SSD and more RAM best bang for the buck upgrades to a 2010 MBP 2.4Ghz 13''?

[jthomasa]

I recently bought the new 13" MBP and have been looking at upgrades. I bought it standard so I could walk out with it that day, but I've been thinking about two main changes: RAM and a SSD hard drive. I'm pretty sure I'll be getting the Intel X25-M 160gb SSD, it looks like the best GB per $ ($424 for 160GB). I know that will show great results. Is a RAM upgrade also necessary for improved speed and performance? If so what is the best RAM to change to? I'm looking at either getting 1 4GB card for a total of 6GB or getting the pair for 8GB. I don't want to drop $300+ if it isn't going to do much for me.

I mostly use the MBP for word processing, internet, email, etc.; but I want a bit snappier and quicker performance than what I'm getting out of stock. It is possible (likely) I will get into music making/mixing on this machine.

Thanks for the help,
James

 

[miles01110]

Right now the SSD will give you the most noticeable performance increase.

 

[nuckinfutz]

I recently bought the new 13" MBP and have been looking at upgrades. I bought it standard so I could walk out with it that day, but I've been thinking about two main changes: RAM and a SSD hard drive. I'm pretty sure I'll be getting the Intel X25-M 160gb SSD, it looks like the best GB per $ ($424 for 160GB). I know that will show great results. Is a RAM upgrade also necessary for improved speed and performance? If so what is the best RAM to change to? I'm looking at either getting 1 4GB card for a total of 6GB or getting the pair for 8GB. I don't want to drop $300+ if it isn't going to do much for me.

I mostly use the MBP for word processing, internet, email, etc.; but I want a bit snappier and quicker performance than what I'm getting out of stock. It is possible (likely) I will get into music making/mixing on this machine.

Thanks for the help,
James

Intel's supposed to be coming out with faster 3rd Gen SSD in Q4. You might want to bump the RAM and then wait for these new SSD. They'll be faster and based on 25nm fabrication so for the price you pay for today's 160GB you'll be getting about 300GB.

Depends on how long you can wait.

 

[Dwalls90]

Don't buy either right now unless you absolutely need it ... SSD's are becoming mainstream pretty quickly and prices are starting to come down ... that and both RAM will be much more affordable if you wait a year or two. Of course, if you need it now, you'll eat the cost.

For your usage, you really don't NEED the SSD, but the RAM won't help at all ... basic computing usage like that will be satisfied by 2Gb.

Conclusion: The SSD will only help with boot times, and you definitely don't need more RAM - basically the standard configuration is certainly all you need.

 

[nuckinfutz]

Don't buy either right now unless you absolutely need it ... SSD's are becoming mainstream pretty quickly and prices are starting to come down ... that and both RAM will be much more affordable if you wait a year or two. Of course, if you need it now, you'll eat the cost.

For your usage, you really don't NEED the SSD, but the RAM won't help at all ... basic computing usage like that will be satisfied by 2Gb.

Conclusion: The SSD will only help with boot times, and you definitely don't need more RAM - basically the standard configuration is certainly all you need.

He mentioned music apps though and all music apps love RAM. SSD help with more than boot times. Application launches are fast and and anything that pages to virtual memory is of course going to be faster.

I still suggest maxing out the RAM first so that you're not paging to disk and then waiting until the last quarter of this year or first quarter of next year to see how the SSD market is.

I think 300GB for a SSD at roughly $399 is going to be popular with enthusiasts.

 

[jthomasa]

Boot times and application launches are what I wanted the SSD for. The MBP isn't slow... but I'd really like ultrafast launches and boot, especially if I can get it for $400ish. I might wait on the SSD to see if it comes down by the end of the year, but I don't think I'll really need more than 128gb of memory. I need an external hard drive anyways to back up the wife and my new MBPs.

I should've mentioned that I will also be running Windows 7 in a virtual environment. I have to have it so that I can access work websites/servers that only work in IE and need an access card reader (which of course is only supported in Windows). The Army hates me so it tortures me daily with our Vista 'upgrade'. But I digress...

 

[nuckinfutz]

Boot times and application launches are what I wanted the SSD for. The MBP isn't slow... but I'd really like ultrafast launches and boot, especially if I can get it for $400ish. I might wait on the SSD to see if it comes down by the end of the year, but I don't think I'll really need more than 128gb of memory. I need an external hard drive anyways to back up the wife and my new MBPs.

I should've mentioned that I will also be running Windows 7 in a virtual environment. I have to have it so that I can access work websites/servers that only work in IE and need an access card reader (which of course is only supported in Windows). The Army hates me so it tortures me daily with our Vista 'upgrade'. But I digress...

SSD really help VM so if space isn't an issue go for it. I'm probably not going to buy any future computers without the Boot drive being on SSD. Why give up the performance. On of the things I love about my iPhone/iPad is that I unlock it and I'm ready to go launching apps in seconds.

With the fast boots I'm seeing from SSD Macs I'd probably shut my computer down more because I wouldn't have to deal with the slow boot.

 

[Dwalls90]

He mentioned music apps though and all music apps love RAM. SSD help with more than boot times. Application launches are fast and and anything that pages to virtual memory is of course going to be faster.

I still suggest maxing out the RAM first so that you're not paging to disk and then waiting until the last quarter of this year or first quarter of next year to see how the SSD market is.

I think 300GB for a SSD at roughly $399 is going to be popular with enthusiasts.

Duh. "Music apps" is pretty general. Right now I have ichat, itunes, chrome, mail and VLC open and am using each of them pretty actively. Only half of my 2Gb is being actively used and everything is running smoothly. At most, the standard 4Gb will suffice for the user in this case I would guess.

Yes, SSD's do help with application boot times, but almost all apps I own open pretty quickly on my mechanical 5400RPM blue drive... is it worth throwing hundreds at your computer for an extra few seconds of app opening time?

Where are these 300Gb SSD's for $399? I'll jump on board for sure ...

 

[nuckinfutz]

Yup "music apps" is pretty general and in general music apps like RAM a lot of RAM to be exact.

Estimated pricing on the 25nm 300GB SSD should be $399 - $450 since the fab process yields twice the NAND capacity per wafer.

The OP said he's going to run a Win 7 VM as well which will benefit from SSD. When people try to argue agains SSD they typically end up sounding like fools. It's his budget to worry about not yours. Oh and your 5400 RPM drive.

LOLZ

But you saved a few bucks right?

 

[jthomasa]

Yup "music apps" is pretty general and in general music apps like RAM a lot of RAM to be exact.

Estimated pricing on the 25nm 300GB SSD should be $399 - $450 since the fab process yields twice the NAND capacity per wafer.


It's his budget to worry about not yours.

DANG @ those speeds.

If it is still going to be that price I'll just be impatient and snag a 256 for $480-525 when a deal comes around. Thanks for the info.

Yeah I appreciate the $ lookout but I have to keep my shopping list updated so I can bargain with the wife a la "hey we'll get you that _____ if you let me get this hard drive I want"

And if I move more of my work files to a fast computer it will save me a lot of time and aggravation.