SSD for my Late 2008 MacBook Pro?

[insimbi]

Hey Guys,
I've got a Late 2008 MacBook Pro (unibody). This is the model with the user-replaceable battery and hard drive. So installation of a new HDD should be no problem.

I'm wondering what are my best options for a SSD replacement? I currently have a 7200rpm 250GB Hitachi drive. I'd like to replace it with a 256GB SSD instead. I'm not sure I want to sacrifice space and get a 128GB though.

Can someone recommend good brands, models, etc that would work well for me? I'd like to order from Amazon if at all possible. I'd like to stay around $200, but not sure that's possible for a 256GB drive?

Any suggestions are welcome. Thanks!

 

[shardey]

Intel 520 series, Samsung 800 series are good brands. As for your laptop, it technically isn't a pro, but it's a great machine with the removable battery.

I have had a Intel 320 80gb and installed it in my early 09 iMac, which makes it feel like a brand new machine, and I recently installed an Intel 520 120gb in my MBP and it runs circles around most peoples laptops, that use hard drives.

Intel IMO is one of the best brands, if not the best. I have also owned a x25v and x25m and haven't had problems with ANY of these drives.

 

[insimbi]

Intel 520 series, Samsung 800 series are good brands. As for your laptop, it technically isn't a pro, but it's a great machine with the removable battery.

I have had a Intel 320 80gb and installed it in my early 09 iMac, which makes it feel like a brand new machine, and I recently installed an Intel 520 120gb in my MBP and it runs circles around most peoples laptops, that use hard drives.

Intel IMO is one of the best brands, if not the best. I have also owned a x25v and x25m and haven't had problems with ANY of these drives.

Thanks for the suggestions. Not sure what you mean by it not being a Pro, it says MacBook Pro right on it Maybe the specs don't reflect it today though.

What do you think about this one?
http://www.amazon.com/Intel-Series-...1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1333055029&sr=1-1

----------

How is Crucial for reliability?

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=365476&CatId=5300

 

[angrydog]

I have the early '09 and I maxed out my RAM with 8GB and I was aslo thinking of upgrading from my stock 250gb 7200RPM to this;

FYI this same drive is $209 after a $20 rebate card today at newegg.

 

[insimbi]

I'm leaning toward the Intel 520 Series 180 GB SATA 6 Gb/s 2.5-Inch Solid-State Drive.

 

[angrydog]

I'm leaning toward the Intel 520 Series 180 GB SATA 6 Gb/s 2.5-Inch Solid-State Drive.

The one I posted is 240GB and is 209.99 after rebate and instant $40 off. So you get more value/GB. I was thinking of buying this and selling the ME3 game to get at least another $30?

Also note the late 2008 Macbook pro does not support SATAIII speeds (6 Gb/s) and only supports up to 3 Gb/s which is SATAII. Although SATIII is backwards compatible and can be used with our Macbooks.

 

[insimbi]

The one I posted is 240GB and is 209.99 after rebate and instant $40 off. So you get more value/GB. I was thinking of buying this and selling the ME3 game to get at least another $30?

Also note the late 2008 Macbook pro does not support SATAIII speeds (6 Gb/s) and only supports up to 3 Gb/s which is SATAII. Although SATIII is backwards compatible and can be used with our Macbooks.

Hmm dang, so maybe the Intel is not the way to go with the 2008 MBP. I just read somewhere that it will only do 1.5GB/s - is that true?

Will this Crucial do the 3GB/s?

 

[angrydog]

Hmm dang, so maybe the Intel is not the way to go with the 2008 MBP. I just read somewhere that it will only do 1.5GB/s - is that true?

Will this Crucial do the 3GB/s?

Good thing you bought this up;

I just double checked via going to:

About this mac --> More Info --> System Report --> Hardware --> Serial-ATA

You can see "Link Speed" and "Negotiated Link Speed", I have 3 Gigabit and 1.5 Gigabit respectively. I'm going to look into this and report back or if some else can chime in if our NVidia MCP79 can indeed handle SATAII speeds?


LINKS to our concern about SATA Speeds:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2624608?start=0&tstart=0

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3426699?start=0&tstart=0

 

[mfuchs88]

You might want to check this drive out. It's got a great reputation, and the price is decent after the rebate. 240GB OCZ Agility 3 for $249 after rebate. https://www.amazon.com/OCZ-Technology-2-5-Inch-Performance-AGT3-25SAT3-60G/dp/B004Z0S6RU Best of luck, and hope you find something you're happy with!

Edit: Someone posted the same one for a better price up above.

 

[insimbi]

You might want to check this drive out. It's got a great reputation, and the price is decent after the rebate. 240GB OCZ Agility 3 for $249 after rebate. https://www.amazon.com/OCZ-Technology-2-5-Inch-Performance-AGT3-25SAT3-60G/dp/B004Z0S6RU Best of luck, and hope you find something you're happy with!

Edit: Someone posted the same one for a better price up above.

I may go with the Intel anyway. I can always reuse it in a newer MacBook Pro to get the SATA III speeds. Even if I only get 1.5GB/s speeds, it will be much faster than my stock HDD from Apple. At least it better be...

 

[shardey]

Thanks for the suggestions. Not sure what you mean by it not being a Pro, it says MacBook Pro right on it Maybe the specs don't reflect it today though.

What do you think about this one?
http://www.amazon.com/Intel-Series-...1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1333055029&sr=1-1

----------

How is Crucial for reliability?

