I have a quick noob query about SSDs vs. HDs in the MBP
Pretty much, what are the advantages of having a solid-state drive over a normal 5400 or 7200 rpm drive? Is it just speed vs. space?
I mentioned to someone that I was thinking of buying the optional 128 or 256SSD on the MBP I intend to buy, and perhaps in a couple of years buying an SSD of greater capacity. (The 512 is beyond my budget at present.)
The person I spoke to didn't think this was a good idea because the 128 and even the 256 would soon fill up with photos, and that I would then want a larger drive.
(Backing up an external drive is of course highly recommended, but it's pretty neat to have all one's photo collection on the computer's own drive.)
Replacing an SSD with another, he said, was a "dickens of a job" as the existing (factory) SSD is built into the mother board.
Difficulty deciding between 1 or 2. Unsure about real world performance gain of 2. No experience with SSDs or RAID 0. Worried about alignment and sleep/hibernate issues. Stock 5400rpm 320GB will go inside eSATA enclosure. Does anybody have a good eSATA ExpressCard/34 to recommend? I don't care about the SuperDrive. But I'll keep it for Care warranty purposes.
View 1 Replies View RelatedJust found this when I was browsing through some stuff.That's the controller that can be found from Toshiba HG2 SSDs that are used in at least 2010 MBPs. Here's a pic of the MBA's SSD:Original pic by iFixit (full size)As you can see, both are using Toshiba's T6UG1XBG Solid State Drive controller
View 2 Replies View RelatedI am checking out the market on SSDs for my Macbook Pro and I've found a few manufacturers differentiate their product lines as "regular" SSDs and Raid-Ready SSDs. The raid ready's being more expensive and having a little less space. I'm not as tech savvy as I should probably be, so I don't know what Raid or Raid-Ready means and what value it might have.
View 11 Replies View RelatedI've been surfing the web for hours now to find the right SSD for me. I have an ExpressCard SSD which unfortunately is having too many problems so I am planning on buying the MCE OptiBay to replace the SuperDrive with a second hard drive.
So my intention is to buy a cheap/small SSD to install OS X on it and to keep the home folder on the internal drive. There seem to be two SSDs which fit into that category. I need some advice whether those two products even work on my MacBook Pro Early 2008 2,4GHz, or if there are any other incompatibilities & problems.So the two candidates are Intel X25-V 40GB or OCZ Vertex 30GB.
The OCZ offers less space and costs slightly more but neither of them are really significant as they are in my price range. The OCZ ("Read: Up to 230 MB/s & Write: Up to 135 MB/s") seems to be much faster then the Intel one ("Read: up to 170MB/s & Write: up to 35MB/s"). Especially the writing speed of the Intel X25-V is really poor, even when compared to normal HDDs.
Recently I revamped my computer. I bought an Areca 1680 with 2GB of cache and 3 120GB Vertex 2 SSDs.
I have the 3 SSDs striped in RAID 0 on the RAID card and my old 4x 300GB VRs in RAID 5 on the same RAID card. The old drives in RAID 5 on the new card seems faster, probably due to the extra cache, but the SSDs are weirdly slow.
With Quickbench, I can't seem to push past 500MB/s for reads and 450MB/s for writes.
I'm pretty sure 2 drives can push those numbers. I know it's not a south bridge issue and the RAID card is in the second PCIe slot.
Could it be my stripe size? Right now I have it set at 64KB. Write back cache is enabled and TCQ is disabled.
(For reference my RAID 5 gets 205MB/s read and 370MB/s write for a 4GB file)
I want to install two X25-M SSD's in my second optical bay. I have already modified an old, empty drive case to mount both SSDs so I just need to know what cables I would need.
View 24 Replies View Related I'm wondering if SSDs are compatible with the Mac Pro3,1 (08)?
And are all SSDs the same, or are some faster? and where should I get them, I'm googling atm.
So I'm considering a new boot volume for my Mac Pro revolving around this RAID controller, since I have had great experience with 3ware's products in my Linux boxen and it really seems like $700 for the Mac raid controller is a bit much. My workflow revolves very heavily around virtualization. I've been thinking about a variety of options for SSDs and hybrid drives and even just fast laptop HDs. Am I crazy for considering 2.5" drives other than SSDs? I'm thinking of 2.5" drives because I put a pair of them in the lower optical bay without issue. The amount of storage needed on the boot volume is probably in the range of 150-200GB. Getting SSDs that size may not be in the budget. Thus, I am currently considering either a pair of 320GB WD Scorpio Blacks or a pair of 250GB Seagate Momentus XTs. I'm not sure the hybrid Momentus drives are worth it. Additionally, I know that a lot of SSDs don't fully support RAID in their firmware. Thus, I am reluctant to buy one, let alone a pair, since a lot of places don't seem to have terribly generous return conditions for SSDs. Is this a fool's errand? Should I just relegate my VMs to other storage and get a smaller SSD for the OS + apps?
