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Author Which ssd for MacBook pro?
LeeM
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Registered: 26th Sep 05
Location: Liverpool
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29th Jul 12 at 19:11   View User's Profile U2U Member Reply With Quote

My cars sold so I'm going to get a MacBook at weekend. I want an ssd in so I'm gonna order one this week and put it in as soon as the laptop comes out the box.

Looking at the crucial 64gb for about £60 (I'm putting the original hdd in place of the SuperDrive so don't need a massive ssd)
Is there anything better or as good but cheaper?
Bart
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Registered: 19th Aug 02
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29th Jul 12 at 20:35   View User's Profile U2U Member Reply With Quote

Corsair M4, no question about it.
LeeM
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29th Jul 12 at 21:17   View User's Profile U2U Member Reply With Quote

i can find a crucial M4,nothing by corsair. you got a link?
noshua
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29th Jul 12 at 22:14   View User's Profile U2U Member Reply With Quote

He means crucial
LeeM
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29th Jul 12 at 22:21   View User's Profile U2U Member Reply With Quote

hmmmm, 128gb m4 is £75. tempted by that. ive got £140 to spend upgrading it becuse of my man maths and student discount
Sam
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29th Jul 12 at 22:24   View User's Profile U2U Member Reply With Quote



Yeah I've got a Crucial M4 128Gb myself but I use it in a netbook, recommended from me.

I'd go for the size I have as it's only an extra £20 or so for double the capacity really.

Or if you've got lots to spare, go for either a MacBook Air or a MacBook Pro with Retina display - both of those have SSDs as standard (but no optical drive).

Edit - posted my reply and just seen your comment about the 128Mb and the price, kinda spooky

[Edited on 29-07-2012 by Sam]
LeeM
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29th Jul 12 at 22:45   View User's Profile U2U Member Reply With Quote

not getting an air because i like the idea of upgrading ram and adding a second hdd inplace of the superdrive.
im swerving the retina one because of the price, dont want to spend over a grand really and going 13" for portability.
LeeM
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29th Jul 12 at 22:47   View User's Profile U2U Member Reply With Quote

also, upgrading ram to 8gb but cant find out if the current 13" has 2x2gb or 1x4gb out of the box.
Sam
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29th Jul 12 at 22:59   View User's Profile U2U Member Reply With Quote

I've got a MBP (late 2011) and it says I've got 2x 2GB modules installed.
Bart
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30th Jul 12 at 06:36   View User's Profile U2U Member Reply With Quote

quote:
Originally posted by noshua
He means crucial


yep sorry, was hanging out of my ass last night
AdZ9
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30th Jul 12 at 06:58   View User's Profile U2U Member Reply With Quote

Just bought my 15 MBP 2012 non retina and I bought a Samsung 830 256gb for £160.

It's the best one for a MBP, it's the same model they use in the retina MBPs but obviously rebranded for Apple. Took me 10 min to fit and install Mountain Lion and its rapid.
LeeM
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30th Jul 12 at 07:00   View User's Profile U2U Member Reply With Quote

quote:
Originally posted by Sam
I've got a MBP (late 2011) and it says I've got 2x 2GB modules installed.


On apple website, the iMacs are listed as "4gb (2x2gb)" but MacBooks just say 4gb. Can wait for ram so I'll probably just order it once ive had the back off.
Balling
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30th Jul 12 at 07:10   View Garage View User's Profile U2U Member Reply With Quote

quote:
Originally posted by AdZ9
Samsung 830 256gb for £160.

It's the best one for a MBP

No, no it's not.

Apple use it because it's cheap, not because it's good.

That said, the SSD market has evolved to a point were difference in speed is not as pronounced as it was a year or two ago where the worst SSD's were not much faster than the best rotary drives.

Congrats on your new machine, you'll love it!


Balling
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30th Jul 12 at 07:12   View Garage View User's Profile U2U Member Reply With Quote

Oh, and I think you can be perfectly sure that a 4GB machine is 2x2GB.

Again, it's the cheaper solution and Apple don't tend to use a cent more than necessary on anything but the case.


