SSD on old Macbook 3,1

Thank you for the speedy reply and for clarifying that even the SATA II could go in an external enclosure later and be a useful external drive. Therefore, I know I only need SATA when searching for SSD options. However, the price difference doesn't seem to be that great. For example, OWC's difference between SATA II and III is less than $10. So should I pay for the III for future considerations? Any there are even better deals out there for SATA III drives (i.e., Samsung 830 128GB for under $90-should I jump on this?)

Also, I have read about issues with Sandforce connectors/processors. Is this still a concern with SSD in old Macbooks? Anything I should be looking for in terms of NAND, asynchronous, etc? Again, I want to make sure I answer all the right questions BEFORE putting new hardware in my aging machine.

In general, I am hoping to spend around $100 for a new 128GB SSD. There seem to be lots of deals out there for around $100 (Samsung 830, Crucial m4/v4, Kingston hyperX, OCZ Vertex4, SanDisk Extreme). So how do I choose? OWC would push my price closer to $150 so I am just looking for options.

Thanks again,
RJ

Thanks for the links, but it is almost impossible to find experiences/suggestions for such an old macbook model. Most people make references to newer macbooks or macbook pros with video cards and faster link speed connectors.

My concerns are very specific to the older models, such as my Macbook 3,1 with only 1.5 link speed possible. Just buying by price, SATA III drives are the same, if not cheaper, than SATA II drives. But I need to make sure the drive will actually work with my old macbook. And I am concerned some of these newer drives may not work well. So I would love to hear from anyone who has had experiences or has insight on using newer drives in older mac laptops. If they confirm specific SATA III drives work, then I will go that way. If not, maybe I need to settle for SATA II.

Thanks again,

RJ

I contacted Crucial to ask if their drives would work with my SATA I connector. This was their bad news:

"I am sorry, but we do not recommend to purchase either of our SSD's when using a SATA I Connector. SATA I does not provide any performance increase with read/write speeds while utilizing one of our SSDs. If you were to purchase the M4 SSD you would have the advanced caching ability that the SSD comes equipped with. However, we cannot fully guaranty that the SSD will perform normally while connected with SATA I. We therefore recommend that you either replace your SATA I connectors with SATA II or SATA III if applicable. To determine if your system is capable of doing so please contact your Apple manufacture."

I also spoke with a Samsung rep today and they said that even though the drives should work fine, they do not officially support Macs. I have seen lots of positive posts about the Samsung 830 working in older Macs, I just wish I could get a confirmation from someone who is/was in my particular situation (i.e., updating with a SATA I connector). Anyone out there who can chime in?

Thanks,

RJ

Yes, I finally spoke with OWC tonight. They said that the SATA III "should" be fine, but that there are problems every once in a while. They recommended getting the SATA II for my older computer. So other than the Samsung rep telling me that the 830 should work fine, all signs point to me getting a SATA II.

If that is the case, should I get the OWC Electra 3G, or one of the older, cheaper options from the other companies? I see OCZ Vertex 2s and others on Amazon for under $80. That is a $50 savings compared to the OWC!

I have also heard there are issues with Sandforce controllers. The OWC is a Sandforce. Should I worry?

Thanks again,

RJ

Sorry for never updating this post.

I ended up buying a Crucial m4 128GB SSD that I scored for $80. It has been great in my older MacBook. I had some issues when it acted slow or hung when it was full, so I deleted some files and followed some instructions from crucial to leave my computer in a log in stage for a day so that it could clean itself up. After that, everything has been great. I keep it with about 25-30gb free just to avoid any other complications.

I know that I don't benefit from the fastest speeds, but it has been amazing to see the difference. It is hard to imagine what it would be like if I did have SATA III! There is no way I am ever going back to hdd.

Actually, my work just got my the latest MacBook Air with a 256gb ssd and I actually find it to be slower than my old MacBook. Startup times are about the same, but shut down is way faster on the older laptop. Supposedly there is an issues with mountain lion, so I hope an OS update fixes that. There is no reason shutdown should take over 30 seconds on a brand new MacBook Air when it take 7-8 seconds on my old MacBook.

I conclusion, I am happy with my crucial m4. There seems to be a new generation of ssd that would be interesting if I were doing an upgrade now. The Samsung 840 looks great, though I am sure finding a cheap 830 would be a great call. Anyone looking to do this now has a lot of great options and should definitely not spend more than $100 for an excellent 128gb ssd. Though spending an additional $50 for double the space might be worth it. For me, being able to connect external hdd by USB 3.0 to the Air makes up for any space issues. My old laptop is another story, but I have no complaints using USB 2.0 with a 2tb drive at home.

Hope this helps.

RG