I bought a used (seller refurbished) MB404ll/A (early 2008) Macbook for $250. It has 4gb ram and 250 gb HDD. I'm going to be using it for college mostly. Of course some internet browsing, plan on learning a few programming stuff and I plan on Boot camping it. Problem is I've searched around and haven't really found any useful information up to whether upgrading or not. I've searched for SSDs and the prices aren't THAT high. Crucial looks like the way to go. But I'm wondering if I really "need it" and if the extra $120 are actually going to make it "worth" $370. What I mean is should I make the investment or not? Any opinions and suggestions are welcome.
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To SSD or to not SSD
- Thread starter Erneie
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I was in the exact same situation as you. Bought a used MB404ll/A and then decided to go for the SSD. It's worth it.
Bought the Samsung 840, took the dvd drive out and installed the old HDD in a HDD caddy.
Got 120gb SSD + 250gb HDD in it now. Running SL really smooth.
Bought the Samsung 840, took the dvd drive out and installed the old HDD in a HDD caddy.
Got 120gb SSD + 250gb HDD in it now. Running SL really smooth.
I don't know that it will increase the resale value like you mentioned, but I owned that same 2008 model and way back when put a SATA II SSD in it and it really mad the machine feel much faster in day to day usage. If you can swing the money, I think you would be very happy with the upgrade.
I have no plans on selling. My question is if I should invest an aditional $120 dollars on the mac.
Ah... I see. The way you worded it with that "worth $370" comment made me think you were hoping to recoup some of your investment.
If you plan to keep that machine for a bit, I think it would be a worthy upgrade for you. I was very happy with the improvement from the SSD on my 2008.
Your Mac will fly in terms of I/O. A 5400rpm HDD reads and writes data at ~70MB/s while a SATAII SSD (or a SATAIII one plugged on a SATAII bus) will transfer data at ~260MB/s.
Actually I found that early-2008 MBs reach only SATA I speeds (1.5Gbps). So a SSD will transfer data at ~130-140 MB/s. A 7200 rpm hdd is able to transfer data at 100MB/s.
Maybe the ideal scenario would be installing a 64 or 120 GB SSD (the cheapest one you find in the market) and configure a fusion drive with the original HDD installed in an internal caddy.
Maybe the ideal scenario would be installing a 64 or 120 GB SSD (the cheapest one you find in the market) and configure a fusion drive with the original HDD installed in an internal caddy.
