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Apple’s new 15-inch MacBook Pro: HDD vs. SSD shootout
Monday, October 27, 2008 - 10:39 PM EDT

"We love the ease with which you can change hard drives on the 'late 2008' MacBook Pro. We ordered our 2.8GHz lab 'rat' with the 7200rpm 320GB drive option (which happens to be a Hitachi Travelstar 7K320. We obtained the OCZ Core Series 128GB Solid State Drive (SSD) to test against it," rob-ART morgan reports for Bare Feats.

"We put the factory drive in FireWire 800 enclosure to boot from and tested an identical empty 7K320 against the empty SSD. We wanted to measure the maximum speed when empty as well as simulate a full drive with the help of DiskTester 2," morgan reports.

"The 128GB OCZ Core Series SSD is faster than the 320GB Hitachi 7K320 HDD when it comes to both large sustained and small random READS. We got mixed results on small random WRITES. Large sustained WRITES were slightly faster with the SSD. We conclude from those numbers that the SSD is great for fast booting, waking, and launching but provides no improvement over a fast HDD for saving small random data or capturing large data blocks," morgan reports.

"The OCZ SSD maintained its transfer speed no matter how full the drive might be. Conventional hard drives get significantly slower as the drive fills up. The Hitachi 7K320 we tested dropped from 75MB/s at 0% to 44MB/s at 90% capacity," morgan reports.

Full article, with graphs of benchmark results, here.


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Reader feedback page 1 of 1 pages:
Oct 27, 08 - 10:45 pm Comment from: loloontheair

It would be so great to have a SSD just to boot up and to keep OS on it. I vote for it! If the new 17" could have 2 HD including one SSD. it would be so sweet!

Oct 27, 08 - 11:03 pm Comment from: Bob

"It would be so great to have a SSD just to boot up and to keep OS on it. I vote for it! If the new 17" could have 2 HD including one SSD. it would be so sweet!"

Why, so that you once a month can see how fast you boot Mac OS X?

Oct 28, 08 - 12:29 am Comment from: iLuvMyMacs

Serious question....
Does an SDD use less power- if so- is it significant?

To me... SDD still doesn't prove to be an big advantage if any advantage in overall operations- reads, writes, etc.

Oct 28, 08 - 12:30 am Comment from: iLuvMyMacs

OK- SSD...
for all the acronym police.

Oct 28, 08 - 12:50 am Comment from: KenC

I think Anandtech has shown people should buy the Intel SSD, as the other ones that use a Samsung controller have issues.

Oct 28, 08 - 01:08 am Comment from: bon

@ Bob.

So true, my Mac brother.

Oct 28, 08 - 01:29 am Comment from: iDon't

I read the article. Is the OCZ the same SSD that Macs use?

Oct 28, 08 - 02:00 am Comment from: vanfruniken

@bon, @bob

Maybe if it boots faster, one might consider shutting down the computer more often than once a month.

Oct 28, 08 - 06:44 am Comment from: Cubert

Still waiting for that end parenthesis from the first paragraph.

)

OK, there it is.

Oct 28, 08 - 08:28 am Comment from: HMCIV

Q: What laptop is better than a Macbook?
A: Another Macbook.

Oct 28, 08 - 08:37 am Comment from: Sixvodkas

@vanfruniken;

Until the day arrives when a boot is faster than "wake from sleep", I'm not shutting my computer down.

Call me when SSD's hit the 5 second to desktop mark?

Oct 28, 08 - 09:45 am Comment from: roger

HDD has a cache memory, that's why it is faster. Try writing thousands of small files, then you will see the big picture

Oct 28, 08 - 10:03 am Comment from: mcdeans

Another question - how much faster is the 7200rpm drive over the standard 5400, and does it make any noticeable difference in regular use? What's the battery life trade off? In other words, is it worth the upgrade price?

Oct 28, 08 - 11:07 am Comment from: Predrag

One important advantage for SSD in portables is the same as with tapeless camcorders v.s. tabe-based: no moving parts. You can be a lot less cautious with moving around with your portable Mac if there are no heads moving inside the HD.

Zero-to-desktop time is of absolutely no concern for Macheads; I have yet to meet a Mac person who voluntarily shuts their Mac down. The only time My Mac is shut down is when an update to Quicktime (or system) requires a re-boot -- normally, a few times a year. Even if I travel, I prefer letting it sleep; there is always an A/C outlet in the departure lounge where I can top off my battery if I need to.

Oct 28, 08 - 12:50 pm Comment from: panny

Is there not a very noticeable 'real life' speed advantage of SSD as opening applications and accessing information is what we use computers most of the time for?

The right speeds for larger amounts would only apply to video and photo work. (I'm only guessing)

I like the idea of fast application launch - its like when I get an attachment from an email, I hate the delay of opening an application. Also like the idea of it running completely silently and without vibration.

Does anybody have experience on this?

Oct 28, 08 - 02:10 pm Comment from: Nathan

why would you want to shut down your computer. just close the lid and let it sleep. let's see, seconds to load up the computer or a couple minutes? you decide.

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