[mdgm]

If the hard drive is a user replaceable part (it should hopefully still be) replacing it won't void the warranty, but if you have problems Apple may expect you to put the stock hardware back in and see if you still have problems.

 

[Wesko]

Absolutely not. The MBP even comes with instructions for how to replace the disk by yourself. No way will it void the warranty per se.

Really? That's cool. Never expected that from Apple (or any other manufacturer in this case) to be honest..

In this case.. the choice is quite easy I'd say.

 

[Camps23]

Are there only certain ssd drives that are compatible ?

 

[mmulin]

If the hard drive is a user replaceable part (it should hopefully still be) replacing it won't void the warranty, but if you have problems Apple may expect you to put the stock hardware back in and see if you still have problems.

No, only they won't extend the warranty to parts you replaced. In case the HDD fails, you need to use the HDD's manufacture warranty. Otherwise, user replaceable designated parts will not affect your rights with Apple fixing an otherwise faulty machine.

 

[nateo200]

Are there only certain ssd drives that are compatible ?

Nope. Standard 9.5mm SSD/HDD works. You can even squeeze in 1TB HDD that are 12.5mm

 

[Fubar1977]

Certainly avoid paying Apples prices to upgrade your drive, it`s an easy swap and won`t affect your warranty.
I run a 128GB SSD and several external drives for storage, optibay will also let you replace your optical drive with a second HDD/SSD but will void your warranty.

 

[whitedragon101]

OPTION 1
If apple uses blade format SSD's in the new Macbook Pro then problem solved as you'll have to use what they give you. Although OWC do now offer blade format SSD's.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgjv-TbB_eY

OPTION 2
If apple stick with 2.5" drives then wait till June/ July . Sandforce are bringing out an SSD controller (SF 2000) twice as fast as the current fastest Sandforce drive. OWC will be the first to go to market probably. Anandtech played with a test model and its scary fast. Boot times could be less than 10 seconds
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4100/ocz-vertex-pro-3-demo-worlds-first-sandforce-sf2000