[Noscito]

I'm about to order the new Macbook Pro for my father (he doesn't want the tiny screen of the Macbook). He uses mainly mail and word, but he's also a user that sticks to his machine for years. That's why I'm considering solid state, because it's the future, but it's also very expensive. I think the feeling of speed is very important, does anybody have experience with solid state drives? Do you have the idea that the speed is much faster/smoother? I think he spends about 8 hours a day behind the machine.

[Ted L. Nancy]

Any time the hard drive is accessed, it will be faster. Most users see the biggest gains in startup times and launching applications.

IMO, the advantage of SSD is that it has no moving parts. This basically eliminates the worry of mechanical failure (although failure in general is still not eliminated, obviously).

It is also quiet.

The biggest disadvantage right now is that SSDs do not have very large capacity. If your father does not need a tremendous amount of space, you can easily find a 64GB for under $200. I would not recommend purchasing an SSD through Apple, unless you enjoy paying hefty premiums on storage. Just order the cheapest HD available for whatever model notebook you order and the swap-out process is super easy. You can use the mechanical drive in an external enclosure for Time Machine.

Good luck.

[ibook_steve]

There's also the factor of drive lifetime. SSDs use algorithms to evenly write to all locations because each bit can only be written to a certain number of times before it can no longer be written to anymore. I haven't done much research into the expected lifetimes of SSD drives, but it's definitely something to be aware of. Others here may have more insight.

Steve

[Maflynn]

One thing to keep in mind since the SSD market is so immature compared the the hard drive market that is that not all SSD drives are the same, some are quite slow, slower then some hard drives in fact.

Personally the price to performance ratio is to high to make them a feasible alternative at the moment. Of course my storage requirements are such that only a hard drive will suffice (for now).

[mduell]

The performance of SSDs is better than HDDs in a lot of ways, but worse in some ways (small random writes, for example).
You can buy a 128GB SSD ($400) for about half what Apple wants for the upgrade (or go smaller if your dad doesn't need that much space), install it yourself, and stick the stock drive in an external enclosure.

Originally Posted by ibook_steve 

There's also the factor of drive lifetime. SSDs use algorithms to evenly write to all locations because each bit can only be written to a certain number of times before it can no longer be written to anymore. I haven't done much research into the expected lifetimes of SSD drives, but it's definitely something to be aware of.

You should do the research, current SSDs have lives that exceed the typical life of a computer with the first owner.

[iomatic]

What brand will Apple be using for the 128GB SSD?

[hadocon]

Make sure to check into SLC and MLC versions of SSD drives. SLC is faster and more expensive than MLC. MLC also has an order of magnitude less MTBF - not that it's worse than a typical disk based device, just less than the higher-end SSD.

I understand that the original MacBook Air had the slower/cheaper MLC units. Apparently the MBA used an MLC part due to size. I'm not sure what Apple includes in the regular MacBook and MacBook Pro.

[iomatic]

Uh oh. Maybe I should've ordered the cheaper version and bought a new drive? Are they all the same?
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...SIN=B001CHHWCY