ssd info on macbook air

[sejanus]

hi guys

I am toying with the idea of a mba as my 17" mbp has died, and since i bought it my needs have changed and I don't need a big laptop these days (have a big macpro setup).

just wondering about the ssd on the air, is the one apple include a good one or is there gains to be made by buying it without an ssd and swapping in a 3rd party ssd drive?

thanks

 

[Scottsdale]

hi guys

I am toying with the idea of a mba as my 17" mbp has died, and since i bought it my needs have changed and I don't need a big laptop these days (have a big macpro setup).

just wondering about the ssd on the air, is the one apple include a good one or is there gains to be made by buying it without an ssd and swapping in a 3rd party ssd drive?

thanks

Apple uses a Samsung SSD in the MBA. It is a 1.8" size which is extremely hard to come by. Also, it is a special connector LIF-SATA... which is impossible to find except in the MBA.

Basically, your choices in SSD are converting a SATA SSD by soldering the cable (as done in a thread here in the MBA section of MR) or by buying it with SSD from Apple.

The person that modified the SSD sees double the write speed as the MBA SSD, but it appears it's firmware related as it is the same drive except using SATA instead of LIF connector. Otherwise, the stats seem pretty identical on the read side.

I looked into finding a 256 GB 1.8" and they are currently non-existent... so, really no upgrade route right now. I am sure it is only a matter of time, but Apple using the LIF has really limited choices. I would stick with the MBA's standard SSD if it were me... that is what I am doing as I have the MBA 1.86 GHz with SSD. I highly recommend it. For normal tasks, the MBA will outperform a MBP (without SSD).

Good luck.

 

[stylinexpat]

I thought this was just on the first generation Macbook Air. Don't the new Macbook Air Notebooks use the same Sata II as the ones in the new Macbook Pros??

 

[glitch44]

I thought this was just on the first generation Macbook Air. Don't the new Macbook Air Notebooks use the same Sata II as the ones in the new Macbook Pros??

Listen to Scottsdale. He is very smart.

 

[wetrix]

I thought this was just on the first generation Macbook Air. Don't the new Macbook Air Notebooks use the same Sata II as the ones in the new Macbook Pros??

Same SATA II protocol yes, same physical connector no.

 

[Scottsdale]

I thought this was just on the first generation Macbook Air. Don't the new Macbook Air Notebooks use the same Sata II as the ones in the new Macbook Pros??

The MBA has a 1.8" drive. The MBP has a 2.5" drive. The connector is different too. The MBA uses an LIF/SATA while the MBP uses a standard SATA connector. So, the MBP makes it really easy to swap the drive, and there are many 2.5" drives on the market. The same does NOT hold true for the MBA, as a 1.8" SSD using an LIF connector is very hard to come by (currently only the Samsung which Apple uses, that I am aware of). BOTH use SATA-II as a drive controller, but that is different than the drive itself.

 

[steve31]

Is the SSD version B better than the version A SSD or are they both the same in speed?

 

[Maven1975]

Is the SSD version B better than the version A SSD or are they both the same in speed?

Its much faster. I posted some benchmarks awhile back and I think it was about a 75% increase.

 

[Jpoon]

The MBA Rev B uses a SATA interface on the magnetic drives and the SSD's.

Is there a 1.8" SATA SSD / HDD that I'm unaware of?

I know this isn't true for the rev A, but did something change with B?

 

[wetrix]

The rev A Airs used a PATA drive controller. The rev B Airs use SATA.