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Solid State Hybrid Drive upgrade in a Macbook Air?

R

Rami98

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 6, 2011
34
0
Detroit, MI
I read about the solid state hybrid drive online and found that it offers a very good value between hdd and sad. I am really starting to dislike the 128gb SSD on my 13 inch 2011 MBA and I refuse to spend 340 dollars to upgrade to a 256GB SSD. My question is would a Solid State Hybrid Drive work in my MBA? It is 99 dollars from amazon for a 500gb one. Link:

http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Momentus-Solid-Hybrid-ST95005620AS/dp/B003NSBF32

I think it would be a great idea to put this in, because I have a hard time managing my space with about 40GB left overall on a dual booting windows 7/ lion setup on my MBA. Anyone know if this SSHD will work?
 
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256g SSD costs about $220 these days

Rami98 said:
I read about the solid state hybrid drive online and found that it offers a very good value between hdd and sad. I am really starting to dislike the 128gb SSD on my 13 inch 2011 MBA and I refuse to spend 340 dollars to upgrade to a 256GB SSD. My question is would a Solid State Hybrid Drive work in my MBA? It is 99 dollars from amazon for a 500gb one. Link:

http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Momentus-Solid-Hybrid-ST95005620AS/dp/B003NSBF32

I think it would be a great idea to put this in, because I have a hard time managing my space with about 40GB left overall on a dual booting windows 7/ lion setup on my MBA. Anyone know if this SSHD will work?
Click to expand...
 
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Could you please provide a link to one that costs 220? because I can't seem to find one on reputable websites (new egg, micro center, tiger direct, etc...)
That would be very helpful,
Thanks
 
This may be out of your price range, but when it came to upgrading my MBA SSD, I went to OWC (Other World Computing) www.macsales.com and bought their 480gig 6G Mecury Aura Pro Express. Outstanding speed and they stand behind their products. Yes, you might pay a little more, but they offer support and service to back up their extra cost.

Followed their video to install and it worked just like they said.

Here's a link to their SSD's for the MBA.

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/SSD/OWC/Aura_Pro_Express
 
Gjwilly said:
Why can't you?
Not being smart or flippant.... I really don't know the answer and I'm curious.
Thanks
Click to expand...

There is no space, a 2.5" is 9.5 mm high, the MacBook Air is 3 to 17 mm high, including the display. There is just no room for it, as Apple switched to flash storage on blades, look at the link posted in posts #4 and #5.
Even the previous MBA (2008 to 2009, before the 2010 design change) could only hold 1.8" HDDs and SSDs, the size the iPod Classic uses to store its music on.
 
Gjwilly said:
Why can't you?
Not being smart or flippant.... I really don't know the answer and I'm curious.
Thanks
Click to expand...

The MacBook Air uses special drives that only a few select manufacturers make.

I would stay away from the Toshiba Blade SSDs; they are slow and slow.

Really the only option to consider is the OWC Mercury Aura 6G; unfortunately, these are not cheap.
 
nuckinfutz said:
Weird

Toshiba was huffing about their Blade SSD for the Air in late 2010 and hasn't made a peep since.
Click to expand...

Not so weird. Apple pressured them out of selling their blade SSDs as third party upgrades. Apple wants you to buy those upgrades when you buy your Air. It's hurting their margins if you can buy the cheapest Air, then upgrade the SSD for less than Apple charges for that upgrade. OWC isn't a provider to Apple so they can't be put under pessure like this.


Peter.
 
alphaod said:
The MacBook Air uses special drives that only a few select manufacturers make.

I would stay away from the Toshiba Blade SSDs; they are slow and slow.

Really the only option to consider is the OWC Mercury Aura 6G; unfortunately, these are not cheap.
Click to expand...
Funny that OWC uses Toshiba chips, though with a SandForce 2200 controller...
 
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