Mac storage: The case for making the move to SSD
Although a lot of heat and smoke has been generated by the solid state disc market, can you really make a good case for purchasing and using one of these relatively low capacity, über expensive “toys”? Here’s a closer look at the pros and cons of this still exotic technology.
If you buy a 256GB SSD-equipped MacBook Pro from Apple, it will cost $800 more than the same model kitted out with a same-size traditional hard disc drive. Likewise, if you purchase Other World Computing’s 250GB capacity bus powered pocket-size hard disc, it’ll set you back about $120, whereas the SSD version sells for $729!
One slick solution
MCE Tech’s OptiBay product will replace the optical drive in your MacBook Pro with a traditional 2.5 inch hard disc drive with prices starting at $99 and rapidly escalating from there.
The combination of a huge traditional hard disc in the optical drive bay (who uses them anyway?) with an SSD as the primary boot and application volume can yield impressive performance and generous capacity (up to 1TB), which is especially attractive for video, image and audio editing professionals for whom price is no object.
Food for thought…
See also: To SSD or HDD? That is the Storage Question… (OWC)
Separating fools from their legal tender
So, why on earth would anyone want to buy an SSD?
Clearly, if you’re looking solely at capacity and price, it’s hard to make an argument in favor of solid state discs. However, if performance is your priority, SSD is unrivaled when it comes to faster booting, up to 2.5X zippier, and faster data seek times, up to 120X quicker to the bit.
Another area where SSDs should have a clear advantage is reliability. Of course, with no moving parts, SSDs should be vastly more reliable with their 4.5X higher shock resistance and 28 percent greater temperature operating range, though failure rates for SSDs are often higher than technical factors alone can account for.
If you’re a “Joe Sixpack” kind of user, SSD is an expensive extravagance that’s not worth the bragging rights. If you’re a video, image or audio professional who lives on the road or otherwise spends a lot of time bouncing from worksite to worksite, solid state disc should definitely be our your radar…
What’s your take?
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