Quote:
Originally Posted by powerhouse 
Hello Lord Xeb: Thanks for your additions!
To all those installing an SSD: I would start with the memory upgrade! The original 2 GB memory is really not enough for running multiple apps or Safari with more than 10 pages opened. Installing an SSD sure speeds up applications, but at the cost of many writes to SSD. This reduces the life time of the SSD, as the SSD has only about 3,000 write cycles per memory page. Moreover, if you you are utilizing the SSD near its capacity, its speed may deteriorate over time, let alone reducing the life time of the SSD.
Additional RAM also works faster. Once you started your applications, they are in memory and access is virtually instant. 8GB provides plenty of space and I yet haven't been able to fill it up entirely. It greatly reduces the writes to disk. At around $65 it's also a cheap solution.
You can always replace the HDD for an SSD for even better performance, especially boot time and application load time. But with 8GB of RAM, the system will have to write to disk at a much lower frequency, increasing the life time of the SSD.
In short: An SSD will certainly boost your performance, but at the cost of reduced life time. So first expand your memory and then replace the HDD for an SSD, or do both. But don't start with the SSD without adding more memory.
Hello Lord Xeb: Thanks for your additions!
To all those installing an SSD: I would start with the memory upgrade! The original 2 GB memory is really not enough for running multiple apps or Safari with more than 10 pages opened. Installing an SSD sure speeds up applications, but at the cost of many writes to SSD. This reduces the life time of the SSD, as the SSD has only about 3,000 write cycles per memory page. Moreover, if you you are utilizing the SSD near its capacity, its speed may deteriorate over time, let alone reducing the life time of the SSD.
Additional RAM also works faster. Once you started your applications, they are in memory and access is virtually instant. 8GB provides plenty of space and I yet haven't been able to fill it up entirely. It greatly reduces the writes to disk. At around $65 it's also a cheap solution.
You can always replace the HDD for an SSD for even better performance, especially boot time and application load time. But with 8GB of RAM, the system will have to write to disk at a much lower frequency, increasing the life time of the SSD.
In short: An SSD will certainly boost your performance, but at the cost of reduced life time. So first expand your memory and then replace the HDD for an SSD, or do both. But don't start with the SSD without adding more memory.
That is not necessarily a true statement. The SSD will probably out live the hard drive as the drive will probably fail before the SSD does from normal use.
Unobtainium
(21 items) |
Brother's System
(14 items) |
MacBook Pro 17"
(13 items) |
| CPU | Motherboard | Graphics | RAM |
|---|---|---|---|
| Core i5 750 @ Stock | ASUS P7P55d-E Pro | GTX 550 Ti SLI | 8GB (4x2GB) G.Skill DDR3 1600 |
| Hard Drive | Hard Drive | Optical Drive | OS |
| Samsung 830 128GB | 3x1TB RAID 5 | Some DVD drive | 7 Pro X64 |
| Monitor | Power | Case | Mouse |
| Some 17" | TX 750 | HAF 922 | G500 |
| View all | |||
| CPU | Motherboard | Graphics | RAM |
|---|---|---|---|
| C2D T7800 @ 2.6GHz | Apple mobo w/ GM-965 chipset | 8600M GT 256MB GDDR3 :/ | 4GB 667 |
| Hard Drive | Optical Drive | Cooling | OS |
| Crucial M4 64GB SSD | SuperDrive | Stock | OS X 10.8.2 |
| OS | Monitor | Keyboard | Mouse |
| Ubuntu 12.04 | 1920x1200 | Built-in | Trackpad |
| Audio | |||
| Built-in | |||
| View all | |||
|
Unobtainium
(21 items) |
Brother's System
(14 items) |
MacBook Pro 17"
(13 items) |
| CPU | Motherboard | Graphics | RAM |
|---|---|---|---|
| Core i5 750 @ Stock | ASUS P7P55d-E Pro | GTX 550 Ti SLI | 8GB (4x2GB) G.Skill DDR3 1600 |
| Hard Drive | Hard Drive | Optical Drive | OS |
| Samsung 830 128GB | 3x1TB RAID 5 | Some DVD drive | 7 Pro X64 |
| Monitor | Power | Case | Mouse |
| Some 17" | TX 750 | HAF 922 | G500 |
| View all | |||
| CPU | Motherboard | Graphics | RAM |
|---|---|---|---|
| C2D T7800 @ 2.6GHz | Apple mobo w/ GM-965 chipset | 8600M GT 256MB GDDR3 :/ | 4GB 667 |
| Hard Drive | Optical Drive | Cooling | OS |
| Crucial M4 64GB SSD | SuperDrive | Stock | OS X 10.8.2 |
| OS | Monitor | Keyboard | Mouse |
| Ubuntu 12.04 | 1920x1200 | Built-in | Trackpad |
| Audio | |||
| Built-in | |||
| View all | |||
