[ast3r3x]

So I have a MacBook Pro from a little over a year ago and while it is plenty fast, I do have moments of what I consider unacceptable slowness which I'm pretty sure just relates to disk access because my processor is almost never close to maxed out. So since I think it is disk access (especially since it's a 5400RPM) I was thinking of upgrading from 2gb to 4gb of ram, and throwing in an SSD drive.

Do you guys think this is worth it?

I also thought I'd pick up something like the OptiBay since I rarely use my optical drive, but I was curious if this is going to be a huge battery killer having two drives in my laptop. I didn't know if spun down drives still suck a lot of power or not though, does anyone know?

[chucker]

Originally Posted by ast3r3x So I have a MacBook Pro from a little over a year ago and while it is plenty fast, I do have moments of what I consider unacceptable slowness which I'm pretty sure just relates to disk access because my processor is almost never close to maxed out. So since I think it is disk access (especially since it's a 5400RPM) I was thinking of upgrading from 2gb to 4gb of ram, and throwing in an SSD drive. Do you guys think this is worth it?

Yes.

They'll get much cheaper in the coming years, and they're not really useful for anyone but power users just yet, but if you can afford it, absolutely yes.

I also thought I'd pick up something like the OptiBay since I rarely use my optical drive, but I was curious if this is going to be a huge battery killer having two drives in my laptop. I didn't know if spun down drives still suck a lot of power or not though, does anyone know?

I don't think they do, but too lazy to check right now.

[turtle]

Well worth the upgrade to SSD and always Max RAM (other than to 8GB now). I'm running a SSD on my netbook and my Beast and it's so worth it.

As for OptiBay, I've heard great things, but not yet personally taken the plunge either. It's certainly on my horizon though. Same reason, I rarely use my optical drive and I'd rather put my 500GB drive in the Combo drive's spot.

[PB PM]

A spun down drive will suck some power, but that would be less than 1 watt normally. Of course SSDs do not spin down, and always use the same amount of power, so that is something to keep in mind.

[Eugene]

Because of lower demand, DDR2 prices have risen in the past quarter to meet DDR3 prices. I would just upgrade to 4GB now. SSD is still in its infancy, so I wouldn't buy one as a primary drive right now. I use a really small X25-M for games and commonly used apps, but that's it.

[ast3r3x]

Originally Posted by Eugene Because of lower demand, DDR2 prices have risen in the past quarter to meet DDR3 prices. I would just upgrade to 4GB now. SSD is still in its infancy, so I wouldn't buy one as a primary drive right now. I use a really small X25-M for games and commonly used apps, but that's it.

I agree, I hate to buy one now except even 64gb is good enough for my primary drive as long as I don't have my music or movies on it. I figured I'd stream them anyways from a shared drive. This way all my cache and things are written/read from a very fast drive which I think will help. I just wish I could throw in the max 6gb it handles and have a nice way to have everything written to there.

[Maciej]

Speed degradation issues aside, the X25-M G2 is hailed as the drive to go with or the Indilinx based OCZ drives like the Vertex Turbo. This is the most recent review Anandtech has put up about SSDs, they go through a pretty thorough testing regimen, so it's worth a read if you've got the time.

Also, I'm waiting until TRIM support is official on OS X. That and I read the next generation of intel drives should offer improved write speed.

[ast3r3x]

Well thanks for the advice guys, I went with two 2gb sticks from crucial and Corsair 128gb SSD. The lack of TRIM is a little worrying, but I guess we'll see how it goes. It seems these drives have a less ideal, but automatic 'autotrim' that tries to get a similar end result while the drive is idle, but it may only work with NTFS, so who knows. Either way, I'm very excited and will probably post back once I get everything and let you guys know how it is going.

Thanks again guys =)

[Eugene]

Hrmm, that Corsair uses a Samsung controller. The good SSDs are the ones that use the Indilinx controllers or the Intel ones. Not saying you won't be satisfied with your SSD, but there are better options out there.

[Maciej]

Yeah, but the Samsung controllers aren't that bad - could be worse.