17" Apple MBP Unibody Buying Advise

[Ketch Rossi]

Hey guys,

about to order a 17" Apple MBP Unibody, and wanted to get some opinions advises on few specs.

Will be using this Laptop in conjunction with external G-Tech Drives, both portable ones and desktop ones, 7200rpm or 5400rpm, depending on Laptop final specks.

First is the major Q? Is the 128GB SSD worth to upgrade to? Speed performance and safety, vs. the regular Drive?

Second Q? I know that the 7200rpm version will consume more battery power then the 5400rpm, but it is the read/write speed of the 7200rpm version noticeable in off to make the battery duration sacrifice worth well?

Thanks,

 

[Justin Kirchhoff]

Hey Ketch,

I'm not quite sure if it's worth it to go to SSD. G-Tech drives are great, I've had a few of them in my possession for awhile and haven't had a problem. SSD's will be great when the prices come down. They are probably a little faster but what does that mean for your work? I'd just stick to the HDD's for now unless you REALLY want to by an SSD. Battery power consumption on the new MBP's should be a little better considering they upgraded the battery packs for the MBP, but we'll see.

Good luck!

 

[Ketch Rossi]

Hey Ketch,

I'm not quite sure if it's worth it to go to SSD. G-Tech drives are great, I've had a few of them in my possession for awhile and haven't had a problem. SSD's will be great when the prices come down. They are probably a little faster but what does that mean for your work? I'd just stick to the HDD's for now unless you REALLY want to by an SSD. Battery power consumption on the new MBP's should be a little better considering they upgraded the battery packs for the MBP, but we'll see.

Good luck!

Thanks Justin,

I tough so too, but wanted to make sure before I buy, if the SSD is not way better by leaps and bounds then is not worth spending the extra money.

The question still remains as if go with the 7200 or the 5400, and then obviously go the same way with the G-Tech drives, as I will be using them as scratch drive as well.

ciao

 

[Ben Holmes]

Ketch

Barefeats did some tests last year:

http://www.barefeats.com/mbpp08.html

Conclusion, with 3rd party drives, is to wait for the next generation of cheaper, faster SSDs. At the moment, the size/speed/price tradeoff doesn't favour the SSDs.

Good call on the G-Tech drives. If you want SSD's, their soon to be released external drives are potentially a fast, silent, rugged and very expensive option. For now, I'll go with a pair of normal drives for the money...

 

[Ketch Rossi]

Ketch

Barefeats did some tests last year:

http://www.barefeats.com/mbpp08.html

Conclusion, with 3rd party drives, is to wait for the next generation of cheaper, faster SSDs. At the moment, the size/speed/price tradeoff doesn't favour the SSDs.

Good call on the G-Tech drives. If you want SSD's, their soon to be released external drives are potentially a fast, silent, rugged and very expensive option. For now, I'll go with a pair of normal drives for the money...

Thanks, much appreciated, looks like I'm definitely skipping the SSD drives, at list for now.

ciao

 

[Ketch Rossi]

Thanks guys, appreciated your responses by Pm, and because of it, especially thanks to Jeff, I decided to go with the specks as listed below.

Apple Customized 17" MacBook Pro Notebook Computer (Aluminum Unibody)
2.93GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
4GB (2x2GB) RAM
320GB 7200rpm Hard Drive
SuperDrive nVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT 512MB Graphics
17" Glossy Widescreen LED Backlit Display

ciao

 

[Jeff Kilgroe]

Hi Ketch, Are you sure you want the glossy screen?

Glossy and anti-glare (matte) are the same LCD panel, it's just the plastic film on the surface. Under ideal conditions, I prefer the glossy, but overall I tend to go for the matte display as I don't have to fight glare and random reflections as much.

Either way. I think it will be a very nice system.

 

[Ketch Rossi]

Hi Ketch, Are you sure you want the glossy screen?

Glossy and anti-glare (matte) are the same LCD panel, it's just the plastic film on the surface. Under ideal conditions, I prefer the glossy, but overall I tend to go for the matte display as I don't have to fight glare and random reflections as much.

Either way. I think it will be a very nice system.

Hey Jeff,

I like the Glossy for its sharp edges and strong contrasty Balk and very bright withe colors, for Photography editing and HD viewing there is no best screen option, yes the Antiglare one is a great solution as well, but I fill as if the color are a little washed out.

I never have problem for reflection as I always use a Shield screen.

Thanks again Jeff for your advise on the system, as you can see I went for the one you suggested.

Did you get my second PM with the choices on the G-Tech Drives VS> the G-Tech Raids?



ciao

 

[Blair S. Paulsen]

3 love

3 love

Recently had the pleasure of using the new G-Tech RAID 3 units. They have packed 3TB into a admirably small and well built enclosure - eSATA tap!, low cost per/GB, cools well, ...

 

[Ketch Rossi]

Recently had the pleasure of using the new G-Tech RAID 3 units. They have packed 3TB into a admirably small and well built enclosure - eSATA tap!, low cost per/GB, cools well, ...

Hey Blair, how have you Been my friend !!

Thanks on your input on the G-Tech Raids.

I have a G-Tech Portable Drive and I love it, now I need a number of them for on location and as desktop solution to carry info from the Tower to the Laptop on and off location, as well as using it as a scratch disk, so I wanted to find out what would be best the Drives or the Raid, if Raid which kind, as they have various configuration, and don't really understand the Quad Interface or Triple vs. others 0 raid etc.

But I need to choose from one of this: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/con...ac=&fi=all&pn=1&ci=6543&cmpsrch=&cltp=&clsgr=

And as far as the Desktop solution I ned to choose from one of this: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/con...t&shs=g-Technology&ci=6538&basicSubmit=Submit

ciao