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how does the BTO SSD do with "garbage collection?" is it a SandForce drive? or do those things not really matter at the end of the day?
 
how does the BTO SSD do with "garbage collection?" is it a SandForce drive? or do those things not really matter at the end of the day?

We don't know what drives Apple uses but the SSDs in MBAs have excellent GC, so it's possibly the same controller and firmware.
 
I have the same question. Just posted it here...

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1103035/

The price for an aftermarket 128gb is the same price as the Apple upgrade price. No really, it is! (+/- $10). So it makes more sense to acquire the same drive elsewhere, and pocket the stock HDD for use as an external/PS3/whatever drive.

I figure its a Samsung, but would just like some confirmation.
 
Thanks for all the replies/looking guys. Hopefully someone unscrews theirs and schools us on what kind of ssd is sitting inside. I will probably go aftermarket, but wanted to know the value of just ordering the 128gb since it's so cheap.
 
Has it been confirmed that MBPs really use the SATA 6Gb/s ports?

Yes. My '11 MBP 13" shows Intel Series 6 - 6Gb but negotiated at 3Gb link speed.

Will be curious to see the Vertex 3 performance figures and see if I can be convinced to trade up from the Vertex 2.
 
If the CTO SSDs are decent in preventing performance degradation, the $90 upgrade on the high end machines might just be a really good deal, especially because those SSDs also come with an Apple warranty, so you can get it repaired/replaced right at an Apple store.
 
If the CTO SSDs are decent in preventing performance degradation, the $90 upgrade on the high end machines might just be a really good deal, especially because those SSDs also come with an Apple warranty, so you can get it repaired/replaced right at an Apple store.

The $90 upgrade is a great deal!
Not to mention TRIM support is coming with Lion. :)
 
it would be interesting to see a video test on the speed of the macbook air 13" high end with ssd compared to the new 2011 mbp 13" with ssd
 
It might be good to point out that the TRIM support in Lion only supports the internal Apple supplied SSD's at the moment. Will this change? Maybe, maybe not. But it might be good info to take into consideration when purchasing.
 
it would be interesting to see a video test on the speed of the macbook air 13" high end with ssd compared to the new 2011 mbp 13" with ssd

I thought I once heard the MBA will always win as the SSD is built in to the system, vs the MBP where it still is a modular, add on type drive.
 
I thought I once heard the MBA will always win as the SSD is built in to the system, vs the MBP where it still is a modular, add on type drive.

Both are connected via SATA II. The only possible difference is the firmware on the SSD controller. What I'd like to know is if the drives in the pros and airs have the same firmware. If they do, I'm sold on an SSD for my MBP.
 
External enclosure is probably the best option, that way you can use it for backups or just as storage. I would keep the RAM for troubleshooting and in case you ever have to send it to Apple, replace the parts with the original parts.

ok thanks.

seems like a waste, 4 GB sitting around doing nothing
 
ok thanks.

seems like a waste, 4 GB sitting around doing nothing

right now its pretty easy to sell 2x2 gb because lot of people with f.e. (white macbooks, aluminium macbook 2008, some imacs) want to upgrade from 2 to 4gb...
however i know what you mean, i have several 1gb sticks at home nobody needs anymore.
i'm going to buy the i7 15" and just take the ram standard konfiguration, because i will put the 4gb in my wifes macbook.
ssd or not is my big question? so i'm very interested too, which ssds are finally inside the new macbook pros. :confused:

ps. 2720 vs. 2820 i decided to take the 2720 because with all bechmarks i could find i calculated an average performance gain of 3-4% with the 2820...
sry dont want to highjack this thread but maybe sombody knows the actual real world difference between 6 and 8mb cache? :eek:
regards
 
a fast SSD is definitely worth it you want a performance upgrade. makes your machine feel snappy speed wise

yeah thats for sure, however there are some critical voices about stability and duration of life...
moreover the next question is, should i go with apple's ssd (waranty and support) or someone elses, which are faster like the intel but more expensive...
its not easy... :)
 
I went with the apple ssd b/c I didn't want the hassle of opening up the computer and doing it myself. Never opened a Mac, hope I never have to.
 
yeah thats for sure, however there are some critical voices about stability and duration of life...
moreover the next question is, should i go with apple's ssd (waranty and support) or someone elses, which are faster like the intel but more expensive...
its not easy... :)

most of the top-line SSD's have addressed lifespan via firmware. The OCZ SSD's (eg. Vertex) use garbage collection (where TRIM is not supported).

you will have to check what  is currently shipping with their new MBP's - but when I got the first ever 17" MBP's about 2/3 years ago to have the SSD option, I got it. It is a toshiba and it is slow.

