SSD help

Apple's SSDs are TRIM enabled out of the box and are 100% compatible with OSX and Apple's internals. the 128GB is a good value if you're buying it along with the latest laptops.

Apple hasn't yet instituted a verification program for third-party SSDs, so it's hit or miss right now as to how they'll function. Sandforce-based SSDs have been known to have issues with hibernation, Intel's latest SSDs can cause massive read-write delays on some 2011 models, etc. Personally, my Sandforce-based Vertex 2 works fine once I disabled hibernation, but your mileage may vary.

 

With SandForce-based drives, you don't really have to worry if the OS supports the TRIM command. Basically, I'd just recommend the OCZ Vertex 2. I've been using one for 2 weeks without any issues.

 

The new 2011 MBP support a SATA 6Gbps interface. If you wish to take advantage of that, then you should wait a week to a month for them to come out.

OCZ (A shady company in my opinion) Vertex 3 is due March 23rd or around that date.

OWC's new drives are due anytime soon to June.

Intel 510 is already out.

However, might I add that you should not cheap out on SSDs. Buy one from a company with a good reputation for quality products and a good controller that will increase the lifespan of the SSD . . . well reduce performance degradation. I recommend a drive with a SandForce controller. It's more expensive but well worth it.

 

Wait, wait, wait, not so fast. Which 13"? Apple has different SSD BTO prices for each one. The i5 base model costs $250 to upgrade while the i7 one only costs $200 for the option. Newegg's prices aren't any better than $200 for drives of this capacity. (Save for the potential rebate for a Kingston drive A.T.M, albeit I'm not too sure how the SSD Now series performs). Most lie between the two options, in fact.

That's not to say there aren't reasons to do a DIY upgrade, say like if you want to be able to restore it to stock model condition for a full refund, keep the original hard drive for whatever reason, sacrifice capacity for budgeting purposes or get a refurbished model where you're not given the BTO option. Otherwise it's probably not worth the effort and I'd just get the Apple stock, since it's the only drive which supports TRIM on these new Macbook Pros, which has an impact on long term performance.

That being said, sacrificing capacity might not be a decent idea if you're not going to dual boot. If you get one just large enough to hold your O.S. and apps, you can put the original HDD in an external enclosure for the less resource intensive stuff.

 

How come none of the internet retailers are doing pre-orders for the Vertex 3? Amazon will usually list an item before they are released up to a month or so just so they can take the pre-order. I haven't been able to find any stores that even list the items.

For the most part I just want to read more about it - but this is annoying.

 

For what it's worth: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004QJM1HG
I just found it up on their site today. According to Amazon, it's been listed since March 1, but I haven't seen it until today (and even then, it's pretty far down on their search results for "vertex 3"). I just got a Google Alert for the 120gb version today, so I went back and checked, and there it was.

 

Just found this one, and is shipping in 1-2 month. http://www.amazon.com/OCZ-Technolog...7?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1300108165&sr=1-7

 

I've seen more than once poster say that OCZ is shady... was wondering why?

 

Problem is that OCZ lost almost all their reliability and credibility when they made the transition from 34nm sized flash chips to 25nm sized flash chips without letting any of their customers know. This occurred in their Vertex 2 line. They did not notify the customer with ANY signs, no model number change no packaging change, na da.

The problem this caused was that the newer models lost a few GBs in capacity, were slower, and had a lower lifespan. Unfortunately, when enthusiasts who wanted to do a RAID 0 setup (where the drives had to be identical for optimal performance) had two drives of different flavors, they found a nice surprise (sarcasm).

Now OCZ wasn't a decent company and apologized. They stated that if you want the old drives, you must pay extra for an exchange. . . Only after a lot of people bitched at them.

Personally, I might invest in the Vertex 3, but really . . . if I had the option, I wouldn't buy from OCZ. Buy Intel or if you want reliability and performance, from OWC—too bad they haven't released an ETA on their SATA 6Gbps drive, other than that it could come out from tomorrow till June.