What brand of SSDs does Apple put into its Macbook Pros?

First article says nothing about any conflicts. It does state what I said that TRIM is only automatically enabled on SSD drives that are Apple Branded, IE sold by Apple either with and in a system or from Apple for use in a Mac computer.

Second article states that Apple chose the controller for NON TRIM enabled OS's, Like OS X Leopard and early releases of Snow Leopard. That is for the older MBAir computers running early releases of Snow Leopard or Leopard.

And the third article IMHO is biased as you say.

I go back to my original statement.

If TRIM was NOT needed Why would Apple implement it on all Apple Branded SSD drives. If the controllers used in the Apple branded drives where so good at Garbage Collection why did Apple implement in the newer OS releases and only automatically enabled on Apple Branded SSDs.

Now we get into how to enable TRIM support in OS X Lion and newer releases of Snow Leopard. I can not speak to Snow Leopard because as I did have it installed on a SSD at one time I was never successful enabling it with that OS.

But with Lion there is a series of terminal commands that can enbale TRIM support on NON Apple Branded SSDs. There is also a small script program to do this by running those commands automatically.

Then there is TRIM Enabler. A program that when first release got bad reviews because it replaced a native Lion OS file with one from Snow Leopard. But from what I rread lately is that Trim Enabler uses the same or similar terminal commands to enble TRIM support.

The only reason you have to use either method is because Apple Refused to automatically enable TRIM support for ALL SSDs.

It really has nothing to do the age of the computer. It has everything to do with the OS being used. TRIM is a good thing to have enabled. At least that is how I see it and in the future when I have a SSD installed in any computer I will do all I can to make sure TRIM is enabled.

Whatever it is it has a slightly different firmware version installed to Label it As a Apple SSD. Because if you get one of them Mac OS X automatically enables TRIM support for it. That does not happen with any other make or model SSD.

Other posts (on this and other forums) have mentioned Samsung and Toshiba as brands taken out of BTO MBPs. I know Apple often uses Samsung RAM in their machines (has for years), so it would be a logical choice.

Honestly, it likely varies from time to time - Apple, like most OEM companies using contractors to build their devices, never puts all their eggs (parts) in one basket (supplier). At times, I have opened up MBPs of the same model series and found different RAM used (Samsung and Crucial seemed to me to be the most common), different hard drives (Hitachi being the most common, at least in the past, for 7200rpm, but others for the 5400rpm I've seen Seagate and Toshiba as well).

I'd imagine that from quarter to quarter, they get Foxconn or whomever is building a particular model to order parts from Apple's acceptable vendors (based on engineering specs) based on price and availability.

Darth Osm wrote:

I have also heard about this Sandforce controller which sounds like an alternative to TRIM. I know that OWC SSDs use sandforce and Intel is either using them to some extent or is considering using them in their SSDs. I am looking at my options for a new Mac in the next few years, maybe 4-5. By then SSDs might be standard, they will definitely be cheaper by then. I heard that there are some issues with TRIM though, and that Sandforce is better, at least when it comes to file erasure. The way TRIM handles erased files can slow down performance of the drive, at least thats what I heard what happens with Windows 7 and SSDs. It's probably just a Windows thing, right?

Don't believe everything you read from sites that are selling Re-Branded parts. There is no substitute for TRIM. If there was then Apple would not turn it on Automatically on their Branded SSDs and MS Win 7 wouldn't either when there is a SSD installed. Intel includes a utility that enables TRIM if it finds that TRIM has not been enabled automatically, along with making other changes to the OS (Win OS) for the proper use of a SSD.

Please post the Links where you found this information.

I suspect the places that say you don't need TRIM support are ones that are selling SSDs, more then likely Re-Branded SSDs.

If you go to alll of the real SSD manufacturers website and do a search for TRIM support they will say the drive will work better with it. At least this was a case about 2 or 3 weeks agao when this same question came up and it was stated that you No longer need TRIM support. I did an extensive search for this info and could not find one reference to it other then on websites selling Re-Branded SSDs.

TRIM is a function of the OS. Older OSs do not and can support TRIM, Win XP for instance does not support TRIM and I think Leopard and possibly early releases of Snow Leopard.

Darth Osm wrote:

Ahh... thanks for demystifying TRIM. The only question I have now is how do those OWC SSDs compare to the ones Apple uses?

On that I have no idea.

That OWC article was written back in 2011 just as Lion was coming out. IMHO that article was written to promote the sales of OWC Re-Branded SSDs because of the lack of Apple implementing TRIM support on NON Apple branded SSDs. Giving people the opinion that if they bought a OWC SSD, as apposed to other makes of SSDs, they didn't have to worry about how to enable TRIM.

Which I must say would appeal to the normal Mac user.

