Samsung 830 or 840 or 840 Pro

[pianoman88]

I'm upgrading my 2012 MBP 17" and can't decide which SSD to purchase. I know that the hardware limits the speed, but reliability and warranty are also important to me.

It's going to be used to hold a Logic and a few sample libraries, so we're talking mostly reads.

 

[S.B.G]

I'm upgrading my 2012 MBP 17" and can't decide which SSD to purchase. I know that the hardware limits the speed, but reliability and warranty are also important to me.

It's going to be used to hold a Logic and a few sample libraries, so we're talking mostly reads.

I think you'd do well with the 840. The 830 is at end-of-life and is expensive because of its now limited supplies. You shouldn't need the 840 Pro since that is intended for heavy writing daily. The regular 840 should last you at least 7 years writing 10GiB per day for those 7 years.

 

[Yahooligan]

I'm upgrading my 2012 MBP 17" and can't decide which SSD to purchase. I know that the hardware limits the speed, but reliability and warranty are also important to me.

It's going to be used to hold a Logic and a few sample libraries, so we're talking mostly reads.

Do you mean 2011 17"?

I also don't know what you mean by the hardware limits the speed. If you have a 2011 MBP and put the SSD in the HDD bay then you will get SATA-III speed which won't be the bottleneck with an SSD so you'll get the full performance out of it.

I have the 840 Pro and love it, it also comes with a 5-year warranty. For your needs the standard 840 should be fine since you're doing mostly reads however it only has a 3-year warranty. Your call. I wouldn't get the 830, though, for the reason already mentioned.

 

[jcpb]

I'm upgrading my 2012 MBP 17" and can't decide which SSD to purchase. I know that the hardware limits the speed, but reliability and warranty are also important to me.

It's going to be used to hold a Logic and a few sample libraries, so we're talking mostly reads.

840 Pro.

Don't consider the regular 840 unless you are sure that the data you work with daily is not important.

 

[S.B.G]

840 Pro.

Don't consider the regular 840 unless you are sure that the data you work with daily is not important.

Why are you insinuating that the 840 is unreliable? The difference between the two is primarily in the NAND where the Pro has a more durable one. Regardless of that, the non-Pro is designed to last at least 7 years writing 10GiB per day.

As Hellhammer writes in this post:

And those numbers are based on a very conservative write amplification factor of 10x. Consumer workloads rarely have WAs higher than 3-5x, which improves the endurance even more.

I did some more consumer relevant calculations here.

 

[adiddas125]

I am using the Samsung 840 (non pro) 250g in my MBP 13" 2009, and it has made me not need to buy the new Haswell Macbook Pro coming out this Sept.

Maxing out the ram also helped a ton as well (4gb --> 8gb)

It is simply an amazing product.

 

[S.B.G]

I am using the Samsung 840 (non pro) 250g in my MBP 13" 2009, and it has made me not need to buy the new Haswell Macbook Pro coming out this Sept.

Maxing out the ram also helped a ton as well (4gb --> 8gb)

It is simply an amazing product.

The SSD and RAM upgrades really do go a long way in making a computer feel refreshed and brings in a new level of longevity. Enjoy!

 

[paul-n]

Usually the 840 should be OK, if you can afford the Pro is even better, but you won't feel the difference in normal work.
Please always do backups, everything and everyone can fail.