SSD for new Macbook Pro

[spooky69]

I have a new 17" i7 Macbook Pro. The benchmarks appear to show that the Crucial C300 has some advantages over the Intel X25-M. Given that the Macbook Pro will not allow 6gb over SATA (I believe that it is limited to 3gb when using a suitable SSD and 1.5gb for an HDD?), which would be the best SSD of these two to choose. Use will be the usual stuff (web, mail, etc) plus CS5 coming soon (mostly Photoshop and Dreamweaver with local server for testing). The price of either SSD is very similar although I would get 160gb from Intel and 120gb from Crucial. I believe that they both have garbage collection but don't know if they are considered to be equally effective.

I can wait until the end of this year if there is likely to be significant process from a technology and value perspective. Obviously I don't want to wait indefinitely as there is always something around the corner to wait for.

Thoughts?

 

[et01267]

If you read the many articles here on AnandTech, you would probably be looking at other options.

I just got a 2010 MBP 15" i7 and, at the same time, ordered an OWC Mercury Extreme 200Gb SSD (Sandforce SF1200 controller with firmware 3.0.5). It was reviewed extensively here and elsewhere, and ranks near the top always. In addition, it has the advantage of actually being available, unlike some of the OCZ options reviewed here recently.

After initially being annoyed by the firmware confusion mess -- between the time I ordered the drive and the time it arrived, the specs had changed, and then changed again -- I went ahead and installed the drive.

It is super-duper fast. For example, I can launch a suspended Parallels VM in 5 seconds. Apps open instantaneously; click iPhoto and it is just *there*.

BTW, I would also recommend getting an enclosure for the HD in your MBP (I got this one but I should have gotten one with FW800 since that's all the new MBP has). My process for installing the SSD was to

1. Unbox my new MBP, and do all the migration, updating, and initial messing about using the original HD.
2. Put the SSD in the MBP, and the HD into the enclosure.
3. Boot the MBP from the (now) external drive
4. Clone the external drive onto the internal SSD using Carbon Copy Cloner.

This worked really slick. Not one issue so far.

 

[spooky69]

Thanks for the reply and yes, I have read pretty much everything on this site about it - it gets rather confusing though.

I am in the UK and have not yet seen anywhere selling the OWC Mercury Extreme.

Looking at specifications the Crucial M225 seems to be reasonably well thought of but does not appear on the benchmarks.

I am also wondering if it is worth waiting for the new Intel stuff, both for better options but also in the hope of it driving prices down.

Thoughts from anyone?

 

[et01267]

You won't find the OWC stuff anywhere except on their site. They do ship internationally; probably still cheaper than the alternatives.

 

[poofyhairguy]

I suggest an OCZ drive.

Their firmware supports garbage collection that is not file system dependent. That is huge considering that OSX does not support TRIM, and the fact that many other SSD's have garbage collection that only work with NTFS.

That is why I have an OCZ in my hackintosh.....

 

[spooky69]

Thanks for the comment. Doesn't the X25-M do something similar?

 

[poofyhairguy]

Thanks for the comment. Doesn't the X25-M do something similar?

Honestly I dont know. I know my older Samsung drive only worked with NTFS, and I know OCZ sells an identical Mac version (with a markup of course because the industry thinks that "Mac User" is synonymous with "sucker") because of this unique garbage collection

 

[MagickMan]

Yes, Intel drives do GC on a Mac.