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That really depends on how you use your Mac. I put one in a 2010 MBP and it certainly boots faster; but I only reboot it sporadically so it really wasn't that much of a game changer. Beyond that, in my day to day use (Word, Excel, web browsing, email) I really didn't notice much difference. Parallels appeared to be quicker, especially when opening a VM.

The down side was far less storage space as I went from 500GB HD to 256GB SSD. I had to be careful how many photos or videos I left on the Mac.

I suggest looking at how much disk space you use and see if 256GB will be enough, otherwise any speed improvement will be offset by the need to constantly clear disk space.

Overall, I was happy with going to an SSD but it didn't represent a huge boost in performance.
 
SSD choice is easy any modern SSD is a good bet but crucial seem to have the best price - performance- working with no issues matrix at the moment, the BX100 or MX200 series are both great.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_s...-keywords=crucial+mx200&sprefix=MX200,aps,346

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_n...ywords=crucial+BX100&rh=i:aps,k:crucial+BX100

However your imac will have issues with temp sensors and fans so you may be better off replacing your optical drive with the SSD.

iFixit has guides on doing all these upgrades and a shop selling the bits you need. Such as this....

https://www.ifixit.com/Store/Mac/iMac-Intel-27-Inch-Mid-2011-Dual-Hard-Drive-Kit/IF174-002
 
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Worth every penny and every minute of time it takes to install. I got mine from OWC and installed it as the primary drive in my new (at the time) Mac Mini, shoving the spinner over for data storage. Boots in 15 seconds, tops. Everything is fast. The key is to make sure the applications and OS are on the SSD - this is where you get the biggest boost in performance. Keep pictures, music, documents, etc. on the slower drive. OWC made sure I got the correct drive, and between the printed instructions that came with the drive and the online videos, I was able to install it correctly the first time. For some reason, after a lifetime of opening up computers and messing about in the entrails, I didn't feel confident in my ability to install a dumb hard drive.

As far as storage - I recently picked up a Seagate wireless hard drive, that I use to store music, pictures, etc. in order to free up space on my phone and tablet. If you only have room for one internal drive, might be a storage option to consider.
 
So will I be able to keep the existing drives and add the SSD additionally, or will it be taking there place?
 
OP:

Swapping out the HDD for a new SSD on the MacBook is easy. Do it right away.

It's much more of "a job" on the iMac.
Since you have a 2011, does it have thunderbolt?
You could add a thunderbolt-based SSD, and enjoy performance that is the near-equal of an internally-mounted drive, with a LOT less trouble.

TB-based enclosures are on the pricey side, however.
Might be worth it, considering the amount of work to get inside the iMac, and the chances that something else could "get broken" while in there...
 
If you have only one hard drive, it should be the SSD. You want the operating system and applications to be on that drive because that's where the improvements in speed make the most difference. I installed mine in a Mini, which has room for two drives. OWC can tell you what drives would be compatible with your hardware and how to install them. They have great prices and great support. As for optical drives, I have an external USB 3/firewire capable external drive, and it's no hassle. I find I don't use discs as much as I once did, but every now and then I want to rip an old CD to iTunes, and I still make discs for backup in addition to backup on external hard drives and flash drives. Can't never have too many backups. Be sure .... SURE ... that you back up your existing drive, and test the backup, before you start installing the new one. I recommend SuperDuper! which lets you back up your drive and make it bootable. You can then restore this image onto the new drive.
 
Totally worth it, I change back to the original HDD when sending it back to Apple for repairs and I think to myself why is it so slow...
 
OP:

Swapping out the HDD for a new SSD on the MacBook is easy. Do it right away.

It's much more of "a job" on the iMac.
Since you have a 2011, does it have thunderbolt?
You could add a thunderbolt-based SSD, and enjoy performance that is the near-equal of an internally-mounted drive, with a LOT less trouble.

TB-based enclosures are on the pricey side, however.
Might be worth it, considering the amount of work to get inside the iMac, and the chances that something else could "get broken" while in there...


Thanks everyone for your replies.

I think I'll get either the samsung Evo or Crucial SSD for my macbook pro.

For the iMac, based on this post I may use a guide and still change my iMac hard drive, but if not, what kind of external SSD drives are available for connection via thunderbolt?
 
The only reason it would not be worth it is if you have to skip paying the rent/mortgage, buying food, or some other type of primary expense in order to afford it.
 
Thanks for all the replies.

I'm considering:

Samsung SSD 850 EVO
or
Crucial MX200

Which would you say is better?
 
Thanks for all the replies.

I'm considering:

Samsung SSD 850 EVO
or
Crucial MX200

Which would you say is better?
 
Thanks for all the replies.

I'm considering:

Samsung SSD 850 EVO
or
Crucial MX200

Which would you say is better?

I'd just go with the cheaper one. Both of those brands have good reputations. I have used a Samsung 850 Pro and now have a Crucial MX100 and they're both excellent.
 
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Both sound like good choices.

Can someone help me with the following figures, I can't seem to find the information.

Crucial MX200:
Read 555 MB/s (This is compressed and uncompressed)

Write 500 MB/s (is this compressed or uncompressed?)

Samsung Evo 850:
Read 540 MB/s (is this compressed or uncompressed?)
Write 520 MB/s (is this compressed or uncompressed?)
 
Last edited:
Makes everything snappy. I have upgraded my white MacBook several times. Each hard drive was faster... Big difference. Now I'm running 10.10 on it and it's little slower than 10.9 but still.

IMHO money well spent.
Not sure how easy it is to do it on your iMac. I have only replaced he on 2008 or 2009 and previous plastic generations.

Go for it!
 
I replaced the HD in my 2009 MacBook Pro with an SSD, and my boot time went from 10 minutes to 10 seconds, no joke. It feels like a brand new machine.

This was the SSD I got.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00OBRE5UE?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00

I got this same SSD yesterday for my 2009 MBP 17" and its having so many dramas. How did you get it stable?

It was hanging at boot and getting beachballs all the time, apps crashing etc. Then today i turned it on and it won't boot at all. Apple logo shows up and loading bar then screen just goes black and it's turned off?
 
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Both sound like good choices.

Can someone help me with the following figures, I can't seem to find the information.

Crucial MX200:
Read 555 MB/s (This is compressed and uncompressed)

Write 500 MB/s (is this compressed or uncompressed?)

Samsung Evo 850:
Read 540 MB/s (is this compressed or uncompressed?)
Write 520 MB/s (is this compressed or uncompressed?)

If you're on an older mac with only Sata 3 you'll only get half that speed roughly just so you know.
 
I got this same SSD yesterday for my 2009 MBP 17" and its having so many dramas. How did you get it stable?

It was hanging at boot and getting beachballs all the time, apps crashing etc. Then today i turned it on and it won't boot at all. Apple logo shows up and loading bar then screen just goes black and it's turned off?

Boot from your old drive from an external enclosure and run diagnostics on the SSD.
 
I got this same SSD yesterday for my 2009 MBP 17" and its having so many dramas. How did you get it stable?

It was hanging at boot and getting beachballs all the time, apps crashing etc. Then today i turned it on and it won't boot at all. Apple logo shows up and loading bar then screen just goes black and it's turned off?

Did you clone your old drive? I had issues after cloning, to get it completely stable - I would recommend a complete clean install. Format the hard drive and install the OS from scratch.

Just take what you need from your old hard drive and transfer it after the clean install is done.
 
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