So when I decided to get an SSD for my Mac Pro, about 2 years ago, I went with an OCZ Vertex 250GB. It was right up there with the intel's but better value (marginally cheaper). No regrets, its fast and the support (OCZ forum) is very good.

I'm not sure what is the best currently, maybe the Vertex 2? but check out their site and the forum:

http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?237-OCZ-SSD-Support-for-Linux-and-Apple-OSX

Don't worry about the warranty, both Intel and OCZ have warranties in place.
 
Someone should have received their CTO macbook pro by now. Does anyone know what brand ssd is in the computer.
 
Not true. Apples may not be the fastest but they are good quality. You can add a 128GB for $100 and Optibay a hard drive.

The Crucials have had lots of issues. Check their support forums.

Don't buy an Apple SSD. They're rubbish
for what they are....and expensive!!

Get a third party one, like Crucial C300 or OCZ Vertex 2E
 
any update on this.......

Do we know yet exactly what the SSDs are on the new 2011 macbook pros. Has anyone who has gotten a customized macbook pro please tell us.
 
I would love to know what brand it as well with specs.

I do use a lot of heavy applications and have tons of stuff on my MBP hard drive, so if I opt to get the SSD, it'll have to be the 512GB which is $$1100!!. Not sure if it's worth it just yet. I really need it to be extremely mobile, so I can't just go for a cheaper smaller SSD and then use an external.

Also I am wondering if I decide NOT to get the SSD in hopes of Apple upgrading their SSDs and lowering pri¢es in the future, does anyone know if you can pay (after you've bought it) to have Apple upgrade it so it is still warrantied?

I know you can do that with RAM, so I wonder if you could do that with the HD too.....
 
I would love to know what brand it as well with specs.

Check this out (from another post here on the forum):

"The SSD is reported as Apple SSD TS512C. A google search suggests this might be a Toshiba drive, the same one used on prior generation MBPs. Xbench results below. My previous Mac was a Mac SE circa 1987 so I don't have a good frame of reference. From boot-up "gong" to desktop is ~15 seconds.
Results 452.84
System Info
Xbench Version 1.3
System Version 10.6.6 (10J3210)
Physical RAM 8192 MB
Model MacBookPro8,2
Drive Type APPLE SSD TS512C
CPU Test 259.10
GCD Loop 340.44 17.95 Mops/sec
Floating Point Basic 229.00 5.44 Gflop/sec
vecLib FFT 166.90 5.51 Gflop/sec
Floating Point Library 466.74 81.27 Mops/sec
Thread Test 902.95
Computation 870.07 17.63 Mops/sec, 4 threads
Lock Contention 938.40 40.37 Mlocks/sec, 4 threads
Memory Test 603.22
System 643.99
Allocate 1006.51 3.70 Malloc/sec
Fill 442.04 21492.81 MB/sec
Copy 712.93 14725.38 MB/sec
Stream 567.30
Copy 547.63 11311.12 MB/sec
Scale 546.53 11291.14 MB/sec
Add 593.43 12641.38 MB/sec
Triad 584.79 12510.20 MB/sec
Quartz Graphics Test 328.32
Line 293.40 19.53 Klines/sec [50% alpha]
Rectangle 364.38 108.79 Krects/sec [50% alpha]
Circle 305.88 24.93 Kcircles/sec [50% alpha]
Bezier 322.61 8.14 Kbeziers/sec [50% alpha]
Text 369.36 23.11 Kchars/sec
OpenGL Graphics Test 411.02
Spinning Squares 411.02 521.40 frames/sec
User Interface Test 487.77
Elements 487.77 2.24 Krefresh/sec
Disk Test 313.83
Sequential 208.45
Uncached Write 340.92 209.32 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 297.69 168.43 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 98.08 28.70 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 370.20 186.06 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Random 634.73
Uncached Write 412.15 43.63 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 612.37 196.04 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 2095.77 14.85 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 566.43 105.11 MB/sec [256K blocks]
"
 
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