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Why you should get an SSD for your Macbook Pro

I myself just put a 240GB Vertex 3 MAX IOPS into my 13" 2011 MBP and have to say, it is brilliant, 13.5 second boot speed, would like to know if anyone has faster, and how they did it?

Other than that, I am loving the speed, the space, I don't need that much, most of my space was movies and TV shows which I now store on my External HDD.
 
TheRdungeon said:
an SSD and optibay with 750gb drive is the single best thing you can do for an mbp imo
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That's where I am going!

My ( original upgrade to hard drive ) WD Scorpio 750/7200 is going to be in the optibay pretty dang soon!

Not forgetting the RAM upgrade to 8 gb also which may not be required exactly but is so affordable why not do it.
 
dlimes13 said:
Nah, 1TB (even at 5400RPM, my Samsung flies w/ my SSD).
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you must have the spin point???????????so do i... its grade a Man... im looking into doing the opibay... but i just upgraded to 8gb of ram so its the fastest ive ever had a computer... guess im content for now.... which ssd do you have?
 
That makes no sense, people are going for them even with the extra hassle of an optibay *because* they are totally worth it.
 
You will really not want to go back to a spinning metal hard drive after having an SSD. I have a 13-inch maxed out MacBook Air with the faster Samsung hard drive and 1.8ghz i7. I would really prefer a 15 " or even bigger screen but the overall day to day usage of this MBA cannot be beat.
 
It provides not real useful benefit to me. Sure, it's cool booting in 15 seconds or loading apps in one bounce, but I have 30 seconds to spare if I need to boot (maybe once a week), and once my apps launch (a whopping second and a half later), the SSD won't make my internet connection faster, make my papers better, give me better sound from my music, or anything that I would really consider paying that kind of money for.
 
To each his own :); not having to wait to boot or shut off(it literally turns off in less than 5 seconds), having apps load instantly, and just everything being quick and snappy; is well worth the price. But my 120GB OCZ Vertex 3 was only $190 shipped, so it's not like it was expensive either.
 
Maschil said:
you must have the spin point???????????so do i... its grade a Man... im looking into doing the opibay... but i just upgraded to 8gb of ram so its the fastest ive ever had a computer... guess im content for now.... which ssd do you have?
Click to expand...

I have a 64GB Samsung 470 for my SSD. The 1TB is so silent and FAST! Can't even feel it compared to my old 750GB 7200RPM Seagate. I could feel the vibration all the time. Not anymore! Best setup!

Now, if those Corsair 8GB RAM Modules come down to $150, I'll have a true desktop replacement. 16GB RAM MBP w/ the Thunderbolt Display? Who needs an iMac? lol
 
If I do get an optibay converter and store all my files on my 750GB drive, would I still see apps load and the like if my main OS was on the SSD even if the apps were on the HDD? Or do the apps need to be loaded on the SSD for its benefits to be realized?
 
I suppose that may be possible with a 128GB drive. The bulk of my data is music and movies anyway, which could be stored on the HDD without issue and connected to iTunes which would be on the SSD. I may think about it. I can get a crucial SSD 128GB for $200, which is certainly more reasonable than $800 for a 512GB SSD.
 
AHDuke99 said:
I suppose that may be possible with a 128GB drive. The bulk of my data is music and movies anyway, which could be stored on the HDD without issue and connected to iTunes which would be on the SSD. I may think about it. I can get a crucial SSD 128GB for $200, which is certainly more reasonable than $800 for a 512GB SSD.
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What I did with my 2.2 i7 15":

BTO 128GB SSD in main location, on this I have all my apps and essential to the system items (logic files, or any other program files)

Optibay 750gb 7200rpm drive:
Logic song projects, iTunes library, Downloads (went into every app and manually selected this one, though you could make an alias)

Then all my normal documents (work etc) are also on the 750gb but with aliases that link to it on the desktop so i don't have to go to the 2nd drive any time I want something. This works really well and I still have 77gb available on the SSD
 
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TheRdungeon said:
What I did with my 2.2 i7 15":

BTO 128GB SSD in main location, on this I have all my apps and essential to the system items (logic files, or any other program files)

Optibay 750gb 7200rpm drive:
Logic song projects, iTunes library, Downloads (went into every app and manually selected this one, though you could make an alias)

Then all my normal documents (work etc) are also on the 750gb but with aliases that link to it on the desktop so i don't have to go to the 2nd drive any time I want something. This works really well and I still have 77gb available on the SSD
Click to expand...

Are there any disadvantages to this setup? Does it disable any features in the laptop, hurt battery life, etc? What are the cons?

I rarely ever use my optical drive so I would not miss it per say. I did use it to install windows on bootcamp. I am not sure how to get around that unless I buy an external drive. I may just be smart enough to wait another year or so and see what prices are like on these drives. The WD Black is a good drive and most of my programs open on 1-2 bounces as it is.
 
Yeah I reckon just wait if you've already got a good drive. I used to have 2x500GB 7200rpm drives in my old mbp and it was sweet as, just decided to go for ssd on this one from the start
 
Resist said:
So why is it worth it to pay more for a drive that has less storage?
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You have a very good point. SSD's are not for everyone.

Although they've been around for quite some time, Apple's been late to accept them. Now that they have, it's a bit of a fad in the Mac community since so many users are shocked & impressed with the speed, now that they've had their first experience.

Ive been using them for a few years, as I can charge them off to the business. In addition I buy large capacity 512GB since they've become readily available.

Yet that said, when asked I only suggest them to those who can easily afford it and will genuinely benefit.
 
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