500 gb 7200rpm hard drive vs 128 gb solid state drive

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Level 1

8 points

500 gb 7200rpm hard drive vs 128 gb solid state drive

I am considering buying a macbook pro laptop the 15 inch with the i7 processor. I will probably get the anti glare screen. What I am on the fence about is whether it is worth the extra money to get the solid state drive or the 7200 rpm drive. I would like something that might be faster than the standard 5400rpm drive, I have read these are laptop drives & they are a bit slower than a 7200rpm drive which seems to be standard in desktops. With performance & speed being very important to me; (I will be doing video editing in both standard def & high def) I would consider upgrading the hard drive to the 7200 rpm or the solid state. Another factor is the hard drive capacity, this is not as big an issue as I keep most of my content on external hard drives.

I need a little help in deciding, I am new to macs I am coming from a 7 year old windows xp home desktop PC. this will be one of my biggest purchases.

would I feel a big difference in performance getting the solid state drive? would it be a lot better than the 7200rpm drive? or should I just stick with the stock 5400rpm drive?

If anybody knows of any issues or known failures with one of the hard drives, I would like to be clued in as, this computer will have to last me at least 5 years, I am getting a one time allotment of financial aid from my school, I want to make the right choice.

Message was edited by: Sossity

Dell dimension, Windows XP

Posted on May 10, 2010 1:35 AM

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Answer 1

Toocool4

Level 2

365 points

May 10, 2010 3:44 AM in response to Sossity

If speed matters to you then the SSD is the way to go, as a regular laptop drive will not keep up a SSD. You will be limited on space, which can be an issue. If you have the money get the laptop with a standard drive and them buy a bigger third party SSD that would be cheaper then buying it through Apple.

SSD are still relatively new so people can’t say too much about the lifespan, so what I’m saying weather you’ll get 5 years of it no one can say.

Have a look on Toms Hardware for reviews and comparisons.

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Answer 2

BGreg

Level 6

17,552 points

May 10, 2010 5:06 AM in response to Sossity

A 7200 rpm drive is a performance upgrade. I'd recommend that you buy the drive yourself (reearch the drives and drive quality, there have been some recent posts on the 500GB Seagate drive), replace it for the 5400rpm drive, moving the 5400rpm drive to an external case to use for backup. Or you can buy the MBP from Apple with the hard drive upgrade, where the upgrade costs almost as much as buying a new drive on your own. If you want an SSD, read up on them. While they are still new, they don't work the same way a regular hard drive works, which may be important for video editing (thinking how the drives handle file fragmentation).

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Answer 3

May 10, 2010 5:30 AM in response to BGreg

I recommend sticking to the non SSD for now. a 7200 RPM drive is more than enough for what you'll be using your portable for.
as video editor, you won't be capturing to your system drive, your video capture should be done a an external drive that in turns should be the fastest possible.
I'm a heavy user of FCP studio, dealing lately with tons of rushes from a canon 5D mark-II camera and my 7200 RPM is performing like a charm.

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Answer 4

JHB

Level 1

25 points

May 10, 2010 9:59 AM in response to Sossity

I bought a 160 Gbyte Intel SSD, replaced the internal drive and that in a case to use as an external. I also have an SSD in my Mini. Using an SSD is a major improvement. Fragmentation is no longer an issue. Applications start up very fast, some instantaneously. The computer starts up in less than 10 seconds. In short, all operations requiring disc reads are lightning fast. There really is no downside, unless you are bothered by using an external drive for very large files (but then, you would probably use an external drive for that purpose regardless).

The Intel SSD may be above your budget (it is about twice the price for 160 Gbytes than the built to order with 128 Gbytes). If that is the case, just get the built to order and you can add an external drive for very little money if an when you need it.

I bought a 15" i7 and used it for a couple of days before I swapped the drives. In comparison, the stock drive made the computer feel sluggish. With the SSD, it is snappy, fast and responsive.

Others may disagree, but personally I do not believe that you will get anywhere near the improvement with a 7200 rpm drive. The SSD is tops. Also, by the way, they are silent, which I like.

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Answer 5

Sossity Author

Level 1

8 points

May 10, 2010 2:34 PM in response to BGreg

would you say they might be better for video editing? do SS drives not fragment? I am a little weary of opening up my new macbook as soon as I get it, I have never had a laptop & never had a mac computer. Also, do things like changing hard drives affect an applecare warranty?