View 6 Replies View Relatedvery new to SSDs here so need your confirmation -- are the updated second generation Intel SSDs officially called Postville ?
I ask because I'm finding this Intel SSD on Amazon Germany but it doesn't say "G2" anywhere. Just wanna make sure its the right thing.
As we discussed in other threads it could be particularly advantageous to use SSD RAID0 arrays for dual or even multiple booting. With a decent amount of striped SSDs the idea is to run all your operating systems and applications with high speed. At least that is the theory. To test the idea I have decided to use two Maxtor 160 GB HDD in a very basic dual RAID0 array configuration for booting OS X and Vista-64 in AHCI mode.
Here we go:
First thing I learned is that you have to partition the HDDs prior to building your array.
Second thing I learned is that you have to keep it all in HFS+ to make it work.
So now I have used disk utility to create two equal size partitions in HFS+ with GPT on both HDDs.
Next I fused the two lower partions together for a first RAID0 array named 2R-Leo. Format is still set to HFS+ and RAID0 mode is selected.
Then I fused the two upper partitions together for a second RAID0 array named 2R-Vista. Here format is also set to HFS+ and RAID0 mode is selected.
With that done I exited the disk utility to get a fresh start on it. I then entered disk utility again.
So last December my laptop got smashed and everything works except for the backlit screen. In fact I can still use this laptop it is just extremely hard since the screen does not light up. The person that smashed it ended up buying me a new laptop so I have this beat up (and I mean the shell is destroyed) laptop with quite a lot of functioning parts.
Now a few weeks ago my girlfriends Grandad spilled a beer on his brand new 2010 Macbook. The logic board is shot so it is almost cheaper for him to buy a brand new laptop.
Would it be possible for me to take the logic board out of my 2008 Black Macbook and put it into his 2010 White Macbook?
By far the most interesting benchmark trend coming out of the latest Macbook Air tests is that of the 320M GPU - is this thing somehow clocked differently than in the Macbook/Macbook Pro?
From:
[URL]
The latest Macbook Pro 13" 2.4 Ghz gets 33 FPS in Call of Duty 4, whereas the Macbook Air 13" (using the same 320M GPU) gets 40 FPS. Even the 1.4Ghz 11" gets 37! So obviously we're not talking about a CPU limited game - the only explanation then is that the GPU in the Macbook Air is clocked differently than in the 13" Macbook Pro, no?
From:
[URL]
Again the Macbook Air clocked at 2.13 ghz is beating the 2.4 Ghz Macbook Pro in World of Warcraft and Portal! And in WOW the 11" 1.4ghz still manages to beat the 2.4 Ghz 13" Macbook Pro.
Anyone have any additional insight into this? Anand did a terrible job of testing these for gaming performance, unfortunately, so he may not have even noticed this trend.
Is the white one the same size as the 13" aluminum that now went pro?Pretty much, I want to know if I buy a case for the original 13" Metal uMB from InCase, will it fit on this plastic one? They don't have blue for this, but they have blue for the original aluminum one.
View 3 Replies View RelatedI have a 2008 13" white, plastic MacBook. Its a bit slow, but adequate. Thinking of selling it and paying the difference to get the 11" MacBook Air. I've heard it is similar in speed and has the same processor.
The main problem I have with my current MacBook is that its heavy - I need something lightweight to easily carry to school and class for note-taking and such.
How is the Air better or worse, and would I be losing anything significantly by replacing the 08 plastic MB with a MBA?
macbook '08 specs: [URL]
I just upgraded my daughter from last year's MacBook to a new 2009 MacBook Pro (my mother will get her old one) by cloning the drive using SuperDuper. Everything works fine except it doesn't detect the audio hardware in the OS. I see that the new macbook pro has different audio hardware according to system profiler. Is there a way to copy the driver off the install DVD or should I just go ahead and reinstall everything.
View 2 Replies View RelatedHave searched on Mroogle but couldnt find what i was looking for.
I have my Blackbook connected to my tv via mini dvi to dvi then to hdmi, but i also have another laptop which is the old style Macbook Pro.
I was looking for a piece of software that would let me use the other laptop which isnt connected to the tv as a wireless keyboard and mouse?
Anyone ever tried this before? Any ideas?
My MacBook Pro was stoen this weekend and I need to know if the Find My Mac service can help locate it. Its a summer 2009 model 15" Macbook Pro. I have the computer's serial number, and the computer is registered to my Apple ID.
Info:
MacBook Pro (15-inch 2.53 GHz)
I just bought a macbook as a replace for my five year old iBook. I was planning on purchasing a second power adapter. I like the size and more rugged connector on the Macbook Air power adapter.
