Yes another advice thread. SSD & MBP

[Reelknead1]

So I have 1 more year of college and my ppc g4 1.5ghz is getting a little slow. I also had a IBM t41 for my accounting work but the video card went. So my parents decided to give me an early graduation present. I have decided on the 15 hi res which i feel is a good replacement for my 17. What I haven't figured out is what processor I want. The base would truly be fine but thought maybe the mid or high end would be better in the future and it's not impacting my finances?

I will be running osx and 7 so I don't need a PC for some of my school work. I do a lot of video streaming in my dorm from my time cap but I can currently do that on my ppc. Besides that it is used for a little steam and CS3 studio suite and once and a while I compress videos usig handbrake but I have been doing that at work lately due to my ppc trying to kill itself with any file over 10mb. I'm truly not a heavy user but being a apple tech for the school I have a 8 core Mac pro with 16gbs of ram which is my main computer, so I do enjoy speed.

I was think about the mid range 2.53 and getting the 128 ssd. Is that a good SSD? Apple doesn't give to much info on it? I'm currently using a 160gb 5400rpm in the ppc with my main storage being the time cap. What do you guys recommend?

 

[Hellhammer]

Get the 2.4GHz because 2.53GHz is only ~5% faster and i7 is only ~10% faster i.e. not worth the money. I would buy it with the stock HD and then add 3rd party SSD because the SSDs Apple use (Toshiba) aren't exactly the fastest. You can also do OptiBay if you want so you get the best of both worlds, SSD and HD.

 

[Reelknead1]

Get the 2.4GHz because 2.53GHz is only ~5% faster and i7 is only ~10% faster i.e. not worth the money. I would buy it with the stock HD and then add 3rd party SSD because the SSDs Apple use (Toshiba) aren't exactly the fastest. You can also do OptiBay if you want so you get the best of both worlds, SSD and HD.

Will need the super drive so that is out ofthe question. What would you recommend for a aftermarket one. I'm new to ssd, I have heard that they can slow unless they have a cleaning utility for garbage files?

If I do buy an aftermarket SSD it will be on my own bill. Is it really worth the extra to go aftermarket. Has anyone done a comparison on apples current ones vs aftermarket?

 

[sk8r1230]

not to hread steal from you man but ive been wondering when ur processor speed becomes your bottle neck? i know upgrading ram and hd to 7200 or ssd makes an improvement but at what point is that improvement hindered by ur processor?

 

[Hellhammer]

Will need the super drive so that is out ofthe question. What would you recommend for a aftermarket one. I'm new to ssd, I have heard that they can slow unless they have a cleaning utility for garbage files?

If I do buy an aftermarket SSD it will be on my own bill. Is it really worth the extra to go aftermarket. Has anyone done a comparison on apples current ones vs aftermarket?

I would recommend OWC, OCZ and Intel but if you would have to pay it from your wallet, just get the Apple one and lets your parents pay It's still a noticeable boost over normal HD

not to hread steal from you man but ive been wondering when ur processor speed becomes your bottle neck? i know upgrading ram and hd to 7200 or ssd makes an improvement but at what point is that improvement hindered by ur processor?

Depends on what you do. If you do something CPU intensive such as encoding, then the CPU matters but for everyday tasks, any Intel Core 2 CPU is just fine

 

[Reelknead1]

Anyone have any comparisons? Any other opinions on what I should do?

 

[NintendoFan]

Anyone have any comparisons? Any other opinions on what I should do?

I think Hellhammer hit the "nail on the head" to be honest. I would prefer the Intel SSDs over anything else as I see them as being the most reliable. I also don't really see any of the CPU upgrades as being worth it unless you know you are mostly going to be doing some CPU intensive. Even then, I feel it's still a toss up price wise.

But I'll also 180 it and say you should always try to get the best you can afford if you don't plan on upgrading in the near future.

 

[Reelknead1]

I think Hellhammer hit the "nail on the head" to be honest. I would prefer the Intel SSDs over anything else as I see them as being the most reliable. I also don't really see any of the CPU upgrades as being worth it unless you know you are mostly going to be doing some CPU intensive. Even then, I feel it's still a toss up price wise.

But I'll also 180 it and say you should always try to get the best you can afford if you don't plan on upgrading in the near future.

Well considering I have had a ppc since 2004. I have a feeling that I will have this one for many years.

 

[lionheartednyhc]

Get the 2.4GHz because 2.53GHz is only ~5% faster and i7 is only ~10% faster i.e. not worth the money. I would buy it with the stock HD and then add 3rd party SSD because the SSDs Apple use (Toshiba) aren't exactly the fastest. You can also do OptiBay if you want so you get the best of both worlds, SSD and HD.

