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SSD vrs Standard Hard Drive Worth it?

B

Be-1

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 19, 2011
2
0
Is buying a 500GB SSD worth the extra $1100 for the MBP? Is the 750G standard hard drive similar in speed and power. Is the difference in SSD very noticeable? I produce music and can eat up disk space quickly with large files. I am debating about having more space or more speed and power. What do you think?

B:eek:
 
The difference in speed between an SSD and a HDD is extremely noticeable. Is it worth it? That's up to you to decide that. If you want lightning fast speed and you have the money, then go for it.
 
Would you want to sacrifice being able to store all of your files on your laptop, for fast boot times, and near instant program starts?

Only you can decide.
 
Depends where you'll be doing your music as well.

9/10 when I'm doing music I'll be at a location where if I can carry the input I can carry an external for storage so I went with ssd.
 
Well, my wife asked me to buy her a laptop yesterday. I have a MacBook Air that I got when they came out last fall.

I've gotta say, this thing (the Air) is nuts. It is just ridiculously convenient to have something that works this quickly.

So we ordered her 15" MacBook Pro yesterday with the SSD. It will arrive this week (they didn't have one in stock at the store).

With "Thunderbolt" devices coming, I doubt we will fill up the drive before they're out, and if the need arises, we will buy one of the new "Thunderbolt" external drives.

I think it should work out just fine. We are definitely looking forward to getting the new MBP.

ETA: we also opted for the non-glare screen option.
 
I debated the same thing last week and decided to buy the 750 GB hard drive. I wanted the 128 ssd, but the limited amount of space was a concern. Also, I thought about buying the 256 ssd, but again the limited amount of space is an issue for me.

This is subjective as each person has to grapple with this option. Hypothetical, if the price of larger ssd decreases, then I will buy one. I doubt the price will decrease in the near future though.

If I had a desktop, then I would have bought a factory 128/256 ssd.

Edit: I chose space over speed. I wanted both, but I could not spend a grand on an ssd.
 
100Teraflops said:
I debated the same thing last week and decided to buy the 750 GB hard drive. I wanted the 128 ssd, but the limited amount of space was a concern. Also, I thought about buying the 256 ssd, but again the limited amount of space is an issue for me.

This is subjective as each person has to grapple with this option. Hypothetical, if the price of larger ssd decreases, then I will buy one. I doubt the price will decrease in the near future though.

If I had a desktop, then I would have bought a factory 128/256 ssd.

Edit: I chose space over speed. I wanted both, but I could not spend a grand on an ssd.
Click to expand...

i will go with optibay solution!

will put a 120 vertex-3 as boot /osx/app and the 750gb - partioned into 180gb for windows via bootcamp; remaining HFS+ for media/itunes /downloads /work/ etc.

When ssds drop further will buy a 240GB ssd in a years time and use it in the optibay, and place media/music over a time capsule
 
johnnyturbouk said:
i will go with optibay solution!

will put a 120 vertex-3 as boot /osx/app and the 750gb - partioned into 180gb for windows via bootcamp; remaining HFS+ for media/itunes /downloads /work/ etc.

When ssds drop further will buy a 240GB ssd in a years time and use it in the optibay, and place media/music over a time capsule
Click to expand...

That is a good idea, but I want my optical bay. I plan to burn DVDs/CDs and install software via old school. However, one can buy an external optical player i.e. blu-ray player! It is nice to have options. :D
 
If measured in RPMs what estimate would you guys give the SSD over a 7200rpm drive? 2x, 4x, 10x better? Just curious. The only SSD I have experience with is the one on my HP netbook, which doesn't seem much faster at all. I'm sure that SSDs nowadays have a much better r/w speed.
 
Damn straight it's worth it.

As a result of recently getting a 2011 17" MBP, with the Apple 128GB SSD, I couldn't resist upgrading my 2 2007 iMacs.

The iMacs were getting pretty slow, that's one reason why I bought the MBP, I needed some portability, too.

I just finished upgrading the 24" iMac yesterday, which was my primary machine. I installed a 3.5" 120GB Vertex 2. I also put a 750GB Scorpio in the Optical spot. Good grief, the darn thing is a 4 year old new machine.

Yes, the processor isn't new, but for just $300 in parts, it's awesome again.

Prior to the big change I put the SL install DVD on a thumb drive. Slick stuff. Did the same with the new MBP install DVD.

Going to put a 750Gb in the MBP's Optical spot as well.

My daughter gets the 24" as we both will be programming for iOS, and working in Unity3D as well.
 
I would buy an SSD but not that size. Buy enough space for OS + apps and then keep a large HDD for everything else.
 
Simply put, yes it's worth it.

It's like adding a turbocharger to a car. Is it necessary? Probably not. Is it worth it? You betcha.
 
Terry Norton said:
Damn straight it's worth it.

As a result of recently getting a 2011 17" MBP, with the Apple 128GB SSD, I couldn't resist upgrading my 2 2007 iMacs.

The iMacs were getting pretty slow, that's one reason why I bought the MBP, I needed some portability, too.

