Rumor: New MacBook Pros said to boot from fast SSDs
A new rumor attributed to unnamed sources says the coming refresh of MacBook Pros will feature larger trackpads and boot from SSD, even on models equipped with a conventional hard disk drive.
The rumor, published by BGR, first notes that "new laptops will contain glass trackpads that are even larger than the pads found on current-generation MacBook Pro models."
It then adds that "next bit of information doesn?t quite make sense to us," but describes an 8 to 16GB Solid State Drive being used as the Mac OS X startup volume even on base models, which will retain a regular hard drive as well.
Higher end models are said to use SSD exclusively, much like Apple's existing MacBook Air line.
The advantage to using a hybrid SSD/HDD configuration, of course, is that the main benefit afforded by SSD is read speed, while its greatest drawback is expense per gigabyte of storage. SSD also has issues related to rewriting data as efficiently as conventional mechanical hard drives.
By combining both types of drives, Apple could provide rapid boot and "instant on" features currently available on the iPad and MacBook Air, while also providing large amounts of general storage for power users' large documents.
The report also noted the new models are about a half pound (0.2 kg) lighter than existing models. It also describes five different SKUs, harmonizing with existing reports on the new models.
Read more about MacBook Pro models in our latest reports on the subject.
The rumor, published by BGR, first notes that "new laptops will contain glass trackpads that are even larger than the pads found on current-generation MacBook Pro models."
It then adds that "next bit of information doesn?t quite make sense to us," but describes an 8 to 16GB Solid State Drive being used as the Mac OS X startup volume even on base models, which will retain a regular hard drive as well.
Higher end models are said to use SSD exclusively, much like Apple's existing MacBook Air line.
The advantage to using a hybrid SSD/HDD configuration, of course, is that the main benefit afforded by SSD is read speed, while its greatest drawback is expense per gigabyte of storage. SSD also has issues related to rewriting data as efficiently as conventional mechanical hard drives.
By combining both types of drives, Apple could provide rapid boot and "instant on" features currently available on the iPad and MacBook Air, while also providing large amounts of general storage for power users' large documents.
The report also noted the new models are about a half pound (0.2 kg) lighter than existing models. It also describes five different SKUs, harmonizing with existing reports on the new models.
Read more about MacBook Pro models in our latest reports on the subject.
Comments
8 to 16? that's it?
That would make sense, if it's just being used to boot from, as Mac OS, to my knowledge only uses about 6-7 GB of storage space. Everything else, from additional programs that don't need to be started at bootup (iLife, iWork, etc.), to all documents, movies, etc., would be stored on the HDD. I think it's an awesome idea.
I remember seeing something similar to this on some of the very first linux netbooks, but was confused when they didn't continue to do it. Seems like a great idea to me.
IF you're just using it for fast boot and instant-on, how much do you need? That's an honest question, as I have no idea.
This is perfect. I have a 120GB SSD in my 13"MBP and a 640GB spinning drive in place of my CD drive. I get fast boot and lots of storage.
I have all of my applications and the system on the SSD and I use 15GB of it, my home directory is on the spinner. For now this is the best of both worlds until 1GB laptop SSDs are reasonably priced. If I were to do it again I would get the fastest 32GB SSD and a 1TB spinner for storage.
But, but, but, I only boot my computer twice a month. What real advantage would this be? My hard drive based Mac wakes from sleep in a couple seconds.
The responsiveness of the machine is night and day different with an SSD running your system install.
That would make sense, if it's just being used to boot from, as Mac OS, to my knowledge only uses about 6-7 GB of storage space. Everything else, from additional programs that don't need to be started at bootup (iLife, iWork, etc.), to all documents, movies, etc., would be stored on the HDD. I think it's an awesome idea.
I remember seeing something similar to this on some of the very first linux netbooks, but was confused when they didn't continue to do it. Seems like a great idea to me.
Sure that makes sense, but what about resource intensive applications like various professional media editors? Would they gain any benefit from an SSD vs HDD?
They would need to include a 8 or better 16 Gig ssd and they will have to integrate it seamlessly into the hfs+ filesystem of the the regular hdd. Maybe via some kind software raid? Not an expert on this topic though. Is something like this possible?
But, but, but, I only boot my computer twice a month. What real advantage would this be? My hard drive based Mac wakes from sleep in a couple seconds.
A scratch disk for photoshop? Really, though, wouldn't the OS being on an SSD improve overall system performance, not just booting times?
8 to 16? that's it? By this I mean, would this be exclusive to the OS? Or would other applications be installed on this drive? Sounds nice for a boot drive, but I would love to have this an application drive and an hdd as a storage drive
Well, the "System" folder on my iMac takes up about 5 GB.
