512 SSD

I love my OCZ drive, but many on here love the Samsungs as well. I think both are solid SSDs.

So in THIS thread we can discuss SSDs instead of RAM, and avoid confusing poor ole wjosten????

😉😝😁

There is no such ranking. People will fight over which are best OCZ, OWC Mercury, Crucial, Samsung, etc... Read reviews on the individual drives you are considering to get a better idea.

shahabz wrote:

Could someone please list the brands in a ranking order from top down?

Cheers

OCZ Vertex 4 and Samsung 830 Series are good SSD.

the vertex is faster in some areas and the samsung is faster in some so basically the performance is similiar.

Currently - The fastest one out there, as to reviews - is the Sandisk Extreme, Kingston HyperX and OCZ. Followed by the Samsung 830 Series, Plextor M3. Again just going with reviews out there.

I'm more partial to the Kingston HyperX and Crucial M4 since I own both.

If you want speed - then go with the Sandisk Extreme 480GB.

If you want speed and good battery life - then go with the Samsung 830 series.

And if you feel like reading 12 Pages - Click here.

One thing that should be taken also into account is the TRIM aspect. In the traditional SSD architecture, if the TRIM commands are not issued, performance will degrade until it is no better and maybe even worse than an HDD. And there is the probability that device longevity will be diminished since uniform cell aging won't be guaranteed.

SSDs with Apple firmware cause the OS to enable TRIM automatically. Least we could expect, after that assault on your wallet! As for the rest, there seem to be three possibilities. The SSD is a stock "traditional" unit and you have to install a third party utility to force TRIM outta the OS. The controller on the SSD auto-TRIM-s itself. Or the manufacturer has included a different garbage collection and utilization strategy that obviates the use of TRIM. These last two cases mean you need not do anything else except stick the device into your Mac. But you will have to make sure to identify which case applies to your new SSD.

There you go shahabz - Courcoul to the rescue - follow his points/tips since it's something we all forgot to mention....

Courcoul - You the Man!

You can download Trim Enabler after you install your SSD. Download - install - turn it on - then forget about it.

With regards to your battery issue - with no apps running in the backgound, open activity monitor and under all processes - see what's using most of your CPU's resources under the % CPU section - anything over 10% will cause your battery to drain faster.

if you're not using bluetooth - turn it off.

set your screen brightness to 50%

turn off automatic brightness control

see what's loading in your login items - if you don't need it, delete it.

and because you're running Parallels - that also consumes your battery life...

you don't need to install it right now if you've got an SSD installed by Apple....

you only need to download and install it if you put in a third party SSD - in any event, having it now won't do any harm in your macbook.

you can buy your SSD now. Have you decided on which brand and model you plan on buying?

The only bad thing about TRIM Enabler is that you have to re-apply the patch whenever a new software revision comes out - so remember just to keep it on hand whenever there's a revision.

The SSD you buy is up to you - I like my Crucial m4 512GB but there are some faster drives available (as had been noted in this thread). I haven't suffered any battery loss due to SSD use... but I know that even though I get outstanding test results, there are speedier drives. Before you buy any drive I would make sure that there are satisfied Mac users using the drive (if the drive you want is available at Amazon, for instance, peruse the reviews). And make sure that the manufacturer has a users forum that you can visit should you have any problems.

Good luck,

Clinton

Kingston HyperX and Sandisk Extreme for Speed...

Crucial M4 for mid range performance and reliability.

Samsung 830 Series for Speed and battery life...

Clinton and I both own Crucial M4 with no issues....

But my new Kingston HyperX is very fast....