SSD Question

[stazzex]

I have a £300ish budget for an SSD for a Mac Mini 2012 i7, as I believe it will make a big difference to my setup.

Trouble is that I don't know what drive to go for.
Samsung drives seem to be popular, particularly the 840 series and the 840 pro series. However am I wasting my money with the pro version, can the Mac Mini utilise the increase in W/R speeds? Then there is also the EVO series. Really looking for advice on what to get. Hoping my budget can push to a 500gb drive.

 

[Menge]

It will handle the speeds just fine!

I'd go for either the Crucial M4 (no Trim or maintenance needed) or the 840 Pro (little bit faster, but needs Trim Enabler on OS X with every OS X update).

Don't waste your money on the non-Pro 840. They last less and are slower.

 

[thekingofnerds]

It will handle the speeds just fine!

I'd go for either the Crucial M4 (no Trim or maintenance needed) or the 840 Pro (little bit faster, but needs Trim Enabler on OS X with every OS X update).

Don't waste your money on the non-Pro 840. They last less and are slower.

Go with Samsung (840 pro). They are far, far more reliable than other brands for the sweet $100-$600 range. Samsung designs nearly every piece of it themselves and fabs their own chips. As a result, issue resolution (updates, etc) is taken care of really fast.

can the Mac Mini utilise the increase in W/R speeds?

And yes, your mini can utilize the r/w speeds of the 840 pro without issue.

 

[Weaselboy]

Samsung drives seem to be popular, particularly the 840 series and the 840 pro series. However am I wasting my money with the pro version, can the Mac Mini utilise the increase in W/R speeds? Then there is also the EVO series.

The non-pro uses TLC NAND chips that do have a shorter lifespan, but as a practical matter on a consumer machine the difference is meaningless.

See the chart below from this article. So even if you write 10GB a day every day, the Pro will last 70 years vs. 23 years for the non-pro. I suspect in far less than 23 years you will have moved on to a new computer.

As far as speed, the Pro is faster, but for consumer use, you are not likely to notice the difference. Look at the comparison here and decide if you think is it worth the price premium for the small speed increase for the average usage pattern. Unless you are doing a lot of work with say very very large video files, you won't notice the difference.

I would save the 95 pound difference and get the non-pro Samsung 840. JMO

 

[jschoorl]

The non-pro uses TLC NAND chips that do have a shorter lifespan, but as a practical matter on a consumer machine the difference is meaningless.

See the chart below from this article. So even if you write 10GB a day every day, the Pro will last 70 years vs. 23 years for the non-pro. I suspect in far less than 23 years you will have moved on to a new computer.

Image

As far as speed, the Pro is faster, but for consumer use, you are not likely to notice the difference. Look at the comparison here and decide if you think is it worth the price premium for the small speed increase for the average usage pattern. Unless you are doing a lot of work with say very very large video files, you won't notice the difference.

I would save the 95 pound difference and get the non-pro Samsung 840. JMO

I personally would pick up the new 840 EVO instead of the 840, 840PRO similar performance.

Review /test

another test

 

[Weaselboy]

I personally would pick up the new 840 EVO instead of the 840, 840PRO similar performance.

Review /test

another test

No argument here... looks like a great drive. I just did not see them (EVO) available to the OP on the Amazon UK web site, so I did not mention it. If OP can find one at a good price, I agree that would be a great choice.