SSD for Early 2008 Macbook

[da85bearsrule]

Hello! I have an Early 2008 White Macbook Core 2 Duo with a 2.1ghz processor and 4gb ram. The computer runs great but hard drive times are slow. I just re installed OS X Lion but the hard drive is still running slow so I have been thinking about getting an SSD. I have been looking at these two here:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820171645
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820167154

I have read online that some people have trouble getting SDD's to work with all the 2008 model Macbook's. Will either of these work with my macbook? If neither will, do you have any recommendations on what kind of SSD to get for my Macbook for under $100?

Thank you in advance!

 

[pastrychef]

I don't see why the people you read about were having trouble getting SSDs to work with their MacBooks. There should be no reason why they can't use an SSD.

The two SSDs you linked to should work fine too. However, keep in mind that your MacBook only has SATA 1. From what I was told, that limits you to about 130MB/s on reads and writes. That means, you will never see an SSD's full potential. Some normal 2.5" hard drives can push about 100MB/s.

Whether it is worth it to spend money on an SSD whose speed potential will be severely bottlenecked by the MacBook's SATA 1 is up to you. Personally, I have a 2008 MacBook too and I abandoned the idea of installing an SSD.

 

[brdeveloper]

I think it's worth upgrading even if your computer has only SATA I. Get a cheaper SSD, like a Mercury 3G (SATA II) 120GB from OWC. Even if HDDs can reach over 100MB/s it's not a constant performance. In random reads it performs way worse. A SSD, on the other hand, will always perform at the top speed in your case.

 

[Nameci]

I installed an SSD on my Blackbook almost 2 years ago and never looked back. It breathe new life to the old macbook, quick and quiet.

 

[jav6454]

Installing an SSD into a MacBook will obviously boost its capacity. I always recommend doing so.