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SSD choices for Early 2010 MacbookPro update

I guess if they work, all of 'em are pretty cool, because even the "slow" ssd's are faster than HDD's.

I really like the Super Talent Ultradrive GX. I have experience with the 128GB model. It is a very fast drive. You'd need to check that you get the latest firmware though. They had some issues in the beginning.
 
Keep in mind that OS X does not support TRIM, so whatever drive you purchase should be somewhat resistant to the common performance degradation seen over long usage periods.

The Intel drives recommended above are pretty good without TRIM.
 
SSDs are all about the controller that is inside them. True that all will be way faster than a regular hdds, but there are big differences between these controllers. Intel are like the best so far I think.

Check reviews before buying and when there are 2 of the same brand and one is cheaper than the other for the same capacity, ask yourself why..
 
briancl said:
Keep in mind that OS X does not support TRIM, so whatever drive you purchase should be somewhat resistant to the common performance degradation seen over long usage periods.

The Intel drives recommended above are pretty good without TRIM.
Click to expand...

So would an SSD that supports TRIM still work in Mac OS X and just not use TRIM?

and thanks, Ill take a look at intel, I believe Samsung use their own chips and controllers.
 
Crucial C300 is supposed to be available in February, and i believe it will have garbage collection which is non-OS specific, and the speed previews have it above the X-25 G2. I'm in the same boat btw, will be buying a new MBP on the next refresh (though I still love my 12" PB) and right now the X-25 is my drive, but will be watching very closely for the release of both the crucial and Vertex2 Pro
 
Irosaki said:
So would an SSD that supports TRIM still work in Mac OS X and just not use TRIM?

and thanks, Ill take a look at intel, I believe Samsung use their own chips and controllers.
Click to expand...

TRIM is an optional command that the OS can issue to the drive. The drive works just fine without the command, but there will be performance degradation over time.

Maybe the newest MBP refresh will include SSD options that support TRIM, and then Apple will include it in OS X.
 
The intel SSDs are the best for everything but sequential writes.

For everything there is to know about SSDs—short of being an engineer designing them—go to anandtech.com and read their 4 or 5 articles on the subject.

Anyway, choose Intel or anything based on an Indilinx controller.
 
What's your price range?

The fastest are the OCZ Vertex 2 Pro, if you keep up with benchmarks.
 
Irosaki said:
thanks for the advice guys, I ended up on the OCZ website and came across this,

The OCZ Vertex Series Mac Edition SATA II 2.5" SSD, they claim they are tested by Apple themselves, does anyone have any experience with these drives?

http://www.ocztechnology.com/products/solid_state_drives/ocz_vertex_series_mac_edition_sata_ii_2_5-ssd
Click to expand...

I've had the "non-mac" version of this drive in my MBP and it was great. I'm not sure how different the mac version could really be. Great overall drive - although as others have already mentioned, Intel Drives are by far the best.
 
Irosaki said:
thanks for the advice guys, I ended up on the OCZ website and came across this,

The OCZ Vertex Series Mac Edition SATA II 2.5" SSD, they claim they are tested by Apple themselves, does anyone have any experience with these drives?

http://www.ocztechnology.com/products/solid_state_drives/ocz_vertex_series_mac_edition_sata_ii_2_5-ssd
Click to expand...

I would highly recommend the OCZ Vertex drives. The only difference in the Mac edition is the formatting of the drive from the factory. You can change the file system quite easily, so do not be afraid to buy a regular vertex.

I also recommend the 256gb Kingston SSD Now V+ drive. I posted a thread with my xbench results before and after on a 2.66 MBP. It made the entire system 33% faster.
 
Thunder82 said:
I've had the "non-mac" version of this drive in my MBP and it was great. I'm not sure how different the mac version could really be. Great overall drive - although as others have already mentioned, Intel Drives are by far the best.
Click to expand...
Nuh-uh. See below.
Thunder82 said:
Weren't these just announced at CES a few days ago? Someone actually has their hands on one for benchmarks? link?
Click to expand...
Here.

coast1ja said:
It made the entire system 33% faster.
Click to expand...

Compared to a HDD, that isn't much.
The OCZ Vertex Pro 2 is around 500% faster than traditional HDDs.
 
I've got an OCZ Vertex MAC Edition in my white Macbook 2,1 and an Intel X25-M G2 in my mid 2009 Macbook Pro. Intel really beats the OCZ as far as write speed goes, but the OCZ has faster reads. I've only been running my Macbook Pro for a few weeks, and of course this is purely subjective but I think the OCZ fairs better in terms of real world performance. And keep in mind the white Macbook only has a SATA 1.5 controller. I'm definitely a big fan of the OCZ Indilinx controller.
 
Oh, of course.
Sorry, I wasn't trying to make it an argument. :D

But yeah, they are expensive. If you can add on high quality memory, it'll be even faster, but you'll be breaking the $1,000 barrier, as well as requiring SATA 3.0 (6GBPS)
 
dvdhsu said:
Oh, of course.
Sorry, I wasn't trying to make it an argument. :D

But yeah, they are expensive. If you can add on high quality memory, it'll be even faster, but you'll be breaking the $1,000 barrier, as well as requiring SATA 3.0 (6GBPS)
Click to expand...

Sorry to get off topic, but this post made me think of this. These SATA specifications have gotten confusing since the unofficial adoption of SATA 3Gb/s = SATA II. Now SATA 3.0 = SATA 6 Gb/s? So if someone says simply SATA 3.0 there's no way to know what they're talking about. And to clear up a little more confusion 6GB/s = 48 Gb/s. GB is a Gigabyte, where as Gb is a Gigabit. Bytes/Bits can get muddled if we're all not careful.
 
Is it common knowledge that the SSD's configurable with MBPs through Apple are a terrible value; I'm seeing purchasing third-party SSD's being taken for granted around here?
 
Ava's Meeshee said:
Is it common knowledge that the SSD's configurable with MBPs through Apple are a terrible value; I'm seeing purchasing third-party SSD's being taken for granted around here?
Click to expand...

This is the conventional wisdom today. However, Apple may change the SSD's offered during this next refresh. All bets are off until we see the hardware and test it.
 
Ava's Meeshee said:
Is it common knowledge that the SSD's configurable with MBPs through Apple are a terrible value; I'm seeing purchasing third-party SSD's being taken for granted around here?
Click to expand...

In general I think if you're going to get an SSD you might as well spend a bit more and get a good one, like the OCZ Vertex or the Intel X25-M G2. The Apple SSDs are a bit cheaper, but they use a Samsung Controller (Which is generally considered to be inferior), so you probably get what you pay for.
 
Whatever you do, don't buy a Kingston product. I bought the Kingston SNV125-S2BN/128GB and it died within a week.

I constantly hear Intel makes the best SSDs.
 
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