Is a solid state drive really that much better than a hdd? I currently have a 320 gig scorpio black at 7,200 rpm that I got for 80$. If I upgrade I wil be getting a 240 gig ocz agility 2 fOr 400$. I feel like I am overpaying and the losses outweighing benefits and Im very hesitant of purchasing this.
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Solid state drive worth the money?
- Thread starter ikillwindows
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If you're hesitant, then I think you've found your answer.
I've watched videos of SSD vs HDD in otherwise identical machines. I saw a small but noticeable increase in speed, but for my money, I'd rather have the extra storage capacity - and the extra $320.
If you're hesitant, then I think you've found your answer.
I've watched videos of SSD vs HDD in otherwise identical machines. I saw a small but noticeable increase in speed, but for my money, I'd rather have the extra storage capacity - and the extra $320.
true....true....
If you're hesitant, then I think you've found your answer.
I've watched videos of SSD vs HDD in otherwise identical machines. I saw a small but noticeable increase in speed, but for my money, I'd rather have the extra storage capacity - and the extra $320.
Generally I agree with the above. SSDs are not yet "worth" it to me because I don't do anything that requires the speed boosts they provide on certain tasks.
That said, "worth" is a subjective term. I would rather have a larger and less expensive drive than a faster and (much) more expensive one.
There can be no debate on the performance merits of SSDs. Simply put SSD>HDD performance wise. Price/storage wise however...HDD>SSD.
I want an SSD...even ordered one but it's simply too expensive to justify for me right now which is why i'm likely gonna cancel/return my order and sit out the market for a while longer.
I want an SSD...even ordered one but it's simply too expensive to justify for me right now which is why i'm likely gonna cancel/return my order and sit out the market for a while longer.
I really think that for now, it may not be worth it.
There are people who are willing and able to spend the money for the performance increase, but I doubt it's absolutely crucial at this point in time.
Yet the prices of solid state storage is dropping steadily, and it has been for a long time. I imagine that in a few years, it will be worth it.
Hybrid drives interest me though, but then again, I only know the basics of harddrive technology, so I can't be positive that they (hybrid drives) really are worth it.
There are people who are willing and able to spend the money for the performance increase, but I doubt it's absolutely crucial at this point in time.
Yet the prices of solid state storage is dropping steadily, and it has been for a long time. I imagine that in a few years, it will be worth it.
Hybrid drives interest me though, but then again, I only know the basics of harddrive technology, so I can't be positive that they (hybrid drives) really are worth it.
Depends, what are you doing w/ it
I put one in my wife's i5-MBP; (OWC 480GB), she didn't notice any difference.
She is the type of user who doesn't shutdown or quit applications, only uses the machine for youtube, email, web-browsing, QuickBooks and a little iPhoto.
I'm the one who once a month drains the battery and shuts it down.
I put one in my wife's i5-MBP; (OWC 480GB), she didn't notice any difference.
She is the type of user who doesn't shutdown or quit applications, only uses the machine for youtube, email, web-browsing, QuickBooks and a little iPhoto.
I'm the one who once a month drains the battery and shuts it down.
The question doesn't make sense without context. Nothing is worth anything, something is worth everything. My kingdom for a horse, and all of that nonsense.
If the agonizingly slow startup time for the Mac, the annoying bouncing of apps on the menu bar, and the sluggish opening of large files is driving you crazy, then by all means, get an SSD.
If the silver screen of the loading Mac brightens your day, the apps bouncing around on the menu bar bring tears of joy to your face, and watching the beautiful unfolding of a newly opened program completes you, then the SSD sounds like it would be wasted on you.
Of course SSD are better than HDD, but the question you should be asking is: how much is it worth to you? To answer that question, we have to know what you want.
If the agonizingly slow startup time for the Mac, the annoying bouncing of apps on the menu bar, and the sluggish opening of large files is driving you crazy, then by all means, get an SSD.
If the silver screen of the loading Mac brightens your day, the apps bouncing around on the menu bar bring tears of joy to your face, and watching the beautiful unfolding of a newly opened program completes you, then the SSD sounds like it would be wasted on you.
Of course SSD are better than HDD, but the question you should be asking is: how much is it worth to you? To answer that question, we have to know what you want.
If you have it to spend go ahead. Otherwise, go with the Momentus XT ssd hybrid. 500 gb for $99.00 and it is very fast for a 7200 drive
No doubt about it, the SSD drives are very much worth it if you can afford one. That said, I just placed an order for a 7200rpm WD Scorpio Black 500 gig drive. I very much wanted the ssd, but the price is just a bit out of my price range because I need the space. Hopefully these drives will come down in price in the near future.
