I think it's time to bite the bullet and get an SSD to replace the hard drive in my brand new MacBook pro. I would need the 256gb. After seeing the YouTube videos of boot and system performance before and after, ssd vs hdd I "need" it lol. What's the best deal around on a 256 ssd drive right now?
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what's the best deal going for 256+ gb SSD?
- Thread starter bella92108
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In January 2009 I could buy a 60GB for a good deal. My thread was to discuss with people who'd bought recently or seen good deals.
I'm thinking the best deal going right now is to wait until 4th qtr 2010 or 1st quarter 2011 to buy when the 256 + ssd can be had for the price of the 128 + drives. Price is just too high for me at the moment to justify $600-800 on a drive.
I don't want to wait, I'm antsy, lol... just type ssd vs hard drive osx boot in youtube and you'll soon become antsy too haha
The best places to buy aftermarket SSDs are Newegg.com, Amazon.com, and other mainstream retailers for the "big brands" or sites such as mydigitaldiscount.com for RunCore SSDs.
http://www.slickdeals.net/ http://www.fatwallet.com/ and http://www.gottadeal.com/ are all excellent places to look for sales on SSDs.
http://www.slickdeals.net/ http://www.fatwallet.com/ and http://www.gottadeal.com/ are all excellent places to look for sales on SSDs.
I'm in the market for an SSD as well. My Mini has been slowing down, and if I'm going to rebuild it from scratch, I might as well pop a new drive in.
I've finally built my super server of doom, so the local capacity is no longer important. I've got my iTunes library up on the server and am looking at different tools to do iPhoto as well. I've got the Time Machine set up on it now as well, and it's killer being able to back up 50GB in 30-40 minutes.
But on topic, I've been thinking I'd like to get the X-25M G2 160 GB. $425 is not cheap, but it is pretty much the best drive on the market.
When I get my MacBook Pro in July, I'm going to keep an eye on the SSD models from the factory unless I find a good deal on an excellent drive like you're looking for.
(so basically, this rambling is here so that I can flag this thread to see if somebody posts some good info.)
I've finally built my super server of doom, so the local capacity is no longer important. I've got my iTunes library up on the server and am looking at different tools to do iPhoto as well. I've got the Time Machine set up on it now as well, and it's killer being able to back up 50GB in 30-40 minutes.
But on topic, I've been thinking I'd like to get the X-25M G2 160 GB. $425 is not cheap, but it is pretty much the best drive on the market.
When I get my MacBook Pro in July, I'm going to keep an eye on the SSD models from the factory unless I find a good deal on an excellent drive like you're looking for.
(so basically, this rambling is here so that I can flag this thread to see if somebody posts some good info.)
The usual garbage... people posting when they don't know the subject nor have anything to contribute. I posted hoping someone would say "hey man I just got a great deal... here....." ... yet people post saying to search (as if I didn't)... or post that it's a waste (probably because they can't afford it so it's a waste of money if someone else can)... or nonsense. Not sure why people do that...
What about the "Patriot 256 GB Signature Series SATA II 2.5 Inch Solid State Drive (SSD) PS256GS25SSDR" ? Amazon has for $526 shipped. But I see someone saying there's several versions of SSD, is this an old one?
I know what you mean. When I go looking for answers, most search engines place no weight on how current the information is. So I get posts about OS X 10.4 above 10.6 posts.
And searching at Mac Rumors for iphone itunes notification mac is just not going to work when I want information on whether or not somebody has made an app for the Mac that pops up on the screen when phone calls come in since sometimes I've walked away for a minute, didn't hear the ring, and don't check my phone for two hours.
So, here's hoping we get some info.
You'll have a hard time finding people looking at 256GB SSD because very fast drives are in the $700 - 800 range. You can find this drive for $749.99 which can almost match Intel's controller performance.
SSDs now come in two varieties. Lightning fast (RunCore custom Indilinx controller, Intel controller, or Sandforce controller) and very expensive or acceptable performance and moderately expensive.
You asked about the "best deal" on a 256GB SSD choosing large space with moderate cost/performance (compared to the lightning fast SSDs) and were pointed to large "big box" retailers such as Newegg.com and Amazon.com as well as deal hunting websites for additional coupons.
I have used SSDs since 2008 and I can safely say that I would not buy an OEM SSD again. The performance of the SSDs will drop over time without garbage collection (OS X does not support TRIM at this time and we don't reasonably expect it until 10.7 or a very late 10.6 update) which OEM SSDs rarely support.
After market provides a better balance of cost, performance, and features.
In short, speed space and cost: pick two.
So based on the review, the following two drives seem to be the frontrunners in my search... which do you think would do me better?....
http://www.amazon.com/Corsair-Performance-Internal-Solid-CMFSSD-256GBG2D/dp/B0026V5MY0/ref=pd_cp_e_3
or
http://www.amazon.com/Crucial-Techn...1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1273389350&sr=8-1
Pricewise they're about the same, so really looking for opinion based on experience (don't need those without experience to chime in, thanks)...
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You will need to research the specific SSD to ensure that you are buying an SSD with garbage collection support. Your SSD will slow down up to 40% (yes 40%) within 6 months - 1 year if it doesn't support garbage collection.
In before the "BUT TRIM" crowd: OS X doesn't support TRIM. It is useless until the OS supports it. garbage collection is all we have until Apple adds full support for TRIM.
Avoid any SSD that don't have remotely upgradable firmware. Early Samsung controllers and Jmicron controllers are notorious for this. Without upgradable firmware, bugs in controller firmware are not fixable via firmware upgrades and you will never be able to upgrade to new algorithms for better garbage collection etc.
In before the "BUT TRIM" crowd: OS X doesn't support TRIM. It is useless until the OS supports it. garbage collection is all we have until Apple adds full support for TRIM.
Avoid any SSD that don't have remotely upgradable firmware. Early Samsung controllers and Jmicron controllers are notorious for this. Without upgradable firmware, bugs in controller firmware are not fixable via firmware upgrades and you will never be able to upgrade to new algorithms for better garbage collection etc.
I regret i bought the 256 SSD from apple , i should have gotten the 512 SSD
You'll regret it even more in 6 months - 1 year when your SSD has lost 40% of its speed and you're forced to do a special type of wipe on your drive (erasing all data) to recover that speed. Apple's OEM drives don't support garbage collection yet as far as I know.
Well I have OSX, so in post #14 I listed 2 models. Which of those would be best for my OS? Do either have remote firmware upgradability? Corsair vs Crucial.
I KNOW the Crucial has GC. That's also one of the fasted 256G drives right now also.
It was just about the fastest SSD when I purchased it in August last year. No slow downs yet. And I don't think I'd notice any minor slow downs because the drive is darned fast.
I'm using the c300 crucial ssd and it's unreal. In fact I'm contemplating taking out the optical drive and putting a second one in. I work all day, every day on my computer so it's worth it to me. My i7 17" matches my mac pro with a velociraptor and 24 gb of RAM. Quite a change from my now replaced version 2,1 17 mbp. Speaking of; anyone out there put an ssd in that version of the mbp? Thinking of trying it out before I put it for sale on ebay or CL.
And u haven't had any trim\garbage issues? I think I'll follow your lead and go with the C300 then.
None at all... I replaced the original drive, reinstalled the OS directly on the ssd and went from there. It's really been fantastic. Can anyone say what a person would experience if there were trim/garbage issues? I still have 170gb empty on the drive so not sure if that plays into it at all. But to be honest; if this disk fills up and I experience slow down issues; I'll have no problem just wiping the drive and reinstalling the OS. It would be well worth the hassle.