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SDD - you NEED it or just WANT it?

H

HBOC

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Oct 14, 2008
2,499
234
SLC
I am just wondering this. I see many people saying "go low end, add an SSD" when responding to the abundance of threads about what 15" to buy.

My question is how many people actually need this vs how many people just want it? I admit I don't know much about the SSD, as the price is just way to ridiculous in my personal opinion at the moment. ($400-500 for 256GB? No thanks)

I am honestly curious about this. I want no flame wars. Just honest, intellectual discussion/opinions on this. Perhaps my mind can be changed? Perhaps I may spring for a smaller SSD ($100 ish price range) to fit all my programs on..
 
I don't believe that anyone "needs" the SSD. It is simply faster for accessing files and programs. I won't be able to justify that sort of cost until it's at least cut in half or maybe when it reaches $1/GB. Even then, I don't value having 20sec. faster boot or apps opening just a bit faster over a reasonable amount of storage for a decent price.
 
HBOC said:
I am just wondering this. I see many people saying "go low end, add an SSD" when responding to the abundance of threads about what 15" to buy.

My question is how many people actually need this vs how many people just want it? I admit I don't know much about the SSD, as the price is just way to ridiculous in my personal opinion at the moment. ($400-500 for 256GB? No thanks)

I am honestly curious about this. I want no flame wars. Just honest, intellectual discussion/opinions on this. Perhaps my mind can be changed? Perhaps I may spring for a smaller SSD ($100 ish price range) to fit all my programs on..
Click to expand...
I actually just returned a 13" MBP with a 128GB SSD in favor of the same one with the 320GB SATA which I'll replace with a 500GB 7200.4 SATA for $50. The 128GB wasn't big enough and 256GB is just to darned expensive. When the prices come down I'd really like to have one but for right now, I want, need a big, relative fast drive to store my stuff.
 
it started off as a WANT, but after going back to my parents desktop (iMac 24", i live at home) or use any of my friends MacBooks (all of which are HDD), i realize my WANT of SSD is now a need. i never realized how slow a HDD makes a computer, especially the 17" or the higher end 15". My want definitely turned into a need
 
alust2013 said:
apps opening just a bit faster
Click to expand...

a bit? I'm opening photoshop in a tad over 2 seconds, my 2010mbp opened it in 13 secs. my boot time is 14 seconds, which is a 43sec improvement over my 2010mbp.
and i'm on a slow apple ssd.

iMackPro said:
it started off as a WANT, but after going back to my parents desktop (iMac 24", i live at home) or use any of my friends MacBooks (all of which are HDD), i realize my WANT of SSD is now a need. i never realized how slow a HDD makes a computer, especially the 17" or the higher end 15". My want definitely turned into a need
Click to expand...

apple has a way of turning wants into needs don't they? :) - i'm never going back either.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
These are interesting answers. I thought I was the only one who thought the GB per $ was rather "high".

I would like to get one no doubt, but even the 128GB is too small. I know my iTunes won't fit on there (well perhaps, but it is 115GB - all music).

I could put all my program files on there, and even perhaps Aperture 3 and its' libraries and have some room left... Would I want to put A3 on the SSD? I work more in ACR and CS4 than I do in A3?
 
HBOC said:
These are interesting answers. I thought I was the only one who thought the GB per $ was rather "high".

I would like to get one no doubt, but even the 128GB is too small. I know my iTunes won't fit on there (well perhaps, but it is 115GB - all music).

I could put all my program files on there, and even perhaps Aperture 3 and its' libraries and have some room left... Would I want to put A3 on the SSD? I work more in ACR and CS4 than I do in A3?
Click to expand...

i slid a 500GB 7200RPM drive in my my optibay, it just holds my home folder, which is all my music documents photos yada yada.
 
HBOC said:
These are interesting answers. I thought I was the only one who thought the GB per $ was rather "high".

I would like to get one no doubt, but even the 128GB is too small. I know my iTunes won't fit on there (well perhaps, but it is 115GB - all music).

I could put all my program files on there, and even perhaps Aperture 3 and its' libraries and have some room left... Would I want to put A3 on the SSD? I work more in ACR and CS4 than I do in A3?
Click to expand...

128 SSD and a time capsule, beautiful together
 
mulo said:
a bit? I'm opening photoshop in a tad over 2 seconds, my 2010mbp opened it in 13 secs. my boot time is 14 seconds, which is a 43sec improvement over my 2010mbp.
and i'm on a slow apple ssd.
Click to expand...

That is pretty crazy. Mine opens in 8 seconds or so. But even with a 5 second increase, how much faster is your workflow once Photoshop is open? I could see this rendering in 3DMax, AE or C4D, or even in Final Cut, but for everyday users... Not that I don't want one, but I would much rather use the money and upgrade to a 1Ds2 than have an SSD...hmm..
 
mulo said:
apple has a way of turning wants into needs don't they? :) - i'm never going back either.
Click to expand...

