PC user going (i)Mac... SSD quality?

[MR.Raul]

I'm going to get the 27" high end iMac, but not sure if I should buy the SSD along with the HDD, cause I've read somewhere that the SSD model in the iMac is not a good one compared to other SSD's.
Is this true, and if so, how much in speed difference are we talking compared to the "better" SSD models?
And is it likely or even possible that the OS will have an update soon to support Trim? (not even sure what that is, I'm in deep water here)
And is it true the life span on an SSD is just going downhill when it comes to performance, or is that just some models?
And is that over a 2 or 10 years cycle, and how much in % are we talking about?
Ok it might have to do with how much one use it of course, but is that only when one re wright data or just for accessing data?

This is the only thing that's keeping me from buying this iMac this sec, and of course the concern about the amount of iMacs returned by users due to the screen problem.
I don't wanna throw 1110$ (Swedish store) down the drain.

Would appreciate answers, best regards (oh yeah, my fake name) Raul.

 

[jmpage2]

I'm going to get the 27" high end iMac, but not sure if I should buy the SSD along with the HDD, cause I've read somewhere that the SSD model in the iMac is not a good one compared to other SSD's.
Is this true, and if so, how much in speed difference are we talking compared to the "better" SSD models?
And is it likely or even possible that the OS will have an update soon to support Trim? (not even sure what that is, I'm in deep water here)
And is it true the life span on an SSD is just going downhill when it comes to performance, or is that just some models?
And is that over a 2 or 10 years cycle, and how much in % are we talking about?
Ok it might have to do with how much one use it of course, but is that only when one re wright data or just for accessing data?

This is the only thing that's keeping me from buying this iMac this sec, and of course the concern about the amount of iMacs returned by users due to the screen problem.
I don't wanna throw 1110$ (Swedish store) down the drain.

Would appreciate answers, best regards (oh yeah, my fake name) Raul.

As far as I know the make and model of the SSD in the iMac has not yet been identified.

 

[Cave Man]

OWC thinks it sucks. Could be their desire to sell more of their own (which uses a Sandforce controller that's very good, though).

 

[jmpage2]

SSD is still priced so high that it's really only practical for someone who gets paid for production on the device. 1/2 the boot time and application launch times are great but the people who really benefit are programmers, video editors, etc, who need the fastest disk speeds they can possibly get.

 

[MR.Raul]

Would one benefit much on installing games like Counter-Strike and using the steam client on a SSD vs HDD, or are game speeds more about the type of GPU one have?

 

[Jaro65]

SSD is still priced so high that it's really only practical for someone who gets paid for production on the device. 1/2 the boot time and application launch times are great but the people who really benefit are programmers, video editors, etc, who need the fastest disk speeds they can possibly get.

I agree. But I will say though that an SSD makes my Windows 7 VM as fast as being on a native Windows-based machine. I really enjoy working in the MS Office 2010 apps now.

 

[joejoejoe]

SSD is still priced so high that it's really only practical for someone who gets paid for production on the device. 1/2 the boot time and application launch times are great but the people who really benefit are programmers, video editors, etc, who need the fastest disk speeds they can possibly get.

Could you please elaborate? I'm planning on using the i7 primarily for video editing but also plan on doing most of my work through externals for the safety of my video work rather than the internal drive. This is what most people have recommended to me.

If I'd be editing onto an external would that simply cancel out the benefits of the SSD?

in other words: as a video editor, will I only realize the benefits of an SSD (for render times, etc) if I write onto that actual drive?

 

[mangrove]

Could you please elaborate? I'm planning on using the i7 primarily for video editing but also plan on doing most of my work through externals for the safety of my video work rather than the internal drive. This is what most people have recommended to me.

If I'd be editing onto an external would that simply cancel out the benefits of the SSD?

in other words: as a video editor, will I only realize the benefits of an SSD (for render times, etc) if I write onto that actual drive?

From what I surmise you would edit videos in say iMovie or some other software application and then dump to external once finished. If that's the case then the SSD would tear through your work much faster than a regular HD.

If one reads carefully through the MacRumors article from OWC (July 29), where it is suggested that if you do not get an SSD from the start there are no brackets, etc. to enable mounting one in the future. That would convince me to get one. In the past I believe Apple has used Toshiba SSD's which are very highly regarded.

Although if you did not get an SSD from Apple, you could always put an in optibay where the optical drive is to mount another HD of some sorts at any time. Then you get a cheap USB optical drive or get an enclosure for the one removed. Food for thought.

 

[joejoejoe]

From what I surmise you would edit videos in say iMovie or some other software application and then dump to external once finished. If that's the case then the SSD would tear through your work much faster than a regular HD.

If one reads carefully through the MacRumors article from OWC (July 29), where it is suggested that if you do not get an SSD from the start there are no brackets, etc. to enable mounting one in the future. That would convince me to get one. In the past I believe Apple has used Toshiba SSD's which are very highly regarded.

Although if you did not get an SSD from Apple, you could always put an in optibay where the optical drive is to mount another HD of some sorts at any time. Then you get a cheap USB optical drive or get an enclosure for the one removed. Food for thought.

I would be editing in Avid and FCP and would be editing directly onto the external, not dumping once I was done.

My question is if I would see speed benefits if I'm writing directly onto the external since the program would launch off the SSD, or if I would only realize speed benefits by writing onto the SSD itself, which I do not plan on doing.

 

[mangrove]

Seems to me then the whole exercise would run at the speed of the slowest drive.

 

[brogueboy]

Someone can correct me if I am wrong, but if you are going the external route, the only benefits you will see from having the SSD will be fast boot times and virtually instantaneous app launching. Once you get into the apps and need to start reading/writing from external disk, you are no longer using the SSD...