Which SSD for MacBook Pro

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Krishant007

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Master Geek

Topic # 111932 20-Nov-2012 09:55
Hi all, I am looking to put an SSD into my 2009 Macbook Pro 13 inch. I had decided to put in the Samsung 830 128gb SSD but when I went to buy it, the store dude told me that the 2009 MBP has Sata II which wouldnt really take the full 6Gb/s speed of SataIII. Which was a bummer. I did put in a 750GB WD Cavier Black laptop hard drive in there last year, but now I am wanting speed - I have purchased a caddy for the optical bay so I will move the hard drive to the caddy when it arrives. So I thought that maybe I could save some money and check which other SSD (SataII) I could put in there. Could anyone recommend me an SSD for the laptop? Personal experience with a SataII SSD would be appreciated. I guess my requirements would be 128GB at least and something cheaper than the Samsung 830 128GB.

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Reply # 719958 20-Nov-2012 09:58
I used an OCZ Vertex 3 120GB SSD in mine. It's correct that you should definitely take advantage of SATA 3....in fact in MacBook Pro's it's detrimental to the experience to put a SATA 2 SSD in there as you can actually get a WORSE experience than with a regular SATA 2 SSD connected to a SATA 2 port. Definitely go with a SATA 3 device, whatever you do. The OCZ line is reasonably priced and I never had any issues with it.

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Reply # 719959 20-Nov-2012 10:01
But since the port available in the MBP for the 2009 model is Sata 2, would it pretty much half the speed of the Sata 3 drive? I mean to say, if i can get a Sata 2 SSD for about 120 bucks, why should i pay up to 150 bucks to get Sata 3 when my laptop wont take Sata 3 (from my understanding, Sata 3 came about after 2010)?

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Reply # 719966 20-Nov-2012 10:22
If the available port is SATA 2 then there's no need to go with a SATA 3 drive. However if the available port is a SATA 3 then putting a SATA 2 drive on it will perform poorly, not even at proper SATA 2 speeds. EDIT: Again, I re-read the OP :) I've been up and down the country all week and am low on sleep. Sorry about that. OCZ do a SATA 2 SSD - check them out.

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Reply # 727157 5-Dec-2012 02:11
Is it cheaper to order the SSD from overseas (taking shipping into account)?

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Reply # 727160 5-Dec-2012 02:26
gehenna: I used an OCZ Vertex 3 120GB SSD in mine. It's correct that you should definitely take advantage of SATA 3....in fact in MacBook Pro's it's detrimental to the experience to put a SATA 2 SSD in there as you can actually get a WORSE experience than with a regular SATA 2 SSD connected to a SATA 2 port. Definitely go with a SATA 3 device, whatever you do. The OCZ line is reasonably priced and I never had any issues with it. I did the same too, except I put it in my 2009 White Macbook (5,2). Performance was stunning, easily halved boot time straight away. Didn't run into any problems with it either. The computer has since been sold, and I kept the SSD and put it in my main laptop (I7, 8GB Ram, 2.5GB Graphics etc) and performance is just out of the world. Sam, Auckland Skype: tardtasticx

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Reply # 727178 5-Dec-2012 07:36
Vertex 4

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Reply # 727182 5-Dec-2012 07:45
i bought the Crucial V4 128 gb for my laptop. It was for 95 bucks on specials so I thought why not. I did notice an increase in speeds, esp startting up programs and starting up the computer itself. But I have also noticed that sometimes the applications themselves take a longer time to process, that is, when writing a new email in the Mail application, it takes a bit longer than usual for it to open a New Mail window.

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Reply # 727282 5-Dec-2012 10:18
See this http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=37&topicid=66671 sorry bbcode illiterate when on my Android browser