Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

SSD or new MacBook Pro?

tbobmccoy

tbobmccoy

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jul 24, 2007
969
219
Austin, TX
So I've got a little bit of money to invest in some tech, and I want to upgrade my computer. I've got a mid-2009 MBP and still like it, it does most of what I need without complaining. The question I have is should I sell it and upgrade to the next MBP when it comes out, or get an SSD to replace it's 500GB HDD (which I can turn into an external easily). What will provide me with a faster day-to-day computing, file transfering, some light video editing, etc?

Thanks! :D
 
In the same boat - Mid 09 Macbook Pro 13, 2.26Ghz / 4Gb / Upgraded 500Gb HDD.

Current thinking: Upgrade to a ~120Gb SSD + MCE optibay or similar + 8Gb RAM.

Would be able to use both if I got a new MBP, or just the SSD if I went MacPro which is not altogether unlikely.

Debating which to do first, though probably worth doing both at the same time.

Going to have to reinstall OSX which will be a major pain, can't be helped though - something is screwed with Quicktime and I can't even play video with it. I have a sneaking suspicion it's the RAM in there regardless, though we'll see.
 
This is the same question I had in my mind also. My main complaint is application loading times and delays. I went to the Apple Store the other day and tried out one of those 2.66 GHZ i7 Macbook Pros. I didn't see a significant speed difference in loading and using applications like iPhoto and Aperature on the new Macbook Pro versus my current one. This is why I am leaning towards an SSD instead of upgrading to a new model. I have the late 2008 unibody 2.4 GHZ Macbook Pro. I'm sure the i7 is much faster in things like video encoding but I don't do that much in my macbook.

I've been reading good things about the OWC Mercury Extreme Pro SSD. The only caveats is the sleep issue (common with Sandforce based SSD's) and it seems that some people may be having an issue with the latest firmware. I also don't like that there isn't a Mac SSD firmware update tool for any of these SSDs. I will have to think abt it for a while. I recently bought a Crucial C300 128GB for my PC and it really is blazing fast and was plug and play to set up. I would stay with that brand but it works best with an OS which supports TRIM (which Windows 7 does but Mac OS X doesn't).
 
Go SSD! you'll see the most improvement.

I installed a "cheap" Kingston ssdnow 64 9 months ago and it was night and day and still has zero signs of slowing, admittedly it doesn't get written on much because it's my OS/app drive in my macbook pro.

Size wise I've used 40gb of my 64gb drive with:
Snow leopard
Adobe CS5 design premium (PS,ID,AI,DW,FL,FC,FW, and acrobat)
Adobe Lightroom 3
Autodesk Maya
Sketchbook pro
iWork 09
Office 2011
and various other random stuff

BTW was just looking on newegg and the crucial c300 64gb is only $129 nowadays! :eek:
 
Definitely SSD.

SSD makes my 1.6ghz macbook air feel much faster than my 2.4ghz 2010 13 inch mbp
 
Avenger said:
I've been reading good things about the OWC Mercury Extreme Pro SSD. The only caveats is the sleep issue (common with Sandforce based SSD's) and it seems that some people may be having an issue with the latest firmware. I also don't like that there isn't a Mac SSD firmware update tool for any of these SSDs. I will have to think abt it for a while. I recently bought a Crucial C300 128GB for my PC and it really is blazing fast and was plug and play to set up. I would stay with that brand but it works best with an OS which supports TRIM (which Windows 7 does but Mac OS X doesn't).
Click to expand...

Supposedly, so long as the SSD is installed in the main drive bay there is less of a chance that the sleep issue will rear itself. I'm thinking of getting one of the Corsair F120 and have someone flash it for me. It's on NewEgg for ~$240 and a retailer here is selling them for 250 (presumably pre tax) though I'm thinking I'll get them to flash it for me.

Pros: This drive does improve performance. Here's my results with a clean install and about 15GB of programs installed.

Startup: 22 seconds
Deep sleep wake: 16 seconds
Photoshop CS4: 3 seconds
Firefox: 2 seconds
Word 2011: 1 second

Cons: 4 stars because the drive came with the 1.1 firmware. Unfortunately, this firmware version was not compatible with deep sleep (and would force a reboot after waking). The 2.0 firmware seemed to fix this issue but I had to flash it with a Windows machine since no OSX tool is available. If you don't have access to Windows, you'll have to RMA the drive to get it flashed.