You're so right, i remember boasting my original iPhone screen to other phone users. then i got the iPhone 4. GEEEEEEEEZ. Apple is so sly!!! Im really hoping this "Light Peak" will have me forgetting about USB :D
 
I'm debating the SSD myself. I plan on getting the high end 15" in a month and I'm debating whether to go for the 128 GB SSD or not. 128 GB seems so small these days so I'm worried about that. I could rely on an external hard drive for music, videos, etc., but I just don't know. I will not do the optibay replacement (not crazy about messing around inside a $2k+ laptop and I still want the optical drive in there at this time).
 
I doubt I need it, but I'm glad I have it.

I ordered my SSD the night of the epic storm in Chicago last December. I admit I was bored... However, it cut my boot time in half and my MBP is icy cold on the right hand side. :D
 
Its awesome, but I definitely don't need it.

It loads apps faster and boots faster, but I spend most of my time inside the apps while they are open. By then its all handled by the memory.

Before I got it, I had convinced my self that I need it though :D
 
mulo said:
a bit? I'm opening photoshop in a tad over 2 seconds, my 2010mbp opened it in 13 secs. my boot time is 14 seconds, which is a 43sec improvement over my 2010mbp.
and i'm on a slow apple ssd.
Click to expand...

I've used computers with SSDs, and I wasn't blown away with the speed. I loaded PS CS5 in about 6-7 seconds and boot in 45ish with my standard HDD. I realize that isn't insignificant, but it doesn't come anywhere close to justifying the cost for me. Even if it was double the price of a standard HDD, it would be worth it, but my storage needs would dictate at least 256GB (I really would rather not muck around with externals or optibay, for the sake of simplicity and my limited amount of connectivity), which is still a lot of money. When prices become more reasonable, I will certainly be interested.
 
Walk into best buy. open up an air, launch every app on the dock all at once.

I for one will never go back to a HDD.
 
iBookG4user said:
Or, go with two 120GB SSDs in RAID 0 using the optibay :D
Click to expand...

Yeah, that is a really nice set up indeed. Its still just not quite enough storage for my needs, personally. But if that works for you then thats awesome! I wish i could have two SSD =\
 
Well I've heard that, to an extent, your computer is only as fast as its slowest component. Obviously, this isn't completely true, but I see it a shame to have a 5400 HDD coupled with one of the higher end 2011 MacBook Pros' quad cores.

I'll be getting one for my new 2011, but not only for the speed:
Because I'll be taking my MacBook from place to place, it's likely to take some shock and an SSD is just better suited for this type of handling compared to a/n HDD. Some HDDs can be noisy, and I've seen people further justify their SSD purchase with that. Fragmentation is an annoying aspect of HDDs and something that SSDs aren't quite susceptible to, or so I've read...

As many people have previously stated, the optibay combo is a great setup, and one I plan to use. If you're not writing anything to the HDD, you can just eject it to gain the (~30-1h) benefit of an SSD's quick access times, etc; however, I've also read that the SATA III SSDs will use more power than current HDDs...

Hope this helps.
 
I needed 1 SSD.

But that ruined me, so now I want more. I can't stand to be on a mechanical HD for my other computers.
 
HBOC said:
Perhaps I may spring for a smaller SSD ($100 ish price range) to fit all my programs on..
Click to expand...

This is exactly what I'm doing and it can be done for about $150 with a decent SSD (60/64GB) with an eBay optibay. To me it's the best of both worlds. While I would love to have two 256 (or 512) SSDs in Raid 0, but I'm a poor college student and it doesn't sound like the best financial investment.
 
alust2013 said:
I don't believe that anyone "needs" the SSD. It is simply faster for accessing files and programs. I won't be able to justify that sort of cost until it's at least cut in half or maybe when it reaches $1/GB. Even then, I don't value having 20sec. faster boot or apps opening just a bit faster over a reasonable amount of storage for a decent price.
Click to expand...

I just put a 120gb SSD in my MBP and bought an OWC data doubler to replace the Optical drive with my original HDD. Works wonders. I see your signature refers to 'some stuff to play music'. I'm assuming that you don't do anything professional. I use this computer to run Avid Pro Tools 9 through a Digidesign 003 motorized recording interface. When recording audio into a DAW as powerful as Pro Tools, the cache drops into the SSD. The WAV files are transported to the HDD on saves. I have to say, it's twice as fast. There are absolutely no clock/latency issues and I'm recording in WAV files that are 96,000 Hz. (10 min audio = about 5-700mb)

I also use this computer for my electronic music production (Ableton, Native Instruments EVERYTHING, and Reason) and this thing is now a beast with those, too. It's nice having a laptop with a media drive as I now get SSD power for my applications and the space to put my recordings and 100gb music library.

For the everyday user that is simply surfing the net, this upgrade would be a waste of money...just disagree with the 'nobody needs an SSD' opinion.

PS I would love an SSD with the SATA 6.0gbps on the 2011 MBPs...should have waited...

Cheers!
 
As processors and graphics cards keep increasing in speed the hard drive is often the main bottleneck slowing your computer down. Sure there's the downsides of cost and size yet it may or may not be worth getting an ssd depending on what you're going to be using the computer for. If your computer is fast enough as is then just keep with a regular hdd.
 
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