is SSD always faster than HD?

If I get the new macbook pro is it worth it to grab the 512 ssd over the HD at all?

Price is pretty nasty for the upgrade but id do it if it was way better.

How is heat and noise with the SSD? How much faster is the SSD in games and other normal apps?

Thanks!

 

Heat exists but is less than mechanical hd, noise?... I have never seen any transistor doing noise .

Much, much faster. Just take a look at any benchmark on internet.

 

Which SSD are you considering? Majority of (good) SSDs will have less heat and noise compared to HDDs. SSDs will load things faster (feel snappier) and transfer files faster, but whether the cost is justifiable, is another issue all together.

 

Not worth it to me ... SSDs are way too expensive to justify that minuscule boost in speed.

My 5400 rpm MBP flies ... As in I don't experience any slowdown. Granted all I do is the day to day email/IM/web ... But for the few times I will be bottlenecked by my HDD ... I'll rather tough it out than shelling out 400 for an SSD.

 

I was considering that myself last week... but the price for 512 SSD is just insane IMO.
Ended up going for 128 SSD and ordering on the side a 500 HDD that will replace the SuperDrive and give me space for media I don't use every day or just general storage (will still have the SuperDrive as usb drive).
As was mentioned, a search for "ssd hdd benchmarks" or similar will convince you, or if you don't really want to know the numbers and what they mean but just look at how the system performs, watch some videos like YouTube - RealSSD? C300 MacBook Pro SSD/HDD Performance Comparison

 

You need to use one to realize that the speed boost is the opposite of "minuscule"

 

Actually, if you rarely boot your system and only use email/IM/web, the speed boost is minimal, in my opinion.

I exchanged my Intel G2 for a Hitachi 7K500. Minimal difference, for my usage pattern.

I do realize that for heavy users the difference can be dramatic.

 

Disagree totally...

The speed boost through access time alone totally destroys a hard drive without even calculating the difference in transfer speeds.

If you rarely boot your system and use it for only e-mails/IM and internet and absolutely nothing more, heck you could revert back to the old Commodore 64 because performance isn't really a consideration whatsoever.

 

Right because Firefox 3.6.3 and Youtube 1080p would run very well on a Commodore 64....

 

No need to read into it much, somehow people on here get an attitude when you don't approve of their investments.


@ Les:
Point is, for my (and the majority of computer users out there) usage patterns an SSD in a laptop is just overpriced enthusiast gear. I do just fine with a 5400 rpm HDD.

I mean, how many times a day do you transfer gigabytes of data that it becomes a necessity? Granted I do most of my "work" on a 7200 rpm RAID 0 configured desktop to realize faster transfer rates ... Still I wouldn't get an SSD. For what they do, they're overpriced.

 

Agree totally except I think, IMHO, people sell off the transition to a SSD right off believing its not a viable solution when, in alot of cases, getting a sale price on a ssd for around 80 bucks and then considering alternate storage if you need it can be ideal.

 

lol!! You seriously don't know what you're talking about at all. 5400rpm is PAINFUL. Once you go SSD, you'll never go back. I keep saying this in every thread where SSDs are mentioned.

 

I've gone SSD twice and gone back two times

Last time from a 80GB Intel G2 to a 500GB Hitachi 7K500. For my usage it's just a little slower but man I love having 500GB and rarely having to connect external storage.

Saved me 100 euros too.

 

5400 rpm is only painful in Windows, its been fine for me in OS X.

That aside, I do know SSDs are faster ... I just cannot shell out 400 bucks for 80 GBs of storage. I mean, a 7200 rpm drive will open applications maybe half a second slower than an SSD will.

Sure, an SSD will transfer huge amounts of data way faster than a traditional HDD ... But how often do I do that? Once a month maybe. Is that worth the investment? Maybe it is to you. Definitely not to me.

Moreover, my laptop is just a thing of convenience. I have 2x 1TB 7200 RPM drives in RAID 0 on my PC ... If I were to have an SSD instead, I'll be looking at maybe 160 GB.

 

For $400, you'd be looking at 160GB, while for 80GB you can find them in the $200 range.