I just finished upgrading the 24" iMac yesterday, which was my primary machine. I installed a 3.5" 120GB Vertex 2. I also put a 750GB Scorpio in the Optical spot. Good grief, the darn thing is a 4 year old new machine.

Yes, the processor isn't new, but for just $300 in parts, it's awesome again.

Prior to the big change I put the SL install DVD on a thumb drive. Slick stuff. Did the same with the new MBP install DVD.

Going to put a 750Gb in the MBP's Optical spot as well.

My daughter gets the 24" as we both will be programming for iOS, and working in Unity3D as well.
Click to expand...

Dumb question but its been a while since I've done anything like putting a bootable disc on a USB stick. How did you do it? I've got the SL discs for my MBP but my old MB optical drive is shafted and wont accept discs anymore.

EDIT: I think I've just figured it out (I'm slow on Mondays). Simply put the .dmg on the USB and run it from there? What happens on a reboot though?
 
100Teraflops said:
That is a good idea, but I want my optical bay. I plan to burn DVDs/CDs and install software via old school. However, one can buy an external optical player i.e. blu-ray player! It is nice to have options. :D
Click to expand...

i rarely ever use my ODD, so hence its gonna come out... into a cheap enclosure
to make room for the stock 750gb drive

i plan at some point to also get a bluray re-writer as i still do some stuff in win7.. and when i get the v3 -all sandforce updates req windows
this is pretty low down on my list, after a time capsule/apple tv/ IP5;'[b v/
 
Certainly worth it.
I have a 240GB Vertex 2 SSD in mine, which I use for OS, programs, etc. Most of it is empty TBH, since I keep most of my data on external drives. Looking to buy a QNAP NAS soon so all of my data will live on that and be accessable at any time via the wireless.
 
I have successfully installed a Vertex 2 into my 2009 MBP last week. My observation so far:

- the machine feels insanely quick, the programs open/quit/change instantly, there are no freezes and no waiting
- permission repair is really fast :)
- the battery seems to have improved slightly
- the laptop is absolutely silent
- there is almost no improvement for sequential file transfer over a stock 7200rmp drive
- there is no improvement for actual working tasks like video-audio editing, using LaTeX, statistical computations etc - the hard drive does not seem to be a bottleneck here.

Overall, I am very happy with my purchase. It makes the work much more enjoyable, because of the machine's instant response. However, if you seek improved performance in tasks like audio editing you are probably better off investing in a better CPU. SSD is more a "convenience" thing, as it seems.
 
leman said:
- there is almost no improvement for sequential file transfer over a stock 7200rmp drive
Click to expand...

Two guesses: Either a standard hard drive is either being read from or written to and/or you are doing this over your wifi or slow 100mb ethernet.

I can tell you writing from my sandforce 1200 SSD in my 2009 mbp to my RAID 5 via gigabit ethernet is much faster than from my mechanical hard drive that used to be in my 2009 mpb.
 
I went with the 60GB SSD. I could have bought a higher GB one, but I didn't. I am trying to see if I can manage with it now. I have around 34GB left. I have the applications I used mainly on it now. Believe it or not, I am managing 60GB running Mac OS and Windows 7. The speed difference is unbelievable. I switch from a 13" Macbook Air to the 13" Macbook Pro and miss the SSD so bad. You'll love it.

By the way, I bought the 60GB OCZ Agility 2 for $89 at CompUSA.
 
MacBoobsPro said:
Dumb question but its been a while since I've done anything like putting a bootable disc on a USB stick. How did you do it? I've got the SL discs for my MBP but my old MB optical drive is shafted and wont accept discs anymore.

EDIT: I think I've just figured it out (I'm slow on Mondays). Simply put the .dmg on the USB and run it from there? What happens on a reboot though?
Click to expand...

Article on procedure.

The iMacs had the retail version of Snow Leopard, so I used that DVD to create one stick. The MBP has the version Apple installed, so the DVD that came with the computer has to be used to make the stick for the MBP. If you don't, the MBP just Kernal Panics.
 
Be-1 said:
Is buying a 500GB SSD worth the extra $1100 for the MBP? Is the 750G standard hard drive similar in speed and power. Is the difference in SSD very noticeable? I produce music and can eat up disk space quickly with large files. I am debating about having more space or more speed and power. What do you think?

B:eek:
Click to expand...

I strongly suggest you stay with a conventional HDD.

Here are further thoughts
https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/12216313/
 
X2468 said:
I strongly suggest you stay with a conventional HDD.

Here are further thoughts
https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/12216313/
Click to expand...

X2468 said:
Unless you must go SSD NOW, I'd wait.

The technology is advancing rapidly, plus Lion is on the horizon. In the near future controllers will be better, TRIM & garbage collection will be refined, and the present difficulty with erasing an SSD will also be conquered.
Click to expand...


How are those "further thoughts"?? You just throw out your opinion with no factual basis to support it. SSD like everything else will be a little cheaper and better a year from now, but at this point SSD works quite well and is significantly faster for the average user. See this test.
 
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