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=365476&CatId=5300

My bad, I was assuming you had a 13" that was the non pro aluminum macbook. You can't go wrong with an Intel SSD.

 

[insimbi]

My bad, I was assuming you had a 13" that was the non pro aluminum macbook. You can't go wrong with an Intel SSD.

No worries. I will probably go with the Intel 520 Series (180GB). I'll lose some storage capacity from my 200GB, but gain more speed. I know I won't get the full speed of the SATA interface, but I'm sure it will be speedier than what I am using now.

Thanks!

 

[Angelo95210]

I have a Vertex Plus 60GB. It was really cheap and I know it's not the best SSD on earth but it totally changed my old MBP 06

 

[shardey]

Even it the SSD was slower than the hard drive in write/read speeds, the amount of IOPS is can perform is far greater than it. A normal hard drive is around 120ish, whereas the intel 520 180gb is up to 50k!!! Talk about a total game changer.

 

[NickZac]

Thanks for the suggestions. Not sure what you mean by it not being a Pro, it says MacBook Pro right on it Maybe the specs don't reflect it today though.

What do you think about this one?
http://www.amazon.com/Intel-Series-...1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1333055029&sr=1-1

----------

How is Crucial for reliability?

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=365476&CatId=5300

Crucial is among the best of all SSDs right now and it is well-suited for Macs. I have quite a few. Obviously, there are other great names mentioned here as well but the Crucial is the blend of price, performance, and reliability that has made me go back to it time and time again...so I have quite a few M4s.

 

[ya1950]

I just ordered the Crucial M4 for my machine which is the same as yours. My understanding is that it will run at SATA II speeds but I don't have it yet to test this out. In any case the Crucial site claims that it is compatible with the late 2008 MBP.

 

[bozz2006]

OP, any ssd will run at 3 Gbps in your system. The reason your current hdd is at 1.5 is because the drive is limited to that speed, not your computer.

 

[atak]

problems w/HD replacement

Hello:

I've tried to replace the HD in my Late 2008 15" Macbook Pro and had initial success, only to have the drives fail after a few weeks or months - I most recently installed an OWC Mercury SSD last summer.

The performance increase was incredible, until sadly I started seeing multiple disk errors that couldn't be fixed using disk utility - In fact, when I booted from another drive and tried to initiate a repair using disk utility, the result was I could no longer boot from the drive.

Don't know if there's something wrong with my particular MBP, but I haven't been able to use anything except the original drive in the machine for any duration longer than a few weeks without failure.

Best,

A. Takeuchi

 

[insimbi]

Hello:

I've tried to replace the HD in my Late 2008 15" Macbook Pro and had initial success, only to have the drives fail after a few weeks or months - I most recently installed an OWC Mercury SSD last summer.

The performance increase was incredible, until sadly I started seeing multiple disk errors that couldn't be fixed using disk utility - In fact, when I booted from another drive and tried to initiate a repair using disk utility, the result was I could no longer boot from the drive.

Don't know if there's something wrong with my particular MBP, but I haven't been able to use anything except the original drive in the machine for any duration longer than a few weeks without failure.

Best,

A. Takeuchi

Hmm doesn't sound good. Did you ever try another brand of SSD drive? Maybe it was a defective OWC drive?

----------

OP, any ssd will run at 3 Gbps in your system. The reason your current hdd is at 1.5 is because the drive is limited to that speed, not your computer.

Hmm - I guess I'm confused then. I know I can run any SSD drive, but from what I've read, the "negotiated speed" will be 1.5MB/s because of the hardware in my MBP. I think Apple released an EFI update for the 2009 MBP's so they could take advantage of the higher transfer rate, but the Late 2008's got left in the dust.

 

[insimbi]

Just installed my Intel SSD 520 Series 180GB drive

Now the wait begins

 

[bozz2006]

Hmm - I guess I'm confused then. I know I can run any SSD drive, but from what I've read, the "negotiated speed" will be 1.5MB/s because of the hardware in my MBP. I think Apple released an EFI update for the 2009 MBP's so they could take advantage of the higher transfer rate, but the Late 2008's got left in the dust.

Ummm.... I guess I don't know for sure. I have an EARLY 2008 aluminum macbook that has a SATAII (3Gbps) hard drive bay. check in system information.

 

[AppChat]

Intel 520 series, Samsung 800 series are good brands. As for your laptop, it technically isn't a pro, but it's a great machine with the removable battery.

I have had a Intel 320 80gb and installed it in my early 09 iMac, which makes it feel like a brand new machine, and I recently installed an Intel 520 120gb in my MBP and it runs circles around most peoples laptops, that use hard drives.

Intel IMO is one of the best brands, if not the best. I have also owned a x25v and x25m and haven't had problems with ANY of these drives.

how come the adveritsed write speeds of up to 520mb is really off? only get 180mbps write speeds with intel 520 120gb

 

[shardey]

how come the adveritsed write speeds of up to 520mb is really off? only get 180mbps write speeds with intel 520 120gb

What test are you using? Also, they use the phrasing "up to" for a reason.

 

[AppChat]

What test are you using? Also, they use the phrasing "up to" for a reason.

blackmagix disc speed test off the mac app store

i know it says up to but 300mb less is alot

 

[shardey]

blackmagix disc speed test off the mac app store

i know it says up to but 300mb less is alot

It SATA 6Gb/s 550 MB/s / 500 MB/s, but its for sustained read and write respectively. What firmware is your drive on? I know there is an update for it and that might be the problem.