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SSD Rush

P

phibe1

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 28, 2010
74
3
I have a 2010 15inch MBP with a 500GB I installed myself. I feel like it might be time to update to an SSD of some sort. I feel from personal experience I will need about 120-160GB for my purposes of apps/OS related stuff.

My issue is that I am a medical student in the Caribbean and I have somebody coming to visit me within a week. I dont have much time to do the research I always do before a purchase like this and would like to hear from personal experiences of others on what I can do to make sure this impulsive want for SSD is actually fruitful and doesn't leave me in ruins.

From what I understand my MBP has SATA2 only so one of these very hyped Vertex 3 drives would be useless. But what I would like to know is what is a well reviewed drive that many have experience with using that will work with a good price point @ 120-60GB?

I would also like to know about enclosures, from what I have gathered from there forums there are two types (Optibay and NewModeUS). Which one is better and why?

thank to any responses in advance !
 
phibe1 said:
I have a 2010 15inch MBP with a 500GB I installed myself. I feel like it might be time to update to an SSD of some sort. I feel from personal experience I will need about 120-160GB for my purposes of apps/OS related stuff.

My issue is that I am a medical student in the Caribbean and I have somebody coming to visit me within a week. I dont have much time to do the research I always do before a purchase like this and would like to hear from personal experiences of others on what I can do to make sure this impulsive want for SSD is actually fruitful and doesn't leave me in ruins.

From what I understand my MBP has SATA2 only so one of these very hyped Vertex 3 drives would be useless. But what I would like to know is what is a well reviewed drive that many have experience with using that will work with a good price point @ 120-60GB?

I would also like to know about enclosures, from what I have gathered from there forums there are two types (Optibay and NewModeUS). Which one is better and why?

thank to any responses in advance !
Click to expand...

Get the new Intel 320 for your machine. Great reliability, though not the fastest, great $$/GB. Buy the cheapest optibay type solution. Once mounted they are all the same. Some are sturdy when not installed, but once screwed down there is no difference.
 
VTMac said:
Get the new Intel 320 for your machine. Great reliability, though not the fastest, great $$/GB. Buy the cheapest optibay type solution. Once mounted they are all the same. Some are sturdy when not installed, but once screwed down there is no difference.
Click to expand...

Definitely agreed. The new intels are some of the best value you can buy now. They have 120GB for $240 and 160GB for $300
 
Right now... I see SSD's as more of a luxury that the spec whores covet and like to tinker with and brag about. Unless you have a specific need to circumvent your current drive read/write times. For instance, I use an SSD with photoshop for editing massive image formats which take forever to load using a conventional drive.

Without that "need" I see anyone going from 500gb of storage to even 160gb as a step backwards.
 
VTMac said:
Get the new Intel 320 for your machine. Great reliability, though not the fastest, great $$/GB. Buy the cheapest optibay type solution. Once mounted they are all the same. Some are sturdy when not installed, but once screwed down there is no difference.
Click to expand...

Is the new Intel 320 faster than the Apple SSD?

With the education discount the Apple 128gb one would cost me $225 in the 13 inch MBP.
 
phibe1 said:
so one of these very hyped Vertex 3 drives would be useless.
Click to expand...

not true, the v3 will still have faster writes (seq.) and random 4k, according to the ocz forumers and can be seen in the innumerable bencharks: here

also when u upgrade u're mbp, dont forget the v3 will have greater upgrade potential and will hold it's value a lot more compared to the older sata-2 drives

phibe1 said:
I would also like to know about enclosures, from what I have gathered from there forums there are two types (Optibay and NewModeUS). Which one is better and why?
Click to expand...

i went for the newmodeus, which was fine for my needs. One thing to bear in mind is that despite being a tight and flush fitting of the MBP into the caddy, there is only 1 screw to hold it into the macbook.

The optibay i very overpriced, i would go for the ebay caddy by the seller smk312, this has been verified as working over the sata-2 port
ps the seller also sells a a superdrive enclosure which is actually ok, not the prettiest mind you - but works absolutely fine

ps. which med school you at over in the Caribbean? Trinidad?
im an anesthetist in the UK and thinking of sitting my USMLEs soon,
 
Fugue said:
Is the new Intel 320 faster than the Apple SSD?

With the education discount the Apple 128gb one would cost me $225 in the 13 inch MBP.
Click to expand...

Don't forget when you buy a third party SSD you get a "free" hdd, and by that I mean the one that came with the MBP
 
Al Coholic said:
Without that "need" I see anyone going from 500gb of storage to even 160gb as a step backwards.
Click to expand...

Any time saved is worth a couple of bucks to me especially with something like my laptop which I use in every aspect of my learning. SSD reliability is also vital. I have had a few friends have their harddrives crash on them right before exams. Sourcing a HDD here for a decent price is hard as is, so I rather have something that will not fail (atleast not as likely as a HDD).

I am not going to be stepping backwards, I will be losing my SuperDrive (haven't used it once, it actually took me 3 months to figure out it didnt even work coming out of the box, Apple promptly replaced it thankfully) and put my current 500GB HDD in there. If anything I will have more room. :D

johnnyturbouk said:
not true, the v3 will still have faster writes (seq.) and random 4k, according to the ocz forumers and can be seen in the innumerable bencharks: here

also when u upgrade u're mbp, dont forget the v3 will have greater upgrade potential and will hold it's value a lot more compared to the older sata-2 drives



i went for the newmodeus, which was fine for my needs. One thing to bear in mind is that despite being a tight and flush fitting of the MBP into the caddy, there is only 1 screw to hold it into the macbook.

The optibay i very overpriced, i would go for the ebay caddy by the seller smk312, this has been verified as working over the sata-2 port
ps the seller also sells a a superdrive enclosure which is actually ok, not the prettiest mind you - but works absolutely fine

ps. which med school you at over in the Caribbean? Trinidad?
im an anesthetist in the UK and thinking of sitting my USMLEs soon,
Click to expand...

Vertex 3 seems tough to found instock and deliverable in the next few days so it might be out of the question. I am going to look more into the NewModeUS, optibay is indeed very expensive.

I go to St. George's University in Grenada, West Indies. I wish you the best of luck on USMLE, very challenging but a good grade is achievable with proper preparation. Just gotta brush up on basic sciences if you are already practicing.
 
I went with a 120GB Intel 320 Series in an OWC Data Doubler and a Western Digital 750GB Scorpio Black in the stock position. Only two days in, but so far I am impressed. My system is a 2010 Core i7 15" MBP.
 
USMLE seems like a doddle compared to the frca i passed in sept - the anaesthetics exams
these are insanely hard.. 80% mark required to pass and only less than 30% of candidates pass.. you have to learn basic sciences again, +anaesthesia, + itu+ physics.. i mean why on earth do i have to learn how electricity is generated and how circuits and lazers work and how many electrons there are in a coulomb of charge!.
. the physiology and pharmacology is on another level too

i heard ITU has a very different set-up in the US compared to the UK

ps i have the newmodeus caddy - its honestly fine
 
The Apple OEM SSDs in the 2011s is faster than most of the aftermarket SSDs. We can debate why this is all day, but even older MBPs with OEM SSDs were posting ridiculous speeds using SATA2.
 
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