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Answer 6

Sossity Author

Level 1

8 points

May 10, 2010 3:02 PM in response to Toocool4

would the solid state matter if I have most of my video content on an external hard drive? this is how I handle my content, I would have mostly software or program files on the macbook, & my content; videos, photos, etc on an external hard drive

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Answer 7

Sossity Author

Level 1

8 points

May 10, 2010 3:08 PM in response to Rodrigo Zahr

what mac have you been doing this video editing on? how long have you been using it with the final cut pro studio?

I wondered if the solid state would make a difference because, I keep most of my material on external hard drives anyway. Would the macbook drive matter more if I kept my content on it instead of external hard drives? would I feel a big difference with a solid state drive vs the 7200rpm drive with an external hard drive?

Does changing the hard drive on the macbook pro affect an apple care warranty for it?

A little off topic, what kind of external hard drives are you using with your video? I have built & put together a couple of my own.

which camera are you using for the video? I am intrigued, I would like to get a DSLR as well, & I see some can take video.

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Answer 8

JHB

Level 1

25 points

May 10, 2010 7:53 PM in response to Sossity

Fragmentation is not relevant to an SSD; you should not defragment an SSD.

Opening the laptop and changing the drive is trivial, easy and easy to follow instructions are included with the computer; it's a matter of removing ten screws, removing a bracket, lifting out the old drive, and putting in the new. Maybe 10 minutes. So far as I know it does not effect the warranty at all, and yes, putting your media on an external drive, leaving applications, system software, your user folder on the internal drive is fine.

It's really a question of money. SSD's are better; faster, silent. If you can afford it, go for it; if not use something slower (i.e. a regular hard drive at 7200 rpm). There's nothing really to think about other than what you can afford. Even using a word processor is better with an SSD. Is it necessary? No. A better experience? Yes. Why? Everything happens faster, smoother. The computer doesn't get in the way as much.

Purchase what you can afford. Before I bought the i7, I used a G4 powerbook for five years and did great work on that computer, even though it isn't even close to the current models.

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Answer 9

May 10, 2010 9:11 PM in response to JHB

here's I nice review about the subject.

http://macperformanceguide.com/Storage-SSD-Overview.html#Advantages

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Answer 10

May 10, 2010 10:07 PM in response to Sossity

I have an SSD and I love it. As mentioned, the start up is ~ 10 seconds and applications launch almost instantaneously and are ready to use. The machine is silent and runs very cool. I have a server running my external drives so space isn't a factor for me.

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Answer 11

May 10, 2010 10:23 PM in response to Sossity

If money is no object, get the SSD. As someone else said, it's tops.

But if you are not a millionaire, you will be absolutely fine with the 7200.

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Answer 12

May 10, 2010 10:40 PM in response to Thomas Maroney

some reviewers stated that SSDs tend to become slower when nearing their 80 percent of their capacity and that they remain slow even if reformatted. the review mention that it's Mac OS fault and not the drive itself as it seems OS still needs some kind of patches to make these drives operate at maximum speeds even if full. Windows seems to be able to do so.
that's why I opted for the 7200 RPM for now thinking that I can always swap it for an SSD later when things become clear.

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Answer 13

Sossity Author

Level 1

8 points

May 11, 2010 2:59 AM in response to Rodrigo Zahr

how long have you had your computer with the 7200 hard drive? I have read in a few places, people were having problems with beeps & clicks with this hard drive.

I found this article, http://www.macyourself.com/2009/08/12/fix-for-macbook-pro-7200rpm-hard-drive-bee ps-clicks-freezes/

it seems to be a problem, that worries me, but you dont seem to be having any problems.

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Answer 14

May 11, 2010 6:59 AM in response to Sossity

I've been using 7200-RPM since apple started introducing these drives as an option.
I work, 3 powerbooks 17" that we still use, and 2 MBPs are using these drives, not a single problem.
don't worry too much, believe me, there will be no problem and you'll be amazed by the overall performance of the machine. to me the only way to opt for an SSD is to with the biggest one possible knowing it's not gonna slowdown when almost full. 128GB SSD is almost useless for a pro user, FCP studio will eat up more than 50 GB of that expensive storage space alone!
I'm going to use my 7200 RPM drive until Mac OS becomes more friendly to SSDs, then I'll get a 500 GB SSD and use the replaced 7200 RPM as an external back disk.

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