SSD for MacBook Pro

Beerbaron · 6 Aug 2013 at 09:27

It started off booting slow but the speed has definitely increased and I haven't made any changes since installing the SDD other than rebooting it a few times to test. It boots faster than my PC now

Logsi · 6 Aug 2013 at 10:15

Get Blackmagic Disk Speed Test.

I had a mid2012 MBP too and it was very fast with the Apple supplied Samsung 830. Think it was around 450mb/s read on the blackmagic test.

Beerbaron · 6 Aug 2013 at 13:56

Housey · 6 Aug 2013 at 18:28

I put a Samsung one in a few weeks back. Took me 15 minutes to remove the old one and add the new one and I can make water burn so I was happy with that. I did a clean install and it was a really simply task. I had to use a special tool called 'pliers' to remove the small screws in the side of the disk, but after that was plain sailing. Performance uplift is really well worth it, much much better experience.

Beerbaron · 7 Aug 2013 at 08:34

I think its poor that such an expensive laptop doesn't come with an SSD already.

MagicBoy · 7 Aug 2013 at 08:36

It's a Pro laptop. Some users need space and not disk speed. The option for an SSD is there if you want to pay for it.

Shipping with an SSD only would further increase the price and lessen choice.

Beerbaron · 7 Aug 2013 at 09:06

True, i think the option was there but my boss opted for space.

Get rid of the optical drive and put another drive in there. Who uses discs these days

MagicBoy · 7 Aug 2013 at 09:09

I do.

Next!

Raymond Lin · 7 Aug 2013 at 09:23

512G SSD and Optical drive in mine, best of both worlds

Beerbaron · 7 Aug 2013 at 11:52

This is a work laptop so didnt want to payout too much of my own monies on it

Beerbaron · 13 Aug 2013 at 19:17

Finally got around to removing the optical drive. I used this guide.

thezappa · 13 Aug 2013 at 19:22

I stuck mine in an external USB2 caddy - tenner from a well known auction site, works just fine. Don't use it all that often but it seems to be ok.

Beerbaron · 14 Aug 2013 at 09:03

I paid £12.99 for the internal caddy. I carry my Mac to and from work so its one less thing I wont forget.

benjiwilliams · 14 Aug 2013 at 10:28

One word of caution, swapped the HDD for an old Intel X25-M about a year ago to see the change (brilliant) but had major problems after upgrading to Lion. Upon investigation it turned out that I needed to upgrade the SSD's Firmware (which I couldn't do on the Mac so had to remove, plug into my PC, upgrade and reinstall in my MBP), works fine again now

Hate the way that Apple make these changes unannounced and leave you to discover and fix them yourself. Genius Bar very unsympathetic, shrugged shoulders and told me to buy the SSD from Apple (at twice the cost, literally)...

Still, agree with all above that it's transformational and well worth it

Neoni · 29 Aug 2013 at 02:25

Hi Guys,

looking to upgrade my macbook pro,

i recently bought a late 2011 mbp, 2.4 i5, 500gb HDD, 4GB ram

i'll defo upgrade the ram to 8 or even 16

just wondering whats best option to go for on the SSD front? i dont have an arm and a leg to blow!

Alex

Verponian · 29 Aug 2013 at 09:14

Depends entirely on your budget and what you're willing to spend. Putting all patent lawsuits aside, Apple used Samsung SSDs in their machines and Samsung 840's are generally regarded as among the best you can get. There's also a decent range between the 840 basic, pro or evo. Stick to the basic range if you don't want to spend too much, would still be a beast of an upgrade.

Another option if you want something with a bit more capacity but with a bit more pep than a HDD would be a Seagate Hybrid drive. Nowhere near as good as a SSD but gives you faster boot times and capacity similar to a standard HDD.

Neoni · 29 Aug 2013 at 12:10

Verponian said:
Depends entirely on your budget and what you're willing to spend. Putting all patent lawsuits aside, Apple used Samsung SSDs in their machines and Samsung 840's are generally regarded as among the best you can get. There's also a decent range between the 840 basic, pro or evo. Stick to the basic range if you don't want to spend too much, would still be a beast of an upgrade.

Another option if you want something with a bit more capacity but with a bit more pep than a HDD would be a Seagate Hybrid drive. Nowhere near as good as a SSD but gives you faster boot times and capacity similar to a standard HDD.

I think i'm looking at around 250gb i don't see a need in going any higher in all fairness, what is the brand to look at?

Also aside from the SSD i've just upgraded the 4GB of ram to 16GB of corsair ram, which i believe is better than the crucial if i'm correct?

Alex

Verponian · 29 Aug 2013 at 12:35

Neoni said:
I think i'm looking at around 250gb i don't see a need in going any higher in all fairness, what is the brand to look at?

Also aside from the SSD i've just upgraded the 4GB of ram to 16GB of corsair ram, which i believe is better than the crucial if i'm correct?

Alex

Corsair ram is better. I'm looking at upgrading the ram in my MB Pro having just discovered an EFI update actually allows it to use more and frankly I was surprised at how expensive crucial ram was.

As far as SSD brands go, lots of people will have opinions here but personally I'd go with a samsung 840 as first choice (which 250gb model is up to you and your wallet. Any would drastically improve your mac's performance though EVO would be the top choice).

After samsung, second choice for me would be a crucial m500.

Neoni · 29 Aug 2013 at 13:14

Verponian said:
Corsair ram is better. I'm looking at upgrading the ram in my MB Pro having just discovered an EFI update actually allows it to use more and frankly I was surprised at how expensive crucial ram was.

As far as SSD brands go, lots of people will have opinions here but personally I'd go with a samsung 840 as first choice (which 250gb model is up to you and your wallet. Any would drastically improve your mac's performance though EVO would be the top choice).

After samsung, second choice for me would be a crucial m500.

I came across the corsair really cheap cheaper than the crucial I did buy privately though only packet opened!

But yes I agree when I saw what crucial were asking it was a shock!

Great my next question is, is it easy enough to put one in a hdd caddy to carbon copy I've never done it before not used an SSD

Alex

Verponian · 29 Aug 2013 at 13:23

Neoni said:
I came across the corsair really cheap cheaper than the crucial I did buy privately though only packet opened!

But yes I agree when I saw what crucial were asking it was a shock!

Great my next question is, is it easy enough to put one in a hdd caddy to carbon copy I've never done it before not used an SSD

Alex

Yep. Perfectly easy enough, the SSD should run just like any normal HDD. Some ssd come as an upgrade kit with usb to sata cables but if you have a caddy then use that.

As for carbon copy, it certainly will work but there's differing advice as to whether it's the best option, especially when migrating over to a SSD from a HDD. You can use carbon copy, another option if you have an external is to do a time machine backup, then boot up using your OS disk and use the utility to restore from that Time machine backup onto your new SSD.

My personal recommendation would be to always go for a completely new and clean install. Get it updated and THEN to use the migration assistant utility to transfer over your previous data. A clean install is just generally safer and leaner than a carbon copy.