On April 26 2010 14:04 IndecisivePenguin wrote: I might just use an external hard drive to back up a lot of my files anyway, so maybe going for 128GB SSD wouldn't be too bad of an idea.
Get the 128GB SSD, and then grab and external 1TB FW800 drive and throw all your files on there (music, movies, etc. NOT games!). Keep your games and OS on the SSD, as well as any VM's you may want to use (if you're into that sorta thing). You should have more than enough room with 128.
The goal is to put anything that's heavy on disk access on the SSD and anything that's not on the external.
On April 26 2010 14:07 FragKrag wrote: I'm going to tell you that you do not want an SSD that Apple will sell you.
You're buying old tech, and SSDs fade after usage. Since OS X does not support trim, an inferior controller (THE ONE ON THE SAMSUNG THAT APPLE SELLS YOU HINT HINT), will cause the performance to decay massively overtime.
Get the Intel X25-M if you want a SSD.
I thought about advising him to buy a SSD and install it himself (that'd save a lot of money) but we have to consider that for a lot of average users, voiding their warranty right out of the gate is a pretty big problem.
Then again, I replaced the HD in my MBP (with a higher-RPM drive) a couple years back and didn't hear a peep from Apple when I sent the computer in to them for repairs (including a HD replacement). However it was out of warranty already — so perhaps they noticed the replacement but didn't care — and it'd obviously be easier to tell that a custom SSD had been installed than a custom HD.
If it was me, I'd buy the MBP with the stock drive and then install a SSD myself. But I don't know how comfortable OP is with that.
I'm really not all that much of a techie guy in terms of hardware. Would it be difficult to replace it?
And I suppose I would have to take the warranty into consideration as well, because Macbooks are pretty dang expensive and it would be nice to be covered on them haha.
On April 26 2010 14:04 IndecisivePenguin wrote: I might just use an external hard drive to back up a lot of my files anyway, so maybe going for 128GB SSD wouldn't be too bad of an idea.
Get the 128GB SSD, and then grab and external 1TB FW800 drive and throw all your files on there (music, movies, etc. NOT games!). Keep your games and OS on the SSD, as well as any VM's you may want to use (if you're into that sorta thing). You should have more than enough room with 128.
The goal is to put anything that's heavy on disk access on the SSD and anything that's not on the external.
This is really good advice. Externals are just so fucking cheap right now there's no reason not to rely on them heavily. Also note that you can use Time Machine to back up both from your laptop's HD and an external HD (I have my music library on an external but don't want that to be the only copy, so I use Time Machine to back the library up to another external).
On April 26 2010 14:13 IndecisivePenguin wrote: I'm really not all that much of a techie guy in terms of hardware. Would it be difficult to replace it?
And I suppose I would have to take the warranty into consideration as well, because Macbooks are pretty dang expensive and it would be nice to be covered on them haha.
I don't know how tough it is, I'd imagine it's something you can do if you just set aside a weekend day for it. And if you're doing it right off the bat, you won't even have to worry about backing up any data.
This is a complicated decision, you need to consider the likelihood that you'll need your warranty and the savings / performance improvement you'll get by using a non-Apple-provided SSD. Look at SSD prices though, I almost guarantee Apple will overcharge by at least a couple hundred bucks versus what you can buy from, say, newegg. When the difference is that much and you consider that non-warranty repairs from Apple are "only" $300…voiding your warranty starts to look more attractive.
Get 4 GB of RAM unless you plan on running virtual machines.
As for the SSD vs HDD, SSDs are amazing but FragKrag is correct that the ones apple uses are significantly worse than the current tech SSDs. That said, even an old SSD is much faster than a mechanical hard drive, even without trim support.
My personal reccomendation would be skip the SSD for now and upgrade it once the prices come down and performance increases.
The main allure of the SSD is the random access, and the random access of the Samsung controller is fucking disappointing in every way possible.
SSD prices are supposed to go down early next year/late this year when 25nm comes onto the market, but nobody really knows right? More recently, the Sandforce controller has finally started to put some pressure on the Intel X25-M G2 so you might see Intel drive prices go down a bit in the next month.
On April 26 2010 14:18 AraqirG wrote: My personal reccomendation would be skip the SSD for now and upgrade it once the prices come down and performance increases.
I don't get this argument w.r.t. computer components. It's a virtual guarantee that everything is going to get cheaper and faster, so I say just buy the best thing currently out there (price and performance considered). Enjoy being cutting edge for a few months, then enjoy still having a machine that is, albeit not relatively, speedy.
If your purchasing strategy is "wait until the best technology becomes cheaper and faster" you're going to spend a lot of time waiting and not a lot of time enjoying your computer
Yeah, it looks a whole lot like the Intel X25-M is pretty much the same price as the one Apple offers, but is 12x better haha. So it'll be really cost effective to just replace it myself. I pretty much just need to know how to do it.
High chance of me screwing something up badly? Would I need to buy a toolkit or something?
On April 26 2010 14:23 IndecisivePenguin wrote: High chance of me screwing something up badly? Would I need to buy a toolkit or something?
now google is your friend, I'm positive there are guides out there as this must be the most common operation people do to their Apple laptops.
good luck!
the only thing I can foresee being a problem is that these new MBPs have that screw-less aluminum case…not sure how you get in there. But I'm sure there's a way, I mean if a nerd at Macworld can do it so can you.
Yeah, it should just be a few screws and then reinstalling the OS. I see people on forums with X25-Ms all the time on Apple Macs so it is very possible. Hard drive were manufactured to be removable, so you really shouldn't need much more than a screwdriver and a youtube video.
Get the smallest amount of RAM they will allow you to buy because apple overprices their ram RIDICULOUSLY. If that's 4GB then you should be set with that, but if you can buy it with only 1 2GB stick of ram, do that and buy another 2GB off newegg or something.
actually the ram apple sells on macbook pros isn't as overpriced as some of their other stuff. High density 4GB modules are actually very expensive, and the fact that it is laptop memory makes it more expensive. Though yeah, it's probably $100 more than you would normally pay.
Im waiting for my new 2010 13" MBP to arrive o/ I need portability, else I'd take the 15" When the new 3rd gen Intel SSD are released this year I'll prolly get that, I dont want current generations SSD that are poorly in writing
I got a MBP kind of involuntarily 3 months ago and I have to say it really surprised me in a good way. Definitely the best portable I have ever used, after I went through Toshiba, Lenovo, Samsung and Fujitsu-Siemens.
About your open question: Go for the Matte display unless you plan to never leave the house (but then why get a notebook?). The reflection is really annoying outside, not only in daylight but also in brightly lit areas like airports or train station.
The display is probably the only thing that I don't like about it. Uhm, well and the keyboard drives me nuts but since you like OSX it will probably suit you.
On April 26 2010 22:39 zatic wrote: I got a MBP kind of involuntarily 3 months ago and I have to say it really surprised me in a good way. Definitely the best portable I have ever used, after I went through Toshiba, Lenovo, Samsung and Fujitsu-Siemens.
About your open question: Go for the Matte display unless you plan to never leave the house (but then why get a notebook?). The reflection is really annoying outside, not only in daylight but also in brightly lit areas like airports or train station.
The display is probably the only thing that I don't like about it. Uhm, well and the keyboard drives me nuts but since you like OSX it will probably suit you.
Thanks for the insight. I think I have decided on the Matte display.
EPT
