Apple's MacBook Pro with 128GB SSD: Performance and Battery Life Investigated
by Anand Lal Shimpi on April 15, 2008 4:20 PM EST- Posted in
- Mac
Final Words
In many ways, the SSD option on the MacBook Air is an easier decision to make. In many cases, performance went down but the improvements in battery life and application launch time make the option worth it if you've got the gold to spare.
Adding the Memoright MR25.2-128S to your MacBook Pro is a much more difficult decision to make. Battery life doesn't improve, but performance can increase anywhere from 0 - 60% depending on what you're doing. Within an application it's unlikely that you'll see any huge gains, you'd need a faster CPU for that. But, launching applications, interacting with the filesystem, booting your machine, all of these things get significantly quicker with the Memoright drive.
The problem is that despite the performance increases, the cost of entry is nothing short of tremendous. At $3,819 for 128GB the most expensive part of your notebook would be the hard drive, in fact it'd cost more than your entire notebook put together. Then there's the fact that the cost of Flash memory decreases by around 40% every year, meaning that your nearly $4K SSD would depreciate faster than a Honda Civic.
Thankfully you'd be able to take the SSD with you from notebook to notebook, it's far less likely to die than a mechanical disk drive, it's very fast and silent. The technology is what I'm a fan of, there's no doubt in my mind that by the end of this year we'll start seeing more and more SSDs offered on notebooks, it's the pricing that's the tough pill to swallow. The first manufacturer to bring affordability to the notebook SSD market will be truly revered.
Keep your eyes peeled, next year your notebook may not have any internal moving parts. It's a revolution that's long in the making but finally arriving.
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Timothy123 - Tuesday, April 15, 2008 - link
The Honda Civic actually gets a 5 star depreciation rating.http://www.edmunds.com/reviews/alg/index.html#seda...">http://www.edmunds.com/reviews/alg/index.html#seda...
It being one of the cars that depreciates the least.
Look at the list, you will only find TWO American cars on it, a Viper, which is really an odd inclusion, and a Jeep Wrangler.
Really really really bad example in using the Honda Civic.
Really really bad to be honest with you. This lack of judgment and knowledge makes me question the entire worth of the article.
Really really bad.
hansmuff - Monday, April 21, 2008 - link
OMFG Hondagate!You're correct about the depreciation, but the JUST LEAVE HONDA ALONE response is quite silly.
niva - Wednesday, April 16, 2008 - link
A Honda owner scorned is apparently worse than a Mac Fanboy being told he owns an overpriced pos. GG!Duwelon - Tuesday, April 15, 2008 - link
o rly?DigitalFreak - Tuesday, April 15, 2008 - link
We really really don't care. Really really not.whatthehey - Tuesday, April 15, 2008 - link
Dear Timothy123,We at Honda Civic Owners Anonymous are here to help you. We know the pain you feel at having purchased and tricked out a piece of shit $15,000 car so that you can play gangsta pimp around the neighborhood, only to realize that what you now own is a $40,000 piece of crap that sane people laugh at. We can help you with your problems! Please call us:
1-800-CVCSHIT
Denithor - Wednesday, April 16, 2008 - link
That really is the funniest thing I've read all day.WTG!
Frumious1 - Tuesday, April 15, 2008 - link
I also wanted to lend my support for your insightful comments Tim. There's nothing I appreciate more than someone that jumps to the conclusion, takes one sentence, and then posts a bitchfest in the comments. But then what should we expect from a Honda owner? "Anand made fun of my car. Waaaaaah! Moooooom!"Avalon - Tuesday, April 15, 2008 - link
That was really really really the silliest thing I've read all day. LOL.