Definitely fast, but not as fast as I had hoped.

Other Thoughts: I'm using this drive on a 13" Macbook Pro with 2.26Ghz Core 2 Duo, 4GB DDR3 ram, OSX 10.6.5.
Click to expand...
FWIW - I'd be stoked if I could get the same performance as the above.

Intel G3's are due in Feb so it may well be worth waiting for them. Next gen Corsair drives will drop Feb-March, and SF-2500(i think) based drives in May. Don't think I can wait that long, but another month might be ok.
 
Last edited:
Yakob said:
Go SSD! you'll see the most improvement.

I installed a "cheap" Kingston ssdnow 64 9 months ago and it was night and day and still has zero signs of slowing, admittedly it doesn't get written on much because it's my OS/app drive in my macbook pro.
Click to expand...

Good to hear that, I just bought the same one a few days ago from NCIX on sale for 99$ CAD and I am just waiting till I get home to start backing up my data to reinstall the OS onto my SSD :cool:

Any recommendations Yakob?
 
A SSD will bring faster load and process times for many of the applications the standard user utilizes and so you will physically 'notice' more speed with a SSD. Get a good SSD with SATA3 capability and go bigger than you need now, as you could probably use a SSD for a looooong time (many have 10 year warranties).

I have a mid/late 13 myself. If you get another current 13, you will buy essentially the same computer with a slightly different GPU design. Go SSD all the way!
 
Avenger said:
That's good to know. I thought all the SSD makers were negligent in that area. Kudos for Intel.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it's a welcome move by Intel ..
I think there must be some others that also have Mac tools, like OWC SSDs but i'm not familiar with them.
 
I don't think I'll ever have a laptop without a SSD drive. I've got a mid-2009 MBP and the Intel X25-M G2 160 Gb drive in it and it has performed really well and without problems. The main difference is that you never have to wait for a program to open, don't have any noise etc so you don't even notice the existence of the drive.

I'd still wait though, the next gen Intels are right around the corner and should provide twice the space for the same money.
 
what is a "good enough" size SSD for just OS and apps? im a DJ and Photographer so my laptop is what i mainly use for work. Id like to have a 2nd hdd in the optibay so i dont have to lug another external with me for music videos/mp3s when DJing.

i also keep reading mix reviews when installing the SSD into the optibay, it will cause problem or having the HDD in the optibay will get beach balling or crashing. which is the best way?

thanks.
 
SSD best thing I've ever done

im using a MBP 4.1 - its just turned lightning fast with a crucial C300 - ive heard good things about a sandforce drive.. but the crucial is 256 and awesome.. waiting for the new MBP now!
 
fantismo said:
im using a MBP 4.1 - its just turned lightning fast with a crucial C300 - ive heard good things about a sandforce drive.. but the crucial is 256 and awesome.. waiting for the new MBP now!
Click to expand...

Don't mean to steal thread, but have you been able to run Bootcamp with the C300 on the MBP 4.1? I've tried but I can never get it to boot with Windows DVD/CD.
 
kasakka said:
I'd still wait though, the next gen Intels are right around the corner and should provide twice the space for the same money.
Click to expand...

Ive been considering an SSD upgrade myself, but I hear this a lot on the forums. Does anyone have a better time frame of when the new ones can actually be bought with money?
 
polobreaka said:
what is a "good enough" size SSD for just OS and apps? im a DJ and Photographer so my laptop is what i mainly use for work. Id like to have a 2nd hdd in the optibay so i dont have to lug another external with me for music videos/mp3s when DJing.

i also keep reading mix reviews when installing the SSD into the optibay, it will cause problem or having the HDD in the optibay will get beach balling or crashing. which is the best way?

thanks.
Click to expand...

My os and apps span approx 23GB. I'd say a 40GB would be enough for OS and apps ..

