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?

Avenger said:
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).
Click to expand...

I got a 2.66 i7 MBP like one month ago and updated the HDD to a 500 Gb 7200 rpm one (from the 5400 rpm that came with it). My previous computer, which I still have is an early 2008 2.4 C2D penryn MBP with a 5400 rpm 200 Gb HDD. Both are running up to date Mac OSX 10.6.6 and both have 4 Gb of RAM which is enough for all tasks I normally perform with them.

The thing is that although the ne one is faster than the previous 3 year old one, the difference is really small. Maybe it turns on much faster, but I restart the computer like once every two months, so that means nothing to me. I'm really surprised how all these incredible advances are announced every two months and how obsolete your computer is within weeks, but at the end of the day, the difference from the top of the line brand new MBP to the entry level-3 year old- MBP is like one second or less when opening iPhoto.
 
Wait

If you can I would wait til they release the new macbooks, either you trade it in/sell it or if they dont change enough get the SSD no harm no foul. Believe me the new line is at most 2 months out. OR just buy one hoping that it will most likely fit in the new macbooks and just swap it out.
 
Macmel said:
I got a 2.66 i7 MBP like one month ago and updated the HDD to a 500 Gb 7200 rpm one (from the 5400 rpm that came with it). My previous computer, which I still have is an early 2008 2.4 C2D penryn MBP with a 5400 rpm 200 Gb HDD. Both are running up to date Mac OSX 10.6.6 and both have 4 Gb of RAM which is enough for all tasks I normally perform with them.

The thing is that although the ne one is faster than the previous 3 year old one, the difference is really small. Maybe it turns on much faster, but I restart the computer like once every two months, so that means nothing to me. I'm really surprised how all these incredible advances are announced every two months and how obsolete your computer is within weeks, but at the end of the day, the difference from the top of the line brand new MBP to the entry level-3 year old- MBP is like one second or less when opening iPhoto.
Click to expand...

That's what I determined from my own observations. If you aren't doing CPU intensive tasks, the SSD seems like the upgrade that will give the most visible improvement.
 
noire anqa said:
what finickiness are you referring to?
Click to expand...

I remember that there approximately 1.5 million posts after the one piece MPBs came out with people first complaining that the SATA controller was gimped and then that SSDs based on certain controllers (Indilinx?) weren't working and that Apple's position was that these devices weren't approved by them so they weren't supported and didn't need to work. At that point I went on with the business of using my computer instead of talking about it, so I wasn't really sure what had changed since then.

That's great about the new Intel lineup. Sounds like it's worth waiting a few months!

John
 
trigonometry said:
Could you please point me towards these update tools.
Click to expand...

http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=18363

Download the file named 011102M388208850.ISO, in the first box it says windows only but thats a mistake, as in the detailed description it says (amongst other things):

Intel® SATA SSD Firmware Update Tool [ 011102M388208850.ISO ] - Bootable ISO image Intel® SATA SSD Firmware Update Tool; this is the recommended method to update the firmware on systems running Windows*, Linux* and Mac* operating systems. It requires a blank CD, CD burning software, and a read/writeable CD-ROM drive.
Click to expand...

I've personally verified that it works. Download the file, burn it to cd, and reboot to the cd, it'll guide you from there.
 
johnnj said:
I remember that there approximately 1.5 million posts after the one piece MPBs came out with people first complaining that the SATA controller was gimped and then that SSDs based on certain controllers (Indilinx?) weren't working and that Apple's position was that these devices weren't approved by them so they weren't supported and didn't need to work. At that point I went on with the business of using my computer instead of talking about it, so I wasn't really sure what had changed since then.

That's great about the new Intel lineup. Sounds like it's worth waiting a few months!

John
Click to expand...

Right you are, people were complaining that drives containing a built in motion sensor were conflicting with the MBPs internal sensor. Then that later expanded into other drives too. There were a few firmware updates pushed out and the issue was resolved.

https://www.macrumors.com/2009/06/2...ware-update-to-address-sata-interface-speeds/

Yep, i'm sitting tight waiting for new SSDs and MBPs!
 
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