I have searched around and it sounds like the Air adapter will work with a MacBook but I am not completely convinced. I understand that this adapter will only charge or power the unit but not both.
Has anyone tried their Air adapter on a MacBook? Could an Air owner tell me the voltage and current rating (outputs) on their adapter?
I currently play warcraft on my older macbook pro. I am attracted by the latest macbook/macbook pros. But will the latest macbook still play warcraft well, or do I stay with the latest macbook pro?
View 2 Replies View RelatedI wanted to know if I can replace the upper case of a Core Duo white macbook with that of a Core 2 Duo black macbook? The white one has the distinctive yellowing of the rev A macbooks, so i'd like to make it better whilst making a black/white frankenMac.
If not, can I at least replace the airport card?
I'm putting a computer in my kitchen that anybody in the house can use (kids & parents). It will be hooked up to a 24" LCD and also act as a small file server, dvd player and perhaps eyetv dvr.
I like the mini because it is small (can hide in the cabinet where spills won't get it), is cheap and uses only 13W when idle. But when I think down the road, 4 year old laptops seem a lot more useful than 4 year old mac minis. So I'm a bit torn.
So my questions are:
- Does anybody know how much power the macbook uses when "idle" (just running finder).
- Can the macbook be run with the lid closed? (I know old powerbooks used to vent hot air through the keyboard.)
(Then again, I have the computer in the kitchen so I can watch my kids on the computer. In 4 years they'll be 5 years old and probably want a laptop they could have in their own room - exactly what I want to avoid. And I'll probably upgrade my macbook pro by then anyway.)
I have a late 2009, white unibody MacBook which is 7 months old, and I have been noticing that the battery life is getting less and less, and am rather confused.I reset the SMC as per Apple instructions, and then followed the battery calibrating guide to the letter from apple.com, and tonight it seems to have lasted... 3.5 hrs! Hardly the quoted 7 hours that Apple spec, and I am simply doing light web browsing, nothing else.Am I doing something wrong? The machine sits connected to magsafe 90% of the time, but I cannot envisage that would cause any problem, as it knows when it is charged, so afaik no more current can get to the battery to damage it
View 15 Replies View RelatedIs this simply because I have too much data on the hard drive, or is there a solution/what is it??
Info:
MacBook Pro (15-inch Early 2011), Mac OS X (10.6.8)
se nesesita algun adaptador, pero no puedo configurarlo y no me lo reconoce
View 1 Replies View RelatedI'm upgrading my 2009 MacBook Pro to the new MacBook Pro with retina display. How do I connect my 24" Apple cinema display to the new Macbook?
Info:
LED Cinema Display (24-inch), Mac OS X (10.7.4)
Apple on Wednesday introduced a new build-to-order option for MacBook Pros that lets users configure the systems with a faster Core i7 processor and also released software updates for the new MacBook Air, Aperture, Java, and Pro KitBuried by the unveiling of the new 11.6- and 13.3-inch MacBook Airs was a quiet update to Apple's professional notebooks that will let customers custom-configure the machines with even faster Core i7 processors.For an additional $200, customers can upgrade the high-end 15-inch MacBook Pro to a 2.8GHz Intel Core i7 processor from a 2.66GHz Intel Core i7 chip. The same upgrade is also available for the sole 2.53GHz 17-inch model for a $400 premium. An upgrade on that model to a 2.66GHz Core i7 remains,
View 14 Replies View RelatedApple at its developers conference Monday unveiled plans to transition its 13-inch unibody MacBooks into a more premium offering by announcing plans to rebrand them as 13-inch MacBook Pros alongside more affordable pricing. MacBook Airs were also updated with cheaper pricing.
Apple said it will retain the "MacBook" moniker for its white $999 MacBook which ships in a polycarbonate enclosure. The new unibody models include a 2.26GHz model for $1199 and a 2.53GHz model for $1499, down from $1299 and $1599.
13-inch MacBook Pros
The new 13-inch MacBook Pro is a significant upgrade at a lower price than the original aluminum MacBook it replaces. With the same unibody design popular with consumers, students and professionals, all 13-inch MacBook Pro models now include a seven hour built-in battery, an SD card slot, a FireWire 800 port, an illuminated keyboard and an improved LED-backlit display with 60 percent greater color gamut.
Also featuring NVIDIA's GeForce 9400M integrated graphics processor, the 13-inch MacBook Pro is available in two models: one with a 2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 2GB of RAM and a 160GB hard drive priced at $1,199, and another with a 2.53 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 4GB of RAM and a 250GB hard drive priced at $1,499.
"Across the line, all of our new MacBook Pro models now include Apple's innovative built-in battery for up to seven hours of battery life, while staying just as thin and light as before," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. "Starting at just $1,199, the aluminum unibody MacBook Pro is more affordable than ever and sets a new standard for environmentally friendly notebook design."
