SSD HDD in 13" Mac Book Pro - Smart or not smart?

Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
After playing around with a 2 GB ram / 128 GB HDD new 11.6" MBA, I am wondering if purchasing a 250 GB SSD HDD by Intel and installing on my current 13" Mac Book Pro would be a wise move. I could not believe how the 11.6" MBA seemed 10 times faster than my 13" MacBook.



I see a lot of talk about trimming and what not that may give problems down the road.



Anyone have any advice regarding moving from 250 GB 2.5" HDD to a 250GB SSD HDD?

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 9
    aplnubaplnub Posts: 2,605member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by aplnub View Post


    After playing around with a 2 GB ram / 128 GB HDD new 11.6" MBA, I am wondering if purchasing a 250 GB SSD HDD by Intel and installing on my current 13" Mac Book Pro would be a wise move. I could not believe how the 11.6" MBA seemed 10 times faster than my 13" MacBook.



    I see a lot of talk about trimming and what not that may give problems down the road.



    Anyone have any advice regarding moving from 250 GB 2.5" HDD to a 250GB SSD HDD?



    I have the OWC branded SSD coming in 250 GB size. We shall see the difference.
  • Reply 2 of 9
    MarvinMarvin Posts: 15,443moderator
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by aplnub View Post


    After playing around with a 2 GB ram / 128 GB HDD new 11.6" MBA, I am wondering if purchasing a 250 GB SSD HDD by Intel and installing on my current 13" Mac Book Pro would be a wise move. I could not believe how the 11.6" MBA seemed 10 times faster than my 13" MacBook.



    I see a lot of talk about trimming and what not that may give problems down the road.



    Anyone have any advice regarding moving from 250 GB 2.5" HDD to a 250GB SSD HDD?



    Don't do it just now. Intel are moving to 25nm and new SSDs are coming out soon, which should be close to half the price per GB. Prototypes were out a few weeks ago. Roadmap says Q4 2010 with a 300GB option:



    http://www.storagereview.com/intel03...confirmed_2010



    The speeds are greatly improved too.
  • Reply 3 of 9
    aplnubaplnub Posts: 2,605member
    It's in and it's fast. Maybe intel will get their drives out soon because I need another one for a mini.
  • Reply 4 of 9
    nhtnht Posts: 4,522member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by aplnub View Post


    It's in and it's fast. Maybe intel will get their drives out soon because I need another one for a mini.



    Faster than the air? How much more teh snappy is it besides booting?
  • Reply 5 of 9
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by aplnub View Post


    After playing around with a 2 GB ram / 128 GB HDD new 11.6" MBA, I am wondering if purchasing a 250 GB SSD HDD by Intel and installing on my current 13" Mac Book Pro would be a wise move. I could not believe how the 11.6" MBA seemed 10 times faster than my 13" MacBook.



    I see a lot of talk about trimming and what not that may give problems down the road.



    Anyone have any advice regarding moving from 250 GB 2.5" HDD to a 250GB SSD HDD?



    I also own this MBP you have. Why is speed the most relevant factor in your decision to upgrade? Are you a gamer perhaps?
  • Reply 6 of 9
    aplnubaplnub Posts: 2,605member
    Sorry to have been so fast to post an incomplete response.



    First, it boots as fast as the new MBA. I've timed it as fast as 16 seconds but routinely gives an 18 seconds to login screen. Obviously, not that big of a deal but is very noticeable.



    Second, after logging in, it takes one second to load all my services and be ready to use. I have Growl, Syncman, Quicksilver, and several more. I mean one second before the computer is ready to use. It is crazy.



    My notebook has 4GB of ram.



    I was really wanting the 11.6" MBA but I could not justify chunking a perfectly new 13" MBP 2.4 Ghz with FW800 and SD card reader.



    Programs bounce once and are open. Some applications bounce two maybe three times but most bounce once and open. The SSD performance increase is astounding.



    So far, I can't tell any difference in battery life for the good or for the bad. OWC claims their drives use less power on, off, or whenever compared to a normal 2.5" HDD any many of the current SSD options. They also claim that their software (which claims around 7GB of overhead on the drive which is why the capacity is 240 GB instead of 250GB) keeps the drive from losing performance over the life of the drive.



    I believe this is why Apple has not implemented TRIM support in Mac OSX. Apple probably believes this is best handled by the drive. It seems logical that it is better/faster for the drive to maintain the TRIM (or whatever you call it) support in the HDD itself instead of the OS. Makes sense to me anyway.



    If you have a MBP, don't hesitate. This completely transformed my 13" and I truly believe that we will see SSD's start to become more prominent options going forward.



    Since I don't require 1TB of storage since I use my 13" MBP as a mobile machine instead of my main machine, I don't need a lot of storage so SSD is affordable for me.
  • Reply 7 of 9
    aplnubaplnub Posts: 2,605member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by gerald apple View Post


    I also own this MBP you have. Why is speed the most relevant factor in your decision to upgrade? Are you a gamer perhaps?



    Not a gamer but a traveler. Probably a third of my reason for the bumps and drops. Another third for hoping for better battery life, and tge last third because every Mac should be snappy like the Airs.
  • Reply 8 of 9
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by aplnub View Post


    Not a gamer but a traveler. Probably a third of my reason for the bumps and drops. Another third for hoping for better battery life, and tge last third because every Mac should be snappy like the Airs.



    Do you think eventually that we can buy a ssd for this mbp13inch model soon? To bad we cannot install the ssd flash in the mbp 13inch.ga
  • Reply 9 of 9
    I've been considering getting an SSD as well/ But I have a 2007 White Macbook. So I'm not sure if I should invest in a new SSD or a new computer all together.



    I mostly use my laptop as a web developerment work horse for Coda and Fireworks and have it plugged into a beautiful 25" monitor.



    I'll probably wait a few more months and make my decision then.
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