What he said.

 

[Reelknead1]

I think Hellhammer hit the "nail on the head" to be honest. I would prefer the Intel SSDs over anything else as I see them as being the most reliable. I also don't really see any of the CPU upgrades as being worth it unless you know you are mostly going to be doing some CPU intensive. Even then, I feel it's still a toss up price wise.

But I'll also 180 it and say you should always try to get the best you can afford if you don't plan on upgrading in the near future.

Well considering I have had a ppc since 2004. I have a feeling that I will have this one for many years.

 

[Hellhammer]

Well considering I have had a ppc since 2004. I have a feeling that I will have this one for many years.

Faster CPU still isn't worth it. After couple of year, any Mac sold will be faster than the current i7 is so IMO it's not worth it to pay the premium for marginal upgrade if you can sell it after few years and upgrade to something significantly faster.

SSD you can add later on as well. There are more and more SSDs coming so again, after a year or so, you get bigger SSD for a lot less.

 

[fred_garvin]

The 3rd gen Intel SSD's @ 25 nm are supposed to be out Q4. Speculation is that they'll retake the speed crown. Its projected that they'll offer double the space at today's prices.

So:

160gb ~ $200-250
320gb ~ $400-500
600gb ~ $800-1000

If you're a student don't you get a free 8gb iPod touch with this deal? Ebay that for ~$100 or so and the intel 160 isn't much more.

I couldn't live with 128 or 160. 250 would be the min I could manage. If you're going to run Win 7 via VMware often, you'd want to jump to 6 or 8 gigs sooner than later, but apple's ram prices are exorbitant.

 

[Reelknead1]

I might be running 7 through a vm but not sure yet. I do at work which works great but if I want to play any game I'm not sure how it would handle that. I guess I have some pondering to do. 128 might be a little small but I was hoping the speed would be much better then the stock drive.

 

[Vyruz Reaper]

The 3rd gen Intel SSD's @ 25 nm are supposed to be out Q4. Speculation is that they'll retake the speed crown. Its projected that they'll offer double the space at today's prices.

So:

160gb ~ $200-250
320gb ~ $400-500
600gb ~ $800-1000

If you're a student don't you get a free 8gb iPod touch with this deal? Ebay that for ~$100 or so and the intel 160 isn't much more.

I couldn't live with 128 or 160. 250 would be the min I could manage. If you're going to run Win 7 via VMware often, you'd want to jump to 6 or 8 gigs sooner than later, but apple's ram prices are exorbitant.

u can grab kingston 8GB ram for about 275 on amazon right now or buy OWC 8GB kit for 270 form there site with free shipping and NO tax for most states

 

[Hellhammer]

u can grab kingston 8GB ram for about 275 on amazon right now or buy OWC 8GB kit for 270 form there site with free shipping and NO tax for most states

228$ if you buy NuRAM

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Newer Technology/8566DDR3S8GP/

 

[Argon21]

not to hread steal from you man but ive been wondering when ur processor speed becomes your bottle neck? i know upgrading ram and hd to 7200 or ssd makes an improvement but at what point is that improvement hindered by ur processor?

For everyday tasks, it's generally not. It's the memory bandwidth that chokes things up, particularly when you're multitasking. The memory bandwidth on the G4 PPC models was atrocious. Extremely slow. The performance improvement you get by upgrading from a G4 to an intel chip is only partly due to better CPU performance - it's mostly due to the MUCH greater memory bandwidth. On a G4, you have a single memory channel at 167 Mhz. On even a 2006 Core Solo or Core Duo, you had two memory channels at 667 Mhz. An enormous difference!

This is why the iMac's that got the special Apple exclusive core 2 duo chips were much faster than all the generic peecee core 2 duo's. Because Apple got C2D chips with 1066 FSB speed while everyone else was stuck with 800 Mhz FSB speed. The newest iMac and Mac Mini is faster still - same old C2D series chips, but even faster 1333 Mhz FSB speed. Memory bandwidth makes all the difference!

PS. "ur" is not a word. This is a discussion forum, not a text message to your homies.

I also had a IBM t41 for my accounting work but the video card went.

Can you clarify what you mean by "the video card went"? A couple years ago, all the laptop makers were plagued by defective graphics chips from Nvidia. The 8600 series. The laptop makers all extended their warranties on these models. If your t41 was equipped with an Nvidia 8600, you likely got one of the defective chips and may be entitled to a replacement...