MCE Optibay Superdrive replacement

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jonherries

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# 78208 1-Mar-2011 09:08

Was looking at getting a SSD for my Macbook.

But size wise, I still need another hard drive. Turns out MCE make a steel case for a 2.5inch harddrive.

Only problem is that it is US$99 which isn't cheap.

On Mac Fixit there is a real cheap version AU$29 but they don't post to NZ (can get around this if needs be but that would be a hassle).

Does anyone know of an alternative available here?

Also any pointers to benchmarks for before/after ssd install on things like boot time etc?

Jon

Oldhat

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# 444456 1-Mar-2011 14:27

There is a comparison chart at http://www.anandtech.com/show/2504/6 which shows the difference between the 5400 and ssd.

Note that the article is using a third party ssd and also does point out that the primary performance difference is in application opening times and limited improvement in general performance.

"Added bold"

gehenna

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# 444457 1-Mar-2011 14:32

You can get the optibay on eBay for about $20-$30 NZ delivered.

jonherries

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# 444469 1-Mar-2011 15:05

Yeah found out some more about ssd performance, and if I don't restart my mb multiple times per day, have it particularly portable, or need to reopen apps, then it isn't a great benefit.

Decided to go with doubling my ram instead.

Jon

gehenna

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# 444790 2-Mar-2011 14:16

SSD improves boot time and load time for apps on the Mac. RAM increases the number of apps you can have running at once, or the number of files those apps can access at once.

Better idea is to upgrade the hard drive to a hybrid, or 7200rpm as you're likely sitting on a 5400rpm right now. No matter how much RAM you put in it still won't speed up the hard drive and so apps will still be slow to load and run.

jonherries

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# 444800 2-Mar-2011 14:32

I have a 7200 rpm drive.

The thing I find interesting is whether I just leave apps running rather than open and close them.

If a ssd is fast at opening apps and restarting the os, if I can do that less, it negates the benefits.

Hence if I increase my ram (to 4GB if the courier actually turns up today), I can keep apps open longer before a rogue memory leak kills the process (I am looking at you firefox).

And os x (10.6.6) is reasonably stable so I restart the os maybe 1-2 x per month.

Jon

gehenna

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# 444810 2-Mar-2011 14:55

Hard drive's don't do much except store data. The only time you'll ever notice the speed is when you open/close an app or boot the system, or save/open a file. The rest of the time everything is loaded into RAM so accessed from there. Generally speaking. So having an SSD is great if you want faster access to the machine or the apps on it, or to writing/reading the files you're using. Other than that your hard drive goes unnoticed. Potentially not worth paying the Apple tax for them to CTO you an SSD but definitely worthwhile if you can do it yourself.