The 2.26 GHz, 13-inch MacBook Pro, for a suggested retail price of $1,199 (US), includes:
*-- *13.3-inch widescreen LED-backlit 1280 x 800 glossy display;
*-- *2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 3MB shared L2 cache;
*-- *1066 MHz front-side bus;
*-- *2GB 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM, expandable to 8GB;
*-- *NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics;
*-- *160GB serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm, with Sudden Motion Sensor;
*-- *a slot-load 8X SuperDrive(R) with double-layer support (DVD+/-R DL/DVD+/-RW/CD-RW) optical drive;
*-- *Mini DisplayPort for video output (adapters sold separately);
*-- *built-in AirPort Extreme(R) 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR;
*-- *Gigabit Ethernet port;
*-- *built-in iSight(R) video camera;
*-- *two USB 2.0 ports;
*-- *one FireWire 800 port (FireWire 400 compatible);
*-- *SD card slot;
*-- *one audio line in/out port, supporting both optical digital and analog;
*-- *glass Multi-Touch trackpad and illuminated keyboard;
*-- *built-in, 58WHr lithium polymer battery; and
*-- *60 Watt MagSafe(R) Power Adapter.
The 2.53 GHz, 13-inch MacBook Pro, for a suggested retail price of $1,499 (US), includes:
*-- *13.3-inch widescreen LED-backlit 1280 x 800 glossy display;
*-- *2.53 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 3MB shared L2 cache;
*-- *1066 MHz front-side bus;
*-- *4GB 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM, expandable to 8GB;
*-- *NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics;
*-- *250GB serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm, with Sudden Motion Sensor;
*-- *a slot-load 8X SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD+/-R DL/DVD+/-RW/CD-RW) optical drive;
*-- *Mini DisplayPort for video output (adapters sold separately);
*-- *built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR;
*-- *Gigabit Ethernet port;
*-- *built-in iSight video camera;
*-- *two USB 2.0 ports;
*-- *one FireWire 800 port (FireWire 400 compatible);
*-- *SD card slot;
*-- *one audio line in/out port, supporting both optical digital and analog;
*-- *glass Multi-Touch trackpad and illuminated keyboard;
*-- *built-in, 58WHr lithium polymer battery; and
*-- *60 Watt MagSafe Power Adapter.
Build-to-order options for the 13-inch MacBook Pro include the ability to upgrade to 8GB 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM, a 250GB 5400 rpm, 320GB 5400 rpm or 500GB 5400 rpm hard drive, a 128GB or 256GB solid state drive, Mini DisplayPort to DVI Adapter, Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI Adapter (for 30-inch DVI display), Mini DisplayPort to VGA Adapter, Apple Remote, Apple MagSafe Airline Adapter and the AppleCare Protection Plan.
MacBook Air
Apple today also updated its thin and light MacBook Air, making it more powerful and more affordable. Measuring just 0.16 to 0.76-inches thin and weighing just three pounds, the MacBook Air is available in two models starting with the new entry price of $1,499 for a 1.86 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo system with a 120GB hard drive and NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics, and a 2.13 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo system with a 128GB solid state drive and NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics for $1,799.
Every Mac notebook achieves EPEAT Gold status and meets Energy Star 5.0 requirements, setting a new standard for environmentally friendly notebook design. Each unibody enclosure is made of highly recyclable aluminum and comes standard with energy efficient LED-backlit displays that are mercury-free and made with arsenic-free glass. All MacBook Pro and MacBook Air models contain no brominated flame retardants and use internal cables and components that are PVC-free. The built-in battery design results in less waste and depleted batteries can be replaced for $129 or $179, which includes installation and disposal of your old battery in an environmentally responsible manner.
Availability and upgrading to Snow Leopard
The new 13-inch MacBook Pro and MacBook Air are available immediately through the Apple Store, Apple's retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers.
Mac OS X Snow Leopard will be shipping in September 2009, and any new Mac system purchased without Snow Leopard from Apple or an Apple Authorized Reseller between June 8, 2009 and the end of the program on December 26, 2009, is eligible for the Mac OS X Snow Leopard Up-To-Date upgrade package available for a product plus shipping and handling fee of $9.95 (US). Users must request their Up-To-Date upgrade within 90 days of purchase or by December 26, 2009, or whichever comes first.[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]
I have recently purchased the mini display port to DVI adapter and a Belkin DVI to HDMI cable, to plug into my MacBook & Samsung SyncMaster 2032MW monitor. However when I connect this all up the display resolution is appalling, blurry and doesnt fit the screen. I have tried all the available resolutions turned mirror-mode on & off and its still shockingly bad! Also tried this on my LG TV and still the same. I have a Dell laptop which I connect via HDMI and the resolution is amazing. I thought the MacBook would output the same?
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