So where's this huge difference in speed with a SSD?...

[theSeb]

(and I guess the slightly sanctimonious attitude is just a given?)

I can't help it.

 

[firewood]

No. The source files are very small, relatively speaking, and Xcode caches them very efficiently. Compiling code requires CPU power and RAM. HDD speed is less important.

Then explain why my little MBA 11 compiles my suite of iOS apps much faster than my MBP, which has a faster CPU, more RAM, but a non-high-RPM HD.

 

[theSeb]

Then explain why my little MBA 11 compiles my suite of iOS apps much faster than my MBP, which has a faster CPU, more RAM, but a non-high-RPM HD.

The first compile will be faster since it needs to cache. Why not build from the command line and test it? Do you need to see the links to prove how much difference the CPU makes to Xcode?

 

[bogatyr]

The only link I found with actual numbers for compiling time, comparing SSD to CPU, is:
http://developingperspective.tumblr.com/post/8138586409/is-compilation-cpu-bound

 

[halledise]

I plopped an SSD into an early 2008 MBPro that had a HDD fail and the difference in startup time and speed increase in general computing tasks is like night and day.

I doubt I'd ever again buy a Mac with a spindle drive hard disk.

 

[av8or]

I plopped an SSD into an early 2008 MBPro that had a HDD fail and the difference in startup time and speed increase in general computing tasks is like night and day.

I doubt I'd ever again buy a Mac with a spindle drive hard disk.

hopefully they drop the prices soon.. i replaced my 750gb hdd to a 512 gb ssd on my alienware and that thing cost me almost $800.. .. i am now eating salt for the next 3 mos..

 

[Consultant]

Launch photoshop / CS suite.

I have a quad 17" MBP with SSD. Faster than a Mac Pro for certain operations.

 

[halledise]

hopefully they drop the prices soon.. i replaced my 750gb hdd to a 512 gb ssd on my alienware and that thing cost me almost $800.. .. i am now eating salt for the next 3 mos..

I placed a 60gb SSD in the MBPro and used the 500gb spindle HDD that came out of it for all backup stuff.
cheap as chips and storage galore.
thus I can still afford steak to go with the salt

 

[bp1000]

I would never buy a computer without an ssd now.

They are lightning quick

 

[LachlanH]

Simple.

15" High end MBP with 256gb SSD.

If you are considering the 13" Air then you clearly don't need the screen real estate of the 17". Take the price difference for a 15" and option a 256gb SSD. Comes out slightly higher than a 17".


15" High end has the same GPU, RAM and CPU as the 17" so you are still getting a 'top of the line' machine.

And a 15" MBP with an SSD will destroy a 13" air.