I would hope that they'd have a 16 GB SSD and that the OS would be somewhat clever about doing whatever it takes to noticeably improve the launch times of applications.
Another thing they could do would be to make "hibernate" the default "sleep" mode, and save the RAM image to the SSD. That would improve battery life and reduce the need for shutdowns.
It then adds that "next bit of information doesn?t quite make sense to us," but describes an 8 to 16GB Solid State Drive being used as the Mac OS X startup volume even on base models, which will retain a regular hard drive as well.
Higher end models are said to use SSD exclusively, much like Apple's existing MacBook Air line.
The advantage to using a hybrid SSD/HDD configuration, of course, is that the main benefit afforded by SSD is read speed, while its greatest drawback is expense per gigabyte of storage. SSD also has issues related to rewriting data as efficiently as conventional mechanical hard drives.
By combining both types of drives, Apple could provide rapid boot and "instant on" features currently available on the iPad and MacBook Air, while also providing large amounts of general storage for power users' large documents.
Hoe can BGR not make sense to BGR? I can understand my mother not getting it, but she isn?t a blogger for a tech site, either. DED obviously gets it.
8 to 16? that's it? By this I mean, would this be exclusive to the OS? Or would other applications be installed on this drive? Sounds nice for a boot drive, but I would love to have this an application drive and an hdd as a storage drive
I see what you?re saying, but remember that if the primary benefit right now is booting and instant on with a design with a standard 2.5? HDD then Apple could write Mac OS X to take advantage of this setup. Right now, even for those that have an SSD and HDD in their machines the OS isn?t optimized for this setup.
ERG, i am having so much trouble waiting. i check this web site at least 5 times a day. i feel like it's christmas eve right now, but i'm in some sort of hellish time trap and christmas eve is actually 7 days and nights long.
I'd imagine 16GB for the headroom for swap, for installs and updates.
Sure that makes sense, but what about resource intensive applications like various professional media editors? Would they gain any benefit from an SSD vs HDD?
I'd think you'd gain some time during startup, but once the application is loaded, I don't see why an HDD would perform slower than an SSD, at least to any reasonable level. I don't know, though, I don't have as much experience with SSD's as I'm sure some other people on this forum do, I am just using my unofficial research and knowledgable guesses to make some predictions.
The responsiveness of the machine is night and day different with an SSD running your system install.
Yup.
This all originates from Jobs pointing out that since iPads were 'instant-on', all Macs should be. I imagine they will do this across the entire product line, and force an industry-wide change. Before the year is out, any PC with its OS on a hard drive will be considered a dinosaur.
Just another day at the office for Apple.
http://bcove.me/gbdf7t87
It's about time Apple did this. The performance benefits of having the OS installed on a small flash drive will make any MacBook Pro upgrade feel 10x better. My current generation 13" MacBook Air actually feels faster than the 2009 17" MacBook Pro I also own.
It’s funny how we hear so many comments from self appointed “technology experts” about how Apple’s machines are crap because you can get a machine with a certain GPU or CPU clockspeed or display resolution at a lower price, but these people never consider the other features that make a product feel and perform well. Like LCD quality or the horrible nature of HDDs making machines feel a lot slower than they really are.
I’m so glad I moved to an SSD last year but I will likely move to a new MBP if Apple does this. At 8 or 16GB this could be “on board” like iDevices and not the mini-PCIe SSD of the new MBAs. That could make it much faster.
Also, since we’re only talking about 8 or 16GB, not 64, 128 or 256GB they could also make it a SLC NAND (not MLC) which would also make it considerably faster if this is designed for a higher-end machine. Sure, it’s still pricey, but it’s actually feasible at a capacity that is only for the OS.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...eId=1&name=8GB
Yup.
This all originates from Jobs pointing out that since iPads were 'instant-on', all Macs should be. I imagine they will do this across the entire product line, and force an industry-wide change. Before the year is out, any PC with its OS on a hard drive will be considered a dinosaur.
Just another day at the office for Apple.
This will just generate more hate on Apple. How can other manufacturers possibly keep their low price point while trying to keep at least appearance of in step with Apple on technology advancement? I can just see them foaming at the mouth right now.
If this is true, it's probably similar to the Seagate Momentus XT Hybrid Drive with a 4GB SSD for cache, only better:
http://bcove.me/gbdf7t87
I just installed a Momentus XT Hybrid 7200RPM 500GB plus 4GB SSD plus 32MB of conventional cache. And it is faster for most things. It also includes some sort of algorithm for storing the most used stuff on the SSD portion, which does not appear as a separate volume.
even if you have only the boot volume on SSD - that makes more than just booting faster - since the entire Operating system is on the SSD.
operations that are CPU or RAM intensive may not benefit - but operations that read or write to disk can.