240GB SSD in my Mac

[administrator]

Hi,

 

I was thinking about getting an iMac with the SSD option. Right now, they offer the 256GB SSD:

 

256GB Solid State Drive

 

... But it is an extra $750!!

 

Ben, did you buy your SSD from Apple and install it yourself?

 

Stefan

[falkencreative]

No, I wouldn't buy an Apple drive -- they are a too expensive for my liking. While I do like Apple products in general, some of the things they offer (SSDs, memory) seems to be unnecessarily expensive compared to other options.

 

I got a 240 GB OWC drive (http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/internal_storage/Mercury_Extreme_SSD_Sandforce) based in part on reviews, primarily http://macperformanceguide.com/Reviews-SSD-OWC-Mercury_Extreme.html. It was a little under $500, which is pricey, but not as bad as $750.

 

That said, I have a Macbook Pro, and the way it is constructed means that it isn't that difficult to switch out the hard drive. iMacs are a bit different though -- switching the hard drive yourself requires taking off the screen, so it's a bit (unnecessarily?) tricky. See

for an explanation of the process. Not that it can't be done, just that Apple makes it harder than it should be.

[administrator]

SSD boot drives havw been a dream of mine since the late 1990's ... at that time, it was just a ram-disk pipe-dream!

 

 

I'm probably going to wait until April when the new line of Macs come out, because Apple doesn't drop prices but they do upgrade hardware on their machines every year. So I am thinking that the 256GB option might become a 512GB SSD option.

 

Stefan

[falkencreative]

It's possible. Hopefully prices on SSDs will continue to come down. $500 is pretty pricey still (compared to a traditional hard drive at least) but it has come down from where prices were 6 months or a year ago.

 

Overall, I'm pretty happy with this SSD so far. It isn't necessarily life changing or anything like that, , but applications open almost instantaneously, and my computer boots in about half the time. Overall, the interface feels a bit snappier.

[administrator]

 

Overall, I'm pretty happy with this SSD so far. It isn't necessarily life changing or anything like that, , but applications open almost instantaneously, and my computer boots in about half the time. Overall, the interface feels a bit snappier.

 

It's that little bit of snappiness that has a cumulative impact at the end of the day.

 

Stef

[newseed]

I know SSDs have not been perfected yet technologically but I would look forward to the day to where you can just simple plug in the drive just like those sd media cards. No need to remove the pc's casing to add/upgrade/remove the drive.

 

I also wonder about the SSD temperature when used at a maximum? Will it require a cooling fan just like the cpu's?

 

If SSD were to ever come down to under $300 for at least 250gb I think I would get one. From the looks of the market it may be another year before that happens.

[administrator]

I also wonder about the SSD temperature when used at a maximum? Will it require a cooling fan just like the cpu's?

 

Well, my buddy just bought the MacBook Air and it runs cool and quite. I should point out, though it has a relatively wimpy CPU, for day to day tasks like opening apps etc ... it is amazingly fast.

 

... That SSD again.

 

Stefan