I'm using 2 ssd's, one in an optibay and the other in the standard drive slot, used to use 1 ssd in the optibay and a hdd in the standard drive slot. no problems with either config. ps if you use a hdd and ssd make sure the ssd is in the optibay and the hdd in the standard drive slot (standard drive slot is motion sensor equipped).

though perhaps bare in mind what happened to me, which is probably by no means unusual:- bought an ssd for the os, saw how fast it is, tried to sneak a few more things onto the ssd, for speed of course, realised i was filling it up, wished i'd just bought a bigger ssd in the first place, bought another, and put them into raid. might have been smarter just to buy a big ssd in the first place.

although, saying that, 2 ssd's in raid is stupidly fast .. like you would not believe.
 
I'm kind of in the same situation myself. I have a March '09 15" w/ 2.66GHz.

I've been running it for almost as long as I've had it with a pair of Vertex 120 gb drives in RAID 0. The machine still feels fast and there isn't really anything wrong with it. I'm starting to run low on storage, though. I like the new i7 MBP with the high res display option and I'm sure the better CPU would make my Lightroom import preview renderings a bit faster, which is the hardest I hit this machine with anything.

My quandary is that I can either go for the new machine and put my old SSDs into it and just be careful with disk usage or keep my current machine and get a pair of 240 gb drives. Unfortunately I can't afford both and there's no way I'd go back to a regular magnetic drive.

Thoughts?

John
 
johnnj said:
I'm kind of in the same situation myself. I have a March '09 15" w/ 2.66GHz.

I've been running it for almost as long as I've had it with a pair of Vertex 120 gb drives in RAID 0. The machine still feels fast and there isn't really anything wrong with it. I'm starting to run low on storage, though. I like the new i7 MBP with the high res display option and I'm sure the better CPU would make my Lightroom import preview renderings a bit faster, which is the hardest I hit this machine with anything.

My quandary is that I can either go for the new machine and put my old SSDs into it and just be careful with disk usage or keep my current machine and get a pair of 240 gb drives. Unfortunately I can't afford both and there's no way I'd go back to a regular magnetic drive.

Thoughts?

John
Click to expand...

New ssd's from intel are meant to be around the corner, and supposedly at lower price points to remain competitive.

Also, new mbps are round the corner.

if you can hold out for 2 months the price of ssds will likely drop, and there'll be new mps .. you might be able to afford both then.
 
noire anqa said:
New ssd's from intel are meant to be around the corner, and supposedly at lower price points to remain competitive.

Also, new mbps are round the corner.

if you can hold out for 2 months the price of ssds will likely drop, and there'll be new mps .. you might be able to afford both then.
Click to expand...

Thanks. Yeah, i can definitely hold out 2 months or even more. I would love to get some Intel SSD into my machine, but aside from cost, they're not big enough. If they came out with a 240/256 that was $500 I think I'd definitely hop on it. Don't think that'll happen in the foreseeable future, unfortunately.

I'm fairly certain that if I go with a pair of Vertex2 240GB drives that they'll work with my current machine, but as you mentioned new ones are around the corner and eventually I will want to catch up and transfer those drives over.

Have the more recent MBPs still had the finickiness with SSDs like the ones when they first switched over to the one piece bottom panel and the flat battery?

John
 
johnnj said:
Thanks. Yeah, i can definitely hold out 2 months or even more. I would love to get some Intel SSD into my machine, but aside from cost, they're not big enough. If they came out with a 240/256 that was $500 I think I'd definitely hop on it. Don't think that'll happen in the foreseeable future, unfortunately.

I'm fairly certain that if I go with a pair of Vertex2 240GB drives that they'll work with my current machine, but as you mentioned new ones are around the corner and eventually I will want to catch up and transfer those drives over.

Have the more recent MBPs still had the finickiness with SSDs like the ones when they first switched over to the one piece bottom panel and the flat battery?

John
Click to expand...

new intels will come in 80/160/300/600GB capacities, buzz seems to indicate a feb arrival, but its conjecture at this point .. all we really know is they're on their way .. and apparently, or assumed to be, at much more competitive price points: which is what i'm really waiting for, sandforce 2000 will be greater performance but drives utilising it won't be here for some time ..

i'm in the same boat as you really, im looking to hop off this late '10 mbp for the new 13", wanna move off C2D before i settle on a machine for 3 years ..
loaded with 2x300GB ssd's of course .. only way i can do both is if someone drops their prices, and it sure as hell isn't gonna be apple ..

what finickiness are you referring to?
 
Don't forget to look at the crucial realssd's I have one in my late 2008 MBP too,..
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back