I was just wondering, is the general consensus that the Apple 512GB SSDs are a poor choice in terms of performance, reliability, etc., or just that they're overpriced? I work at a college, so we always have to buy things like this direct from Apple to be covered by AppleCare.
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Are the Apple 512GB SSDs a poor choice, or just overpriced?
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Definitaly OVP, shop on newegg, you'll get a way better deal. The same goes for the RAM, why pay 300$ when you can spend 50$ and get a nicer deal.
I feel like the first part of my question is just being ignored. As a BTO-option from Apple, of course it's overpriced. But KNOWING THAT, are they a poor choice? Or are they a poor just simply because they're overpriced?
They are fairly decent and stable drives. However, I would just buy a 3rd party one like Samsung or Crucial for better performance and cost.
Definitaly OVP, shop on newegg, you'll get a way better deal. The same goes for the RAM, why pay 300$ when you can spend 50$ and get a nicer deal.
Couldn't agree more.
Yes, they're a poor choice because they're overpriced. There is nothing special about the SSD, just because it's from Apple, other than they guarantee compatibility. OWC is a good choice for finding a reliable Mac compatible SSD.
People are totally missing his question. He is stating that they are FORCED to buy from Apple and was wondering if they are reliable. I personally don't know.
P-Worm
P-Worm
I had one of the Apple SSD drives a while back; frankly, I found it to be a poor performer compared to considerably cheaper SSDs.
I am currently using a couple of Samsung 830-series drives in my tower, and they have been great. Using Multibeast from the hackintosh scene, I can enable TRIM support as well.
I am currently using a couple of Samsung 830-series drives in my tower, and they have been great. Using Multibeast from the hackintosh scene, I can enable TRIM support as well.
I realize you're buying equipment for the university, but you should be able to buy 3rd party (may need to make an argument to "sell it" to the person making the final decision).
Granted, it's a bit of a challenge, but there are vendors that will accept PO's (pay a bit more for that, but it would still get you a faster drive for less funds than Apple = more of your budget remains for other equipment, supplies,...). Even if that savings only amounts to an extra case of paper or toner cartridge, you can still get more for your budget.
From my past experience anyway, the problem with Universities is that anyplace you want to order something from, needs to be "vendorized." This process can take decades, and/or possibly centuries in some cases. It's easy enough to order from Apple or Dell, but best of luck trying to order from NewEgg or OWC. In the latter cases our department always wound up paying for it up front (if the part was needed in a unit of time measurable in weeks, instead of months and/or years), and hoping to get reimbursed.
Anyhoo, Apple's SSD is ... mediocre. It's an SSD, it's faster than an HDD, if you're spending somebody else's money, then just check off [x] 512GB SSD, and if it breaks, Apple will replace it. If you can order it someplace else, do that then; but in my experience that's often not an option. You can't just issue a PO to <some random company> without vendorizing that random company, and that seems to take aeons when it gets approved -- often it won't get approved. Why not? It's almost impossible to say. Welcome to the exciting world of academia, "Hey, if I wanted a real job, I'd go get one, and wouldn't be hangin' out in the IT department of a university making 1/5th the cash I'd make if I knew how to do anything useful! Go 'way, you're bothering me, I'm playing WoW!"
BTW, I'm not saying that everybody in IT and purchasing who works at a university s--ks ... but, they do.
Anyhoo, Apple's SSD is ... mediocre. It's an SSD, it's faster than an HDD, if you're spending somebody else's money, then just check off [x] 512GB SSD, and if it breaks, Apple will replace it. If you can order it someplace else, do that then; but in my experience that's often not an option. You can't just issue a PO to <some random company> without vendorizing that random company, and that seems to take aeons when it gets approved -- often it won't get approved. Why not? It's almost impossible to say. Welcome to the exciting world of academia, "Hey, if I wanted a real job, I'd go get one, and wouldn't be hangin' out in the IT department of a university making 1/5th the cash I'd make if I knew how to do anything useful! Go 'way, you're bothering me, I'm playing WoW!"
BTW, I'm not saying that everybody in IT and purchasing who works at a university s--ks ... but, they do.
Did the PO thing years ago from both sides (private company on the Approved Vendor List and University I was attending; different times, so no conflict). I remember there's a mountain of red tape involved, and speed can be on par with Molasses in wintertime (approval on the Uni side, payment on the business side).
But it seems reasonable that the Uni in question has an approved vendor list of 3rd party retailers (unless this has been done away with in general
). For example, OWC may not be on the list, but CDW might (they do a lot of business on PO's last I knew; seem to recall they're on the GSA list as an Approved Vendor).Keep in mind, engineers and scientists needed specialty products that couldn't all be sourced from a single vendor for one reason or another, so such a list existed. Granted, the PO system is slow, even for Approved Vendors, but it's not the same as trying to get a vendor approved (most probably wouldn't want to bother given goods are sent far in advance of actual payment).
I recall the owner of the company see-sawing on whether to keep accepting PO's or not, given the time delay for payment, additional costs (man hours, ...), and aggravation.
It's not that we have many difficulties regarding vendors and POs here (Purchasing will take my quotes and then go bid the items out themselves to try to save money), it's that when we buy systems everything needs to be included in the original order and covered under that warranty.
So RAM, despite being overpriced, would be purchased as a BTO option through Apple. The same with the SSD options, which is why I asked. It's so we're covered under the total umbrella of the hardware warranty, which for us includes four year AppleCare agreements because of our purchase cycles.
So RAM, despite being overpriced, would be purchased as a BTO option through Apple. The same with the SSD options, which is why I asked. It's so we're covered under the total umbrella of the hardware warranty, which for us includes four year AppleCare agreements because of our purchase cycles.
Four and five year AppleCare contracts exist for the Education sector. I imagine you could get them for Enterprise as well.
APP for Mac mini APP FOR MAC MINI-3 YEAR S3132LL/A $99
APP FOR MAC MINI - 4 YEAR S3120LL/A $159
APP for iMac APP FOR IMAC - 3 YEARS S3128LL/A $119
APP FOR IMAC- 4 YEARS S3043LL/A $199
APP FOR MACBOOK AIR/MACBOOK - 3 YEAR S3130LL/A $183
APP FOR MACBOOK AIR/MACBOOK - 4 YEAR S3045LL/A $329
APP FOR MACBOOK PRO - 3 YEAR S3131LL/A $239
APP FOR MACBOOK PRO - 4 YEAR S2941LL/A $549
APP FOR MAC PRO - 3 YEAR S3129LL/A $199
APP FOR MAC PRO - 4 YEAR S3044LL/A $299
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They (Apple) never mentioned this or I am uninformed of what we actually are buying. Thanks for the info.
It may be an Education sector only thing, I don't know for certain. But they're not options when I log into the Edu web store portal to prepare quotes by myself for purchasing, I have to specifically E-Mail our Apple Edu sales rep and get a PDF quote with four-year APP on it.
I've never seen the pricing on five-year APP, but as of a few years ago I was under the impression it exists as well. But our money goes in four-year upgrade cycles, so everything we buy requires four-year service contracts.