Who feels the SSD prices are currently too high?

[nuckinfutz]

I never have enough storage space, currently there's a 320 GB HDD in my MacBook Pro and within a year I filled half of it, mostly with photos, PSDs and Adobe Creative Suites. I really need a lot of space so SSD is not worth it for me, although I would love to have faster storage. If sometime soon a 1TB SSD becomes less than twice as expensive as a 1TB HDD, then I would consider one (not going to happen though).

I think SSDs are future tech and that their price isn't really worth it today just yet. I really hope computers will move away from moving parts soon though, and we could have an entirely solid state computer. All we need to do then is figure out how to get rid of the fans and the optical drive, and voila! Can't see that happening soon either though

Again you are making the same mistake that others do. Your Macbook Pro not only has USB ports but it also has FW800 for adding as much external storage as you want. I'm sure you'll counter with "I don't wan't to carry external storage" but the fact remains those that don't want SSD tend to willfully ignore the performance advantage and frame the discussion on absolute size which is somewhat interesting to some of us.

BTW SSD really help with programs like Creative Suite. This was from a couple of years ago.

http://download.intel.com/design/flash/nand/extreme/Photoshop_CS4_Performance_Comparison.pdf

 

[bella92108]

Yes I totally agree, however, there is still no proper replacement for optical media. As a photographer, I can say that after a shoot, models often want a disc with their photos on it. If I bring my MacBook Pro with me, I can do that easily. An external burner would require a power adapter, etc, so it would be less portable. At university, my tutors require me to submit everything on DVD or CD.

If there was a simple, cheap, solid-state, write-once replacement to the DVD, I would be the first to adopt it, but it seems that the world isn't quite ready for that yet (it would be stupid to give SD cards or USB drives to people and expect them to somehow return them to you).

Oh I didn't mean get rid of the technology, I just meant take it out of the force-to-include category in a mac... I too have occasional use, but I'd rather have an external like on a MB Air... that way I can use the technology, but the 99% of the time when I don't need it I don't have to carry it.

 

[nuckinfutz]

That's nice, but don't iMac take full size disks? seems like in a desktop you'd just upgrade the drive inside. I haven't had a desktop computer since 2002 so im not familiar with the iMac

Yes. I don't know how much weight this BackPack can hold. For my mother though I may just get a small drive for Time Machine and keep the 3.5" drive for future backup if she needs it. She doesn't download movies or take a bunch of pictures so i'm wondering if she would even need a half Terabyte at this point.

 

[DesmoPilot]

Personally no, I don't think SSDs are priced too high; You definitely get what you pay for - they're the best upgrade you can do for a computer bar none. Of course size in an issue for some; but at this stage of their development, they're not meant to replace mechanical drives for data storage. For the time being they've carved out a niche as boot/application drives, and they absolutely thrive when used to that extent.

EDIT: I always lol @ people who say "my (insert mechanical drive here) is fine" they clearly have never used an SSD for a period of time than gone back to a mechanical drive. Once you go SSD, you don't go back.

 

[mdatwood]

My plan is to get an SSD next year (or whenever the tech flips to the next gen), and then replace my optical with my HD.

I don't think SSDs are really that expensive given the newness of the technology. They have also been coming down in price quite rapidly. I'm also older and remember when HDs were really expensive. Kids nowadays expect 500GB+ for <$100. I remember buying an 800MB drive for hundreds of dollars

 

[GoyoNeuff]

Price/benefit factor is too low at this time for me...

Although a SSD is too pricey, just getting a 7200rpm drive will speed up your system quite a bit. It did to mine. Before the 7.2k drive, boot time was about 41sec ( the i7 was about 27sec) and after is about 27sec. Only cost 80 bucks.

Unless you really, REALLY, need it, a SSD is not cost/benefit right...7.2k drives still do good, give you more storage, and are cheaper, way cheaper !!!

Cheers !

:0

 

[koruki]

I think SSD's prices are currently at enthusiasts level targeting a dedicated OS drive solution, def a while before it becomes standard or storage even for enthusiasts

 

[8767092]

Price is just a value perception.

SSDs provide you with lightning fast data access at a high cost while platter drives provide you with massive storage at a low cost.

Speed, space, cost: Pick two.

SSDs are worth the price to me because they make my notebooks much faster. The Macbook Air is a perfect example of how SSDs can make computers go from painful to use to a pleasure to hold. I own a Macbook Air Rev. B (1.6GHz originally with 120GB HDD) and it was painful to use when starting applications such as Firefox, Mail, Thunderbird, Adium etc for normal usage. Even waking from sleep was absolutely painful.