LeeM
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30th Jul 12 at 07:25   View User's Profile U2U Member Reply With Quote

Yeah most probably 2x2.
It's about time I bought one, been on about it for 6 months. Goin on Saturday when I'm off work, need to go in an apple store for student discount (14%)
Balling
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30th Jul 12 at 07:27   View Garage View User's Profile U2U Member Reply With Quote

15" MBP configuration page:




Balling
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30th Jul 12 at 07:36   View Garage View User's Profile U2U Member Reply With Quote

Also, remember that you'll probably need to run a TRIM enabler, once the SSD is installed.

I just checked and noticed that the Mountain Lion update had disabled TRIM on my SSD.


AdZ9
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30th Jul 12 at 09:10   View User's Profile U2U Member Reply With Quote

I spent about 4 weeks researching which SSD to buy and the 830 came out the better for the price, I didn't want to spend £400 on a SSD, if I did I would of added it as an upgrade when I ordered it.

The 830 has pretty much the best read/write speeds for Sata III for the mid range/cheaper SSDs.

I was comparing the OCZ Vertex 3, Crucial M4 and the Samsung 830. I went with the 830 as the Crucial had slower read/write speeds, and the Vertex has gotten some bad reviews lately.

Samsung 830 doesn't neccessarily need TRIM enabled either, it's been proven to have one of the best built in garbage collector/disposal methods of the current SSDs released. That said I did enable TRIM purely just to make sure, the retina MBPs come with TRIM enabled and using the same model SSD just rebranded . I'll monitor the speeds over the coming months and then check whether TRIM is worth it or not, I do delete/move alot of files for my work (graphic/web designer) so it might be that I have to keep TRIM on.

*edit* also, LeeM if you haven't already, have a read of some threads on Macrumors MBP section here http://forums.macrumors.com/forumdisplay.php?f=90

[Edited on 30-07-2012 by AdZ9]
Balling
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30th Jul 12 at 09:31   View Garage View User's Profile U2U Member Reply With Quote

I wasn't going after the 830 as much as your apparent understanding that Apple use it because it's the best.

My work machine runs a OCZ Vertex Plus which by current standards is a pretty slow SSD. Still, the difference in performance over a rotary drive is staggering.


LeeM
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30th Jul 12 at 09:43   View User's Profile U2U Member Reply With Quote

What's trim? I just want the laptop to start up quick and open programmes as soon as I click on them tbh, I'm not after the most technologically amazing thing ever.
Balling
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30th Jul 12 at 09:47   View Garage View User's Profile U2U Member Reply With Quote

quote:
Originally posted by LeeM
I just want the laptop to start up quick and open programmes as soon as I click on them tbh, I'm not after the most technologically amazing thing ever.

And to be honest, you'll find that even the cheapest SSD's will probably deliver on that account. How reliable the cheapest will be is a different question...

TRIM is needed for the drive to maintain its speed. For som reason, Apple has chosen to have it turned off on third party SSD's on default.
Just google TRIM Enabler and you'll find a handy piece of software, that does the work for you.


AdZ9
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30th Jul 12 at 09:48   View User's Profile U2U Member Reply With Quote

It's how the SSD works out which blocks of data are no longer in use and can be wiped internally.

To be honest, it's one of those commands that people fret over thinking it's make or break, but for 95% of the people using SSDs it doesn't make a difference to them.

And Balling, I know you wasn't, but I'm just trying to put a point across that if LeeM has £140 I would aim to bump it to £160 and get the Samsung 830 256gig, it is the best for the money at the moment
evilrob
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30th Jul 12 at 10:08   View Garage View User's Profile U2U Member Reply With Quote

Another vote for Samsung 830.
LeeM
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30th Jul 12 at 10:49   View User's Profile U2U Member Reply With Quote

I don't need 256gb I'm keeping the 500 for files and data etc. and I want to get ram out of te £140
evilrob
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30th Jul 12 at 10:55   View Garage View User's Profile U2U Member Reply With Quote

4gb RAM is plenty - there is little or no real-world benefit to having 8gb RAM unless you're doing some mental megapixel photo editing or some other memory-intensive task.

In terms of tangible bang for your buck - the SSD will blow your socks off. I would spend every penny of your budget on the SSD and get the RAM later if your "I want 8gb RAM" compulsion gets the better of you at a later date (even though it won't actually go any faster).

The Samsung 830 in mine is currently returning a comfortable >500mbs read and >450mbs write.

Boots OS X Mountain Lion in < 10s from cold, and from there I can boot Windows 7 in a virtual machine in another <10s.

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