SSD or not?

[macdud]

Quote:
Originally Posted by JakeOfOz
And how about the MBA drives? Are they any better than the Pro ones?


no their sht too, better then a normal hard drive no doubt, but sht compared to other ssds

so if the MBA ssd's are so shady, is it safe to assume that the MBA are kind of disposable machines in a sense since their ssd drives are not changeable??

i've got nightmare memories of my 2008 asus netbook who after a year of swapping files, slowed down to a crawl taking for ever to perform simple tasks / opening apps...


if that is the case, then it's a big con for me who was considering a MBA 13 ultimate... i would be better off waiting for the MBP 13 refresh or buying the current and upgrading it to a vertex 2 ssd or something.. at least the drives would be changeable in case of degradation... to think of it, i wonder if apple care covers ssd degradation, in extreme cases perhaps?

 

[mulo]

as you appear not to understand what ssd degradation is or how it affects a ssd
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRIM

 

[NickZac]

so if the MBA ssd's are so shady, is it safe to assume that the MBA are kind of disposable machines in a sense since their ssd drives are not changeable??

i've got nightmare memories of my 2008 asus netbook who after a year of swapping files, slowed down to a crawl taking for ever to perform simple tasks / opening apps...


if that is the case, then it's a big con for me who was considering a MBA 13 ultimate... i would be better off waiting for the MBP 13 refresh or buying the current and upgrading it to a vertex 2 ssd or something.. at least the drives would be changeable in case of degradation... to think of it, i wonder if apple care covers ssd degradation, in extreme cases perhaps?

You can upgrade the MBA to as high as 500GB from OWC using a SandForce controller and parts similar to their award winning Mercury SSD. I would imagine OCZ, Crucial, and maybe even Intel will eventually have products.

By the time you see serious size drop or speed drop, your computer will be loooong obsolete. The problem is very, very overstated as modern block management allows the SSDs to be used for years. The Crucial C300 has thus far been tested to a write/rewrite size of almost 100 Terabytes.

As I said earlier, our original MBP with the 64GB SSD which was a $1000 upgrade is still doing just fine with minimal size change and only minor changes in speed. That thing is by today's standard 'stone-age technology'. Many SSDs have 10+ year warranties which covers wear. Realistically, you probably will never need to use it as the amount that current systems will degrade and slow is minimal. People are still using the original OCZ Vertex which is rounding 3 years of age, and the Original Vertex used a JMicron controller...the current Vertex 2 and 3 utilize SandForce controllers, which are not only the fastest processors available, but they also seem to have very good wear leveling software.

 

[macdud]

Interesting, i did not realize that the new MBA's ssd hard drive were user replaceable, but indeed it seems like OWC are just launching one.. lets wait and see how easy the installation for that will be...

However, my point was concerning the actual drives that ship on the current MBA, i understand they do not use sandforce or TRIM, and that therefore the degradation isn't good, so isnt it safe to say the stock MBA might not perform so well in a year or two? especially if the ssd's are put to hard use ?

 

[deeddawg]

The problem is very, very overstated

Agreed. Take the opinions you read here with a very large grain of salt.

 

[JakeOfOz]

Agreed. Take the opinions you read here with a very large grain of salt.

So for the average user it wouldn't really matter, only for the price aspect it'd be worth considering a 3rd party SSD?

In that case having a pre-installed Apple SSD without all the fuss it worth something too...

 

[NickZac]

So for the average user it wouldn't really matter, only for the price aspect it'd be worth considering a 3rd party SSD?

In that case having a pre-installed Apple SSD without all the fuss it worth something too...

For really any user, with perhaps a few oddball exceptions, it wouldn't make a difference. Obviously, buying a SSD from someone other than Apple will let you get a lot more value for your money. The actual flash memory used in the MBA may very well be used in numerous other 3rd party SSDs as flash memory is (like controllers) made by fewer makers than you would initially think.

However, my point was concerning the actual drives that ship on the current MBA, i understand they do not use sandforce or TRIM, and that therefore the degradation isn't good, so isnt it safe to say the stock MBA might not perform so well in a year or two? especially if the ssd's are put to hard use ?

The current ones will still have wear leveling without any issue. Apple probably has used their own system of wear leveling. Given the older MBA drives have not had major wear, it's pretty safe to assume that the currents will be alright.