Enter the SSD

I replaced my Macbook Air's HDD with a 128GB RunCore Pro IV SSD after I read about the improvements others had noted. I was floored.

It went from sluggish and slow to smooth and fast. The price was well worth it to make my ultraportable that fast.

 

[alphaod]

It's expensive. But that's what happens when the technology is not fully matured yet.

 

[Akira1980]

My next MBP, which should be in 3 years or so, will be SSD.

 

[nuckinfutz]

Although a SSD is too pricey, just getting a 7200rpm drive will speed up your system quite a bit. It did to mine. Before the 7.2k drive, boot time was about 41sec ( the i7 was about 27sec) and after is about 27sec. Only cost 80 bucks.

Unless you really, REALLY, need it, a SSD is not cost/benefit right...7.2k drives still do good, give you more storage, and are cheaper, way cheaper !!!

Cheers !

:0

I upgraded my Mac from a 5400 RPM drive to 7200 RPM. Yes I noticed a difference but not that much of a difference.

SSD vs 7200 RPM drive

The issue with those speaking about value and price is that there's nothing that prevents me from taking advantage of low cost SATA storage AND SSD performance. I can have the best of both worlds and it's safer because my boot drive isn't on a spinning mechanical disc and my larger files are on a secondary drive.

It's expensive. But that's what happens when the technology is not fully matured yet.

Actually NAND technology has been around a while (decades) and because of fab process tech, it's now able to actually become a drive replacement.

 

[apolloa]

The issue with those speaking about value and price is that there's nothing that prevents me from taking advantage of low cost SATA storage AND SSD performance. I can have the best of both worlds and it's safer because my boot drive isn't on a spinning mechanical disc and my larger files are on a secondary drive.

I can't have that luxury in the same chassis as I need the superdrive. I think SSD in Mac OS is too early, Intel are the best. I'm getting an HDD, I can get my machine sooner and an SSD is something I can easily change once the tech is a bit better and Mac's support it with Trim or I can get a big size model with firmware level garbage collection from Intel.

 

[nuckinfutz]

That is true. You can add a SSD whenever the price/performance curve matches your funds.

Don't obsess too much over TRIM. It'll come eventually but it's not a showstopper IMO.

Next year should see SSD improve even better as Toshiba, Intel/Micron and others reduce the process size. $225 for 80GB is a lot for some people to swallow but if we're talking 160GB then it's a bit more palatable for some.

 

[Finnian59]

Price is too high until you experience it...

I recently purchased a mid year 2010 MBP 17" and thought the prices were too high for the 512GB SSD. As there was a chance my company would help defray the cost, I opted to grit my teeth and go for the upgrade.

Suffice to say, I'm simply amazed at the speed, the lack of spin up time, how silent the system is, all of it. Whether or not the company defrays the cost, the cost was/is worth it. Definitely. Will the price drop in time? Sure..
But then you have to weigh the cost of the drive your using in the mean time and the cost of the SSD drive later... might as well bite the bullet now.

I love it and am very glad I didn't wait.

On a second note, I'm thinking about getting a ExpressCard 34 with SSD on it for a virtual drive that Could be used for/with a boot camp partition.
I'm that happy with the SSD product.

 

[Gomff]

When 500 GB HD's become affordable without remortgaging the house, I'll go for one but I'm not in that much of a hurry.

I need a big HD on my laptop because when working away from home or on the road, it must be a workable replacement for the big machine. That includes a triple boot config of OSX, Windows 7 and Linux. I also need plenty of space for rendered frames, temp files and call me picky but I like to have my music collection accessible wherever I go....That's 90 GB worth of extra stuff right there. My Macbook pro is over 3 years old....An SSD might well improve things but the system is still not going to win any prizes for speed and that's OK, I'm quite patient.....I don't get bent out of shape over having to wait 10 or so seconds for logic to start up.

I see the laptop as a kind of a backup as well, in case the house burns down while we're away and ditto the big machine serves the same purpose should I drop my laptop. I also backup data on external drives too because I'm probably a bit neurotic about it. About 2 years ago we ripped all our CD's at high quality and then gave them away to a charity shop.....The physical space was more valuable to us than hard copies but I'm aware that if I lost my MP3 collection I'd have no music. Therefore the more hard drives our music is on the better.

Perhaps it all comes down to which is more important to you, capacity or data access speed.