How much of a difference am I going to see between these SSDs?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227529

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227543

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227532

I see the write and read speeds are different but to be honest, I really don't know how that'll relate in real life usage. I had a Corsair Performance series that had a read of 400 and write of 200 something but sold it when I got rid of my computer. Now that I need one again, I've come around in a full circle.

The 2nd link with the mail-in rebate is $170 which is right around my budget but I dont know if the difference in speeds are going to be worth the premium (compared to the 3rd one which costs about $20 more)

I have a macbook pro and use it for just daily everyday use. Sole computer but i dont program or anything like that. I do load up a lot of programs and multitask at once though..


I had a macbook air for a while and coming back to a regular HDD is like being put in a slow motion time bubble. It took freakin over an hour to copy my backup materials onto the new macbook pro, which took less than 20 minutes on the previous macbook air.

I think in one or 2 of those links, it says "Compatible with Windows 7, Linux" or something like that but does not mention OSX. Does that mean it will not work with OSX for whatever reason?

 

I took a very quick look at your links and saw OCZ for all of them - didn't even get to the type of controller used - I vote no for all of the above.

Get yourself a higher budget and go for an Intel G2 or a Samsung 470 Series for your MacBookPro - the extra cost is worth it.

Good luck.

 

I agree, you can get a 128gb Samsung 470 for about $250, a little more but definitely worth it in the long run. As for the compatibility, it might be referring to TRIM since the current version os x doesn't have it, but the new Mac os x lion is rumored to have TRIM support and it should be out soon

 

I concur Samsung 470 Series or Intel G2(K series) is the way to go.

Cheers
3Fees

 

Depending on prices, you might want to wait a few weeks for the new Intel 510 series.

 

whats wrong with OCZ??? i thought they were supposed to be some of the better ssds out there? or have people seen alot of flaws now?

 

Check out the new Sandforce-based drives, i.e. Vertex 3 (very new), which have seemed to get very good reviews but are best taken advantage of with a SATA3 machine.

 

The problem of Sandforce based drive is reliability(or lack of).

 

There's currently a "crusade" against OCZ, thanks to their largely unannounced substitution of 25 nm NAND for 34 nm NAND. You can read through this thread for some of the details.

Oh, and as for the original question; the Vertex 2 has "special" firmware that allows it more IOPS than the Agility 2, so if you're a very heavy multitasker, then it will be better, but for the most part, there will be no significantly noticeable difference between a Vertex 2 and an Agility 2.

 

They also have had a pretty poor track record, even before the whole fiasco with substituting NAND chips. From my experience, I've seen much more complaints with OCZ products in the past than other similar companies. Some things you can't judge based on specs alone.

 

Thanks all for the replies. I had no idea OCZ had a bad rep. I had a Corsair P128 and it worked great, I guess the OCZ are the lower end products? for $165 though its hard to pass up. I'm not a gamer or programmer and don't really need the top of the line stuff, as long as it works just as good or better than the average SSD and will last me a while, I'll be happy.


The agility 2 going for $165 after rebate, not a good deal even for my limited use? I only use my computer for web browing, word, student stuff. Is it a reliability issue where it will break within a year or two or more of a "there are better ones out there" kind of thing? I'm not too familiar with harddrives so i dont know what the 24nm vs 34nm means for the everyday user..



Here is the 2nd link specs: (agility 2) SandForce 1222 Controller

Max Read: up to 285 MB/s

Max Write: up to 275 MB/s

4k Random Write (Aligned): 10,000 IOPS

Seek Time: 0.1 MS

Supports TRIM

Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology

ECC: 27 bytes of redundancy per 512 bytes data. Up to twelve 9-bit symbols correctable

It's a sandforce controller. i thought those were good?

 

Just wondering what makes the Intel G2 or Samsung 470 series worth the extra price of around $100? I'm not looking for the fastest or best but for my daily use, I'd like one that's "good enough" and that will at least not break on me within the next few years.

 

reliability

 

How long do SSDs last for? I did find a more expensive one but it is used for 1.5 years. Never filled up and only about 30 gb at a time he says. It's a Corsair performance series, which I used to have and it worked great but mine wasn't used for 1.5 years so I'm not sure what that means in terms of life of the drive.

 

OCZ drives are, in my admittedly limited experience, fairly reliable. There are a few more "disappearing drives" than I'd like, but it's usually not too difficult to get a RMA from them (although data loss, of course, is your problem). The thing people dislike, apart from the recent "bait and switch" issue, is that OCZ support is through their forums, and oftentimes their forums are less than helpful. As long as you don't run into any problems, however, they're decent to very good drives. Basically, there's not much specifically wrong with the drives, all the hate is for the company.

As for how long SSDs last, a lot depends on how it's used. SSDs have a finite number of writes over their lifetime, so the less you write to a drive, the longer it will last. This is actually one of Sandforce's strengths, since they do real-time compression so they write less to the drive. Of course, this has certain implications for their performance as well, but for the usages you've listed, as long as you get a good drive, you should be fine. The more recent Corsair drives, by the way, use Sandforce just like OCZ does, so it's going to be the same controller, and thus act about the same.

 

Thanks! This was very helpful. The Corsair I talked about though is a little older, around 2 years or so and uses a Samsung controller. It's not the most recent performance series.

I realize that most people do not put together "SSD" and "cheaper" together as a pair but in my case since budget is of concern.... And after having read your post, I think I will bite the bullet and try out the OCZ vertex 2 or the Agility 2 with the Sandforce controller. After all, for $165 after rebate, it's a great deal if it works and if it doesn't, it will be a hassle to get it replaced but I can still get it replaced.


I use TimeMachine on OSX to backup my stuff in "realtime" so I'm not too worried about data loss.

 

OS X won't have TRIM support til Lion (only a few months away).

I would shy away from the Vertex 2 as you have heard. It was what only last week when they starting going to 25 nm.

 

TRIM is not too important on Sandforce drive.

As for Sandforce on Mac, seems that Vertex 2 may not like it

Support Question MacBook Pro 4,1: Lost Partition/GUID table/Reset Smart Values after sleep? (UPADTE3 :Added OCZ Tool SMART Status)

This is an issue that exhibit not just on Mac but many other major vendor's machine as well.

Personally, I would not dare for those 50 dollar difference(comparing with a x25M 120G) and subject myself to these potential hassles.

 

I'm with everybody else on this, buy an Intel X-25 120GB SSD. Buy once, and be happy with it (ie: buy the best for yourself, and be done with it; no fiddling around, or dealing with compatibility issues)

If you must have a better price, then wait 1-2 weeks (or longer) for a really good deal on the Intel

 

According to user(s) here who work in retail, the price won't drop much in a few weeks since the new Intel SSDs won't replace these models, only supplement the current line.