SSD drives are great but I think they are a little overrated here on MR. Performance is top notch with SSD but for someone like me who is on a budget SSD isn't worth it. Hopefully in the next couple of years the prices will decrease but right now I'm sticking with HDD. It's cheaper and offers much more storage space. Right now storage space is worth more than top notch speed and performance. Perhaps in the future that will change.
an SSD will be the most effective speed boost upgrade you'll do
even before upgrading ram and processors, guaranteed
i'm gonna get one eventually
No. We don't even know what the guy is planning to do with his computer. Maybe he is just going to surf the internet. My understanding of SSD is that his computer will start up faster, and he'll get the application going more quickly, but after that, any speed improvement will be marginal at best.
I don't have SSD. I've talked to people who do. And, I've watched a lot of videos. My impression is that multitasking with programs that don't access data on the hard drive a lot will not be affected much by SSD. In that case (this happens to be my situation), the SSD is a waste.
Sure, I wouldn't mind an SSD, but the costs outweigh the benefits for me. For other people, it will be a great upgrade. Until we get more information from the original poster, I don't think we can give an adequate answer.
I think that it's interesting that of the 16 posts on this thread, 10 are by people
who don't have SSDs or have any first hand experience with them, 5 it's unclear, and only 1 had direct experience with his wife's machine.
Watching videos on YouTube doesn't really give one the full picture of what it's like to rigorously use a machine with a decently spec'ed SSD.
I've used machines with both SSD and HDD (both types of storage on the same machine) and I have observed that SSD is much faster in terms of booting up and any other activity involving filesystem activity.
who don't have SSDs or have any first hand experience with them, 5 it's unclear, and only 1 had direct experience with his wife's machine.
Watching videos on YouTube doesn't really give one the full picture of what it's like to rigorously use a machine with a decently spec'ed SSD.
I've used machines with both SSD and HDD (both types of storage on the same machine) and I have observed that SSD is much faster in terms of booting up and any other activity involving filesystem activity.
A lot of us probably aren't convinced that it is worth it. Or, we are just poor
That is so true, especially when a lot of people just focus on boot times, but not on the kind of daily use that would really give a sense of how things would do with multiple programs open and performing tasks.
That sounds about right. What kind of applications (or tasks in them) would you say are faster? What kinds would you say are not affected? As I understand it, someone doing work with files open in Word, Adobe Acrobat, Excel, maybe a file being compressed in handbrake, email, internet, etc. running at once would see more benefit from RAM upgrades. On the other hand, gamers might see a markedly faster response from SSD. Could you give us more specifics?
Well, there you go. If [to you] the benefits do not justify the price, then an SSD is not for you.
Thanks. Yes, specifics would be helpful. Of course any I don't have any documented A-B test times, just my memory. I don't do any video editing or handbrake stuff.
Faster:
1. Booting
2. Starting up the XP VM in Parallels I use for my work stuff. Within there, application start up times and doing stuff like searching Outlook is faster.
3. Standard preview genration in Lightroom 3
4. Application launch times in general
5. copying files within the local file system
No change:
1. browsing
2. MS Office
3. Plex
It's not magic and there are downsides, but it can make certain things go really fast.
I have first hand experience with a SSD. Its pretty awesome. I just can't afford one large enough and even though I thought I could deal with having a smaller drive, it turns out I need the space more. Later on I will get a larger SSD when prices come down.
Thanks for those impressions. I think that confirms what I understand the strengths of SSD to be.
For myself (mostly Word, VoodooPad, Chrome, iTunes, Mail, Adobe Acrobat Pro (PDF manipulation), and Excel) I think the RAM was a better choice (8GB). Even though I don't need it, I'll probably get an SSD someday just because it is cool.
Who wouldn't want an SSD? The problem, of course, is justifying the price for the kind of tasks you are doing on your computer. I wonder what the OP had in mind.
If you're hesitant, then I think you've found your answer.
I've watched videos of SSD vs HDD in otherwise identical machines. I saw a small but noticeable increase in speed, but for my money, I'd rather have the extra storage capacity - and the extra $320.
"Small but noticeable increase in speed"?
You've obviously never upgraded from a normal HDD to a fast SSD, the difference is phenomenal. The first time you boot up and start opening programs, you'll be like: "holy crap!", this thing fast. I feel like I got a new computer.