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evildede · Dec 9, 2007, 04:33 AM

I've been thinking about getting a Solid State HDD like this one here. I would just like to know if it would work and if anyone knew if there was a good speed increase with it. Also, if I'd put a drive like that, how do I go installing Mac OS X Leopard on it from scratch as I have never done such an installation. It's a lot of money, but I just bought a RAM upgrade so I thought it might worth it to push it to the max with a nice new SSD!

stevebez · Dec 9, 2007, 05:52 AM

One benefit is that it should extend your battery runtime, although how much is open to speculation. I'm a bit curious how this thing would play with the S.M.S.

NewOldbie · Dec 9, 2007, 06:15 AM

How can you live on 32GB? Maybe if they make 'em for 100 - 160GB . . . .

By the time I've installed the OS and programs I'm usually near 30GBs.

evildede · Dec 9, 2007, 02:31 PM

yeah I know it doesn't give much space, but the 64GB drives are simply too expansive for now. Although I do not plan to use the computer for more than just web surfing and school work using Office and a bit of World of Warcraft. But I heard there was a way of removing tons of unnecessary stuff from OS X to make it smaller after installation.

But anyway, I wasn't really asking about space as it wouldn't really be an issue to me, but more about whether or not it was worth the 400$ just to make the laptop a bit faster and also more efficient when it comes to battery life.

Christopera · Dec 9, 2007, 06:20 PM

I think it depends on how much money you are making. $400 to me a college student could buy me lots of food. So no, it isn't worth it. You however might be rolling your Lambo in 50 centimeters of québecquois(I apologize if spelled wrong) snow and the $400 is simply a drop in the bucket.

I have to say, it would be an awesome upgrade if doable. It would be really kick#ss if you you could put that sucker in a an external drive and rock and roll.

Really you could gain performance by getting a faster drive, 7200, and buying an extra battery. With this setup you could easily get a quality 250 or 300GB and faster performance.

mduell · Dec 9, 2007, 08:07 PM

Yes it should work and yes they're quite fast.

evildede · Dec 9, 2007, 10:01 PM

I unfortunately don't make that much money Christophera, but the geek in me wants to do it

I guess I'm going to wait a few weeks as I've got a Mac Pro to purchase and then if I can afford it I will try it.

ghporter · Dec 9, 2007, 10:08 PM

I love the "detailed specs" on that page... Any idea what the access time and seek time are for such devices?

mduell · Dec 9, 2007, 11:57 PM

Originally Posted by ghporter

I love the "detailed specs" on that page... Any idea what the access time and seek time are for such devices?

Tens of nanoseconds... most hard drive benchmark apps call it "less than 0.1ms" because they weren't designed for drives with 0.00005ms access times.

Christopera · Dec 10, 2007, 12:02 AM

Well props if you make it happen. I will be interested to read your follow up post.

frdmfghtr · Dec 10, 2007, 11:03 AM

Originally Posted by NewOldbie

How can you live on 32GB? Maybe if they make 'em for 100 - 160GB . . . .

By the time I've installed the OS and programs I'm usually near 30GBs.

Next year my friend, next year...

Electronista | Toshiba enters solid-state with 128GB drive

ghporter · Dec 10, 2007, 11:08 AM

Originally Posted by mduell

Tens of nanoseconds... most hard drive benchmark apps call it "less than 0.1ms" because they weren't designed for drives with 0.00005ms access times.

Wow! Now we need action on the capacity and price aspects and we'll be in business. Such a fast drive would be incredible-consider how much of the boot sequence is drive-bound. Or sleeping and waking. This is pretty darn close to "instant on/instant off" territory.