SSD Upgrade for MBP Core i7

[rambosamboo]

Hi everyone, received my MBP yesterday and am very happy so far.

Also upgraded the ram to 8GB and definitely notice a big speed bump when running parallels and Office 2010. I am still considering to upgrade to SSD in order to further boost performance.

1) Is there any disadvantage in terms of stability and compatibility running Excel 2010 via Parallels compared to Bootcamp? I am asking because I need a rock solid Excel that is fully functional for my dissertation.

2) Will a VM run significantly faster with an SSD drive? (e.g. 20-30% faster?)

3) If so, which SSD drive would you recommend that is least 160GB? Is it worth waiting for the Intel X25 G3 or are there good affordable alternatives? What are your thoughts on the Seagate Momentus XT?

Many thanks in advance!

 

[Hellhammer]

1. It's the same

2. Yes, it will as the data can be accessed faster. Hard to say how much though

3. I would wait for Intel G3. I'm sure other manufacturers will lower their prices to fight against Intels and you don't seem the be in need of a new drive

 

[zhenya]

As I said in your other thread, yes, the SSD will make a huge difference - especially in the VM. My VM on my Windows 7 laptop with an Intel SSD starts and hibernates almost instantly - to the point where it's hardly different than launching another application. It was rather a pain on a standard drive. I would not bother with Boot Camp. Excel in Parallels will work great, and be much more convenient.

I always prefer the very fast and very reliable Intel drives. To wait or not is your call - updates could come in 1 month or 5.