EDIT:

Let me add that as I said before Apple does enable TRIM for their SSDs and it is included in the OS. So even it there is any similarity between what Apple sells and the OWC drives Apple still thinks TRIM is needed.

I see it this way. Most all computer users are complete novice. More so for Mac only users, but that does not mean Windows users are much different. So if for some reason the normal or slightly above average Mac user feels like upgrading there system to run faster and hear about how a SSD can do that where are they going to look. At a site that caters to many Windows users or at a site that caters to Mac users.

They would probably do a search for SSD for Mac and find OWC/Macsales. Little do they know that the hardware in both types of systems is Exactly the Same, there is not difference in the RAM, hard drives or any other changable part are add-on.

They posted the blog almost a year ago to promote sales to Mac users stating they did not have to worry about how to enable TRIM support because their SSDs don't need it. Which IMHO is false.

IMHO all SSDs can and will benefit from having TRIM enabled. Otherwise why would both Apple and MS include it with there most corrent operating system. As with Apple only auto enabling it on there own drives and Windows doing it auto for all SSDs it finds in the system.

I have yet to see any modern tests done lately on their SSDs compared to other SSDs with and without TRIM enabled.

Darth Osm wrote:

Most interesting...

I wonder who is the original manufacturer...

Why is it that there is a hard time understaning their own product for these re-branders anyway?

Aside from the fact that they do not make the original product, that is.

This sort of thing seems strange to me for a business, but maybe it is because I expect more because of being with Apple for so long...

I was thinking of upgrading my RAM for awhile now. Does it matter if it's from OWC, you don't think they overcharge for them do you(the RAM modules)?

I think you'll find OWC's RAM prices are very competitive. For something of equal quality to compare to, checik out Crucial or Kingston for their prices. Note that there are only, literally, a handful of companies in the entire world who actually make RAM chips (Samsung being by far the biggest) so most of the brand name RAM being sold is actually one of those few companies RAM chips assembled onto modules for someone elses brand name (Crucial and Kingston also manufacture RAM btw). Often the only significant difference between say a Samsung SODIMM and some consumer brand X is the sticky label on the module (but then again, some resellers buy up low grade RAM in buld, stuff that works but failed to meet the specific engineering specs for a given OEM clients architecture, slap it on some modules under thier own brand and sell it at a discounted price).

Similarly, many "name brand" SSD modules sold to consumers as "brand X" actually are using memory chips from one of those same handful of memory chip manufacturers - they either assemble their own finished SSD modules, or contract a 3rd party to do that (China is full of companies who sell nothing under thier own corporate name, but merely assembling products under contract for retail brands).

Even Apple does not and has not actually manufactured anything for years - all they do is set the engineering specifications and tell their contract manufacturers to use components that meet or exceed those specs. Everything Apple sells is full of many of the same name brand components used in similar items sold by Dell, Lenovo, Sony, Toshiba, and so on.

The key thing is making sure that any component you buy is known to meet or exceed Apple's engineering specs, and to buy from a company and/or retailer who will stand by that product should it fail to work as advertised in your Apple product. Perfect example is buying Kingston's value RAM modules instead of their regular spec'd modules - Kingston guarantees their regular modules to meet or exceed Apple's design specifications, but their value RAM is not (it may or may not work in an Apple product, but it was not specifically tested to do so). My understanding of Kingstons value RAM is it starts life just like all their other RAM, but then it fails in testing to meet the specific engineering specs of an OEM design, so it ends up in the bargain catch-all "value" bin instead of in the guaranteed to meet specs bin(s) - seems most RAM is manufactured the same way, the final product's stamp of approval for a given OEM's machines is based on how it tests, not in how it was made.

One thing I do like about OWC RAM is they do actually test their guaranteed configurations themselves - so when they say such-and-such a module or configuration works in Apple models x, y, and z they have empirically determined them to do so.

I would suggest going to http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/internal_storage/Mercury_Extreme_SSD_Sandforce/So lid_State_Pro and checking out some of the OWC drives him they don't require TRIM because it's a hardware TRIM built in. Make sure you get the correct version for your Mac there's a 6G and 3G.

blee4 wrote:

I would suggest going to http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/internal_storage/Mercury_Extreme_SSD_Sandforce/So lid_State_Pro and checking out some of the OWC drives him they don't require TRIM because it's a hardware TRIM built in. Make sure you get the correct version for your Mac there's a 6G and 3G.

Again this is a false statement. The only place that makes any statement that TRIM is not needed is OWC. No other sales agent or manufacturer of SSDs has ever stated that TRIM is Not needed. In fact, as I have stated before, Apple Auto Enables TRIM when an Apple Branded SSD is installed in an Apple computer. So if Apple Auto enables it, and it is auto enabled in Win 7, it would seem no matter what brand of SSD is installed TRIM is a good thing to have.