SSD/ content placement/ farfetched question.

[shanimal]

I have a couple questions : )

1. If i buy a SSD for my 2011 Macbook Pro will it be just as fast as the Macbook Air in real-world situations (browsing, app opening, etc)? i saw a video on youtube that answers my question but the kid came off as ignorant, so i just wanted ask again. (he was saying that a $1000 MBA was just as powerful as a $2000 MBP because the MBA was only a second behind the Pro in opening iMovie...)

2. If or when i get my SSD, i will probably be taking out the optical drive since i don't use it that much and i like the idea of having a second HDD for more stuff. My SSD will be in my main bay (where my HDD is right now) and the HDD i have in right now will go in my optical bay. I love the speed of the SSD, obviously, but i don't have $800 to completly replace my current HDD (500gb). apart from putting everything on the SSD, how should i split my content up? apps on SSD and movies/media on HDD? what should go on the SSD and which on the HDD to give my the speed i want?

3. when i replace my superdrive, is there a good external dvd drive that you can recommend? just in case i need to burn a dvd or cd.

4. Now for the crazy question. Since the GPU,CPU, ports, etc are on the logic board(?), thats why they are non upgradeable, when the new ivy bridge Macbook pros come out, can i just buy a logic board from them and put it in this computer? or should just buy a brand new mac if i want to do that?

 

[mrsir2009]

I have a couple questions : )

1. If i buy a SSD for my 2011 Macbook Pro will it be just as fast as the Macbook Air in real-world situations (browsing, app opening, etc)? i saw a video on youtube that answers my question but the kid came off as ignorant, so i just wanted ask again. (he was saying that a $1000 MBA was just as powerful as a $2000 MBP because the MBA was only a second behind the Pro in opening iMovie...)

The speed will be close.

2. If or when i get my SSD, i will probably be taking out the optical drive since i don't use it that much and i like the idea of having a second HDD for more stuff. My SSD will be in my main bay (where my HDD is right now) and the HDD i have in right now will go in my optical bay. I love the speed of the SSD, obviously, but i don't have $800 to completly replace my current HDD (500gb). apart from putting everything on the SSD, how should i split my content up? apps on SSD and movies/media on HDD? what should go on the SSD and which on the HDD to give my the speed i want?

Yeah thats what most people do. Apps and OS on SSD. Media (which takes up all the space) on HDD.

3. when i replace my superdrive, is there a good external dvd drive that you can recommend? just in case i need to burn a dvd or cd.

Just get any for $30, it'll be fine.

4. Now for the crazy question. Since the GPU,CPU, ports, etc are on the logic board(?), thats why they are non upgradeable, when the new ivy bridge Macbook pros come out, can i just buy a logic board from them and put it in this computer? or should just buy a brand new mac if i want to do that?

Nope, I'm afraid that won't be happening

Good luck!

 

[shanimal]

ok cool, thanks for the reply. anything else i should put on the SSD besides the OS and apps? i think i might get the crucial m4 128 gb. for $177 i think its a good price. i want the 256gb (actually, i want the 512gb but woah $700 is a lot) but i kind of like the price tag of under $200 more than over $300.

 

[mrsir2009]

ok cool, thanks for the reply. anything else i should put on the SSD besides the OS and apps? i think i might get the crucial m4 128 gb. for $177 i think its a good price. i want the 256gb (actually, i want the 512gb but woah $700 is a lot) but i kind of like the price tag of under $200 more than over $300.

Depends... What have you got on your computer and what do you use most often?

 

[shanimal]

well, i browse the internet, play WoW, and im also getting into the adobe apps because im taking classes for game art so i need them for homework. if i have media (music and movies), or a documents (.txt, .pages, etc) on my HDD and the app on my SDD, will the open-up times be the same since it has to read it from the slower HDD?

and not to sound like a broken record (already asked in different thread. just trying to get more answers), but would opening up media and such from a 5400rpm hdd be noticably slower than a 7200rpm hdd? i ask because im thinking about whether to open up my 750gb external hdd(5400) and (if i can) put it in my MBP so i have more space instead of my 500gb (7200.)

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oh yea, different question. since the ssd is flash storage and so is ram, if my computer runs out of memory and it needs to use swap will the swap be just as fast as the ram?

 

[mrsir2009]

well, i browse the internet, play WoW, and im also getting into the adobe apps because im taking classes for game art so i need them for homework. if i have media (music and movies), or a documents (.txt, .pages, etc) on my HDD and the app on my SDD, will the open-up times be the same since it has to read it from the slower HDD?

If I were you I'd keep everything except the music and movies (which I assume are the main users of space) on the SSD.

and not to sound like a broken record (already asked in different thread. just trying to get more answers), but would opening up media and such from a 5400rpm hdd be noticably slower than a 7200rpm hdd? i ask because im thinking about whether to open up my 750gb external hdd(5400) and (if i can) put it in my MBP so i have more space instead of my 500gb (7200.)

I personally cannot notice the difference between a 5400RPM and a 7200RPM drive

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oh yea, different question. since the ssd is flash storage and so is ram, if my computer runs out of memory and it needs to use swap will the swap be just as fast as the ram?

No, it won't be as fast as RAM (otherwise you'd have 128GB of RAM, which would be crazy). Although I believe that it would be faster than paging out to a spindle hard drive if you run out of RAM.

 

[shanimal]

ok, thanks for the reply.

 

[mrsir2009]

Good luck with your SSD setup