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nph

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Feb 9, 2005
1,049
214
What runs cooler, 1.86 SSD or 1.6 HDD. I am talking rev B here.

I want to have a laptop I can use in my lap again without discomfort at least while surfing and watching movie.

Thanks
 

mhnajjar

macrumors 6502a
Mar 3, 2008
777
0
The heat difference is NOT even worth $20, so do not make any decisions based on this please :)

If you do not need the SSD, which most of us don't, get the HDD and upgrade to SSD when it becomes cheaper and you find the cable connector.
 

spaceballl

macrumors 68030
Nov 2, 2003
2,910
307
San Francisco, CA
SSDs SHOULD run cooler, but they don't always. I'm running the G. Skill Titan SSD and it runs a bit warmer than my HDD. Could be due to the dual jmicron chips + RAID controller inside, but regardless, not always cooler... I can't vouch for the Apple's.
 

wetrix

macrumors 6502
Dec 1, 2006
422
0
Auckland, New Zealand
When you have the air on your lap, the cooling vents get blocked and it heats up pretty quickly. Despite its small size, it's not great on the lap for a long period of time.
 

nph

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Feb 9, 2005
1,049
214
Thanks, no the running cool is just one of several factors for me. The others are getting a faster processor and thereby it is more future proof by hopefully extending the productive life.
Longevity of SSD vs HDD.
Speed of SSD vs HDD.

I am leaning toward the SSD due to the factors I listed above in addition to it running cooler and extending battery life as well.

Anything I missed or wrongly assumed?
Btw I really like the current track pad and having a button (call me old fashioned) but no matter how much I try the new glass pad I don't like the 'clicking' part so I really would want this AIR to last me several years.

Another consideration: since memory is limited to 2Gig it means heavy reliance on virtual memory which in turn means more swapping and to me that would point to the SSD being much faster when swapping. Or am I making a bad assumption here? This to me would be a major point for SSD which would also make multi tasking faster and more efficient despite the 2 gig limit.

Thanks
 

darrellishere

macrumors 6502
Jul 13, 2007
337
0
Boy I would say get the ssd.. I'm gonna have to sell my hdd air for the ssd model. I doubt their will be an upgrade path for the hard drive, it is a huge bottle neck around the air, and video even stalls while the disk parks and plays catch up. It also takes over 2 1/2 mins to boot up lol :eek:
I still love it, (apart from the lines) but know how much better the ssd is.
 
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