Apr 30, 2011
Updated February 2012.
Apple has released an incredibly fast line of notebooks with the new Sandy Bridge MacBook Pro series. However, because the Sandy Bridge MacBook Pros include conventional hard drives by default, they aren’t quite as quick as they could be. In fact, the MacBook Air feels like a faster machine in some applications because it includes a solid-state drive (SSD) by default. However, the MacBook Pro still has an advantage; its hard drive is the standard 2.5-inch size, which means that you can remove and replace it with the SSD of your choice. The SSDs that Apple offers for the MacBook Pro tend to be expensive and perform poorly compared to the best SSD upgrades available from third-party manufacturers, so your best bet is to purchase a MacBook Pro with a conventional hard drive and upgrade it with an SSD yourself.
Background: HD vs. SSD
The conventional hard drive has been the main form of mass storage in computers for many years. A hard drive contains metal rotating platters that store data magnetically. As the platters spin, a read/write head moves in and out, like a record needle, to read and record data. Hard drive manufacturers have increased the performance of their products by increasing the density of the data packed on the platters, increasing the rotational speed of the platters, adding high-speed cache memory and improving hard drives’ internal data fetching algorithms. However, hard drives will always be limited by the fact that they have moving parts. SSDs, meanwhile, store data on flash memory rather than magnetic platters. Therefore, an SSD can access information on any part of the media instantly, while a hard drive must wait for the platters and read/write head to reach the correct positions. An SSD, therefore, has the ability to be dramatically faster than a conventional hard drive. The trade-off is that SSDs tend to hold less data than hard drives, and cost more. However, this is changing quickly. Today’s SSDs often hold a great deal of data, and if you need additional storage, an external hard drive can more than make up the difference. We believe that a fast SSD is the best upgrade that anyone can purchase for their MacBook Pro or MacBook.
The Best SSD Upgrades for the MacBook Pro
Click a link to proceed to the product page for that item. Prices current as of February, 2012. All benchmark results are correct to the best of our knowledge and sourced from the links given at the end of the article. See below for a glossary of terms such as “Sequential Read” and “Random Write” and to see how these terms benefit you.
Samsung SSD 830
Price: $198.00
Size: 128 GB
Sequential Read: 411.5 MB/sec
Sequential Write: 330.8 MB/sec
Random Read: 63.2 MB/sec
Random Write: 148.4 MB/sec
OCZ Vertex 3
Price: $169.99
Size: 120 GB (a 240 GB version is slightly faster)
Sequential Read: 323.3 MB/sec
Sequential Write: 370 MB/sec
Random Read: 35.4 MB/sec
Random Write: 214.3 MB/sec
Intel 320 Series
Price: $199.99
Size: 120 GB
Sequential Read: 238.7 MB/sec
Sequential Write: 205.5 MB/sec
Random Read: 60.9 MB/sec
Random Write: 58.6 MB/sec
Crucial RealSSD C300
Price: $429.95
Size: 128 GB
Sequential Read: 307.2 MB/sec
Sequential Write: 223.8 MB/sec
Random Read: 93.5 MB/sec
Random Write: 185.8 MB/sec
OCZ Vertex 2
Price: $155.99
Size: 120 GB
Sequential Read: 265.5 MB/sec
Sequential Write: 251.9 MB/sec
Random Read: 62 MB/sec
Random Write: 51.4 MB/sec
Glossary of SSD Performance Terms
The performance of an SDD can be expressed with four primary terms. In this section of the article, we explain what those terms mean, and why they might be important to you.
Sequential Read
What it means: This measurement expresses the ability of an SSD to read contiguous data, such as a single large file.
Benefits: An SSD with a high sequential read score can quickly load a large file from the drive to memory, decreasing the amount of time needed to open a large image, video or audio file for editing.
Sequential Write
What it means: This measurement expresses the ability of an SSD to write contiguous data, such as a single large file.
Benefits: An SSD with a high sequential write score can quickly write a large file, decreasing the amount of time needed to save an open project such as an image, video or audio file.
Random Read
What it means: This measurement expresses the ability of an SSD to read data that is not contiguous, such as several small files.
Benefits: An SSD with a high random read score starts up quickly, going from a fully-off state to being ready to use in seconds. Applications and game levels load dramatically faster than they would with a conventional hard drive.
Random Write
What it means: This measurement expresses the ability of an SSD to write data that is not contiguous, such as virtual memory, cache and history files.
Benefits: An SSD with a high random write score installs applications quickly and does not cause the computer to stall momentarily during small changes to the virtual memory or various cache and history files. The earliest SSDs had very poor random write characteristics, leading to very slow application installs and frequent computer pauses. The earliest Eee PC netbooks were notorious for having this problem.
Suggested Reading:
AnandTech: The Samsung SSD 830 Review
AnandTech: The OCZ Vertex 3 Review (120 GB)
AnandTech: OWC Mercury Extreme Pro 6G SSD Review
AnandTech: The Intel SSD 320 Review: 25nm G3 is Finally Here
AnandTech: The SSD Diaries: Crucial’s RealSSD C300
AnandTech: The SSD Relapse: Understanding and Choosing the Best SSD
AnandTech: The SSD Anthology: Understanding SSDs
Great article! Was easy to understand and was extremely helpful! Well done.