Intel X25-m in Aluminum Macbook (Late 2008)

[OddFacade]

CPU: $150. RAM: $70. HDD: 50 (if SSD, $170). OS: $30 (full: $130). Case and remaining accessories: $290. True retail price (given most expensive options): $810. Surcharges for having the word "mac" somewhere on the sytem: $500. Actual retail cost: $1399. System's abilities: browse internet, view pictures, write documents, edit photos. Products with similar functions: $299-$500. Woo, wasting money. X3

[CPUarchitecture]

I am have the same late 2008 Macbook that I am looking to purchase this SSD (Intel X25-M SSDSA2MH120G2K5 2.5" 120GB SATA II MLC) Do you think I should have any problems? I can't seem to figure out if this Macbook would work fine with a SATA II drive. From what I can read this model macbook supports SATA. I know II is backword compatible but one comment from someone scared me that the firmware problem might not recognize the drive.

[DC211228]

Sorry about the quad posting but this is a point that needs to be made. I actualy didn't kow what to spend the extra budget for. So I threw an ssd boot drive (seriously), and another TB for good measure. I put an extra cd drive, and blue ray drive a very nice mother board, an extremely over powered graphics card, a heatsink that'l put that i7 to 3.8ghz easy, 6gb of the fastest ram possible, and a realy nice case. You can't argue with that.

I can't post a link here so I'll PM it.

[OddFacade]

@DC211228 Send that link to me, too. You're talking about a Windows machine, right? :3 I could send you my Z2 when I finish building her. n.n Let me know if you want the stats.

[DC211228]

And to elaborate on the desktop comment (Just incase it was going to stir up a shitstorm of its own degree), if someone were to give me a mac desktop for $1, I would immediatly sell it and build a pc that is twice as powerful. Thats really the only reason im ok with mac laptops, b/c its so hard to build a laptop from scratch and your forced to over pay for dell anyway (and IBM doesn't fit my personal needs). But otherwise, its really REALLY illogical to by an imac or mac pro.

[Ibisaeg]

Then build me a PC in the same form factor as a iMac, and then building a Mac Pro version, use the same Xeon CPUs, FB-DIMM-memory for that ECC love etc.

[DC211228]

the xeon cpus and memory you love? have you used any else? for one, a single i7 920 will out perform TWO xeons. Xeons are meant for servers. Not to mention you can easily oc a 920 to 3.8ghz. And there's nothing better than dominator ram.

Look, I'll post back in a bit with a build that matches the mac pro's price (stock, no extra options, single proccessors). And don't bull shit, the iMac form factor is not a priority. brb.

[DC211228]

lol ok I just put a buld together on newegg. Every single part is more effeciant/better quality/faster/more powerful/bigger than the corresponding mac pro component. The build is finished at the price of $1,469.71 USD. That includes everything that the pro does. Even with some good thermal paste.

So I'm going to upgrade it to match the pro price and post a link to a screen cap.

[honussa]

Compared to my 7200 rpm hdd that was just slightly faster. My macbook pro (early 2008) boots up in 32 seconds.

Yeah, the SSD is faster - it takes much longer to start word and other programs, but still - my macbook pro ROCKS

[ephemerol]

the initial blue screen time seems rather long, as if it is looking for the boot drive. the remaining boot sequence is amazingly fast.

[honussa]

It's not just about faster boot times - it's about faster program launches and faster program handling.

by the way I've got windows 7 installed on my macbook pro - it boots up in 56 seconds. But I can't find the 64 bit audio driver - can anybody help me?

[DC211228]

wow 56? i'd sggest a proper pc. hell, the one i'm using right now (dell inspiron 1720, not mine btw, I build any of my systems myself, I don't realy have much use for a laptop.) boots vista in <55s including bios. And thats vista on a 7200rpm laptop drive.

[honussa]

By the way... 56 seconds including BOOTCAMP (pressing alt on startup and loading windows 7). Bootcamp takes about 15 seconds when you don't have Windows as default os. You can change this, and then it takes far less than 56 seconds. But I am not stupid to use windows as default os!

Mac os loads in 30 seconds - as fast as the new macs with SSD - so just rethink your argument of saying that my early 2008 macbook pro is slow.

buying a mac= high quality manufacturing (compared to dell, IBM,...!)

[DC211228]

wasn't realy an srgument, I mean ya I admit mac os has an advantage (as it is optimized for a platform with very little variation in hardware) but don't go saying macs are better for their hardware. You have payed alot more for hardware in that mac than you should have. It realy isn't that great quality. Also: if you think IBM is less quality than mac than your argument is automaticly invalid. Oh and btw right now I'm enjoying my sub 20 second win7 boot time. And yes win7>osx.

[honussa]

IBM is not that good!!

My friend has a thinkpad t52 or so and it is real bad

[honussa]

Oh! and by the way, I forgot. I bought my macbook pro 1 1/2 years ago in Hong Kong. I payed $ 1700 for a computer with 2,6 ghz c2d, 7200rpm hdd, 512mb gNvidia geforce 8600 m gt - and the other specs. Well today $1700 is ok for those specs (in Europe, where I live), but this certainly was GREAT compared to the 2800$ or so that I would have payed at the apple store. Sure, apple products are expensive, but show me a 1 1/2 year old laptop with those specs (noise, design, etc) and SIZE!!

[DC211228]

while yes, I agree macs aren't bad, and if you got a good deal on it then sure thats great (for a laptop at least, I would dream of buying a desktop from apple no matter the price.), IBM is pretty good. Just because they arent shiny doesn't mean they arent good. Pretty much b/c they will work through a nuclear shitstorm, thats why corporates love them so much.

[tuscanybay622]

Not if you think SSD is only good for faster boot times.

[andyh230]

I'm gonna get a new macbook, is it worth paying a few hundred dollars more for a 10-20 second shorter boot time?

[honussa]

How shall I start (*grin*)??

My macbook pro from early 2008 boots up in 32 seconds!!

I can't believe that the new macbook pros with a SSD boot up in the same time!

Disbelief?, Well I'll post a video of it showing off with a hitatchi 7200 rpm HDD in the next week.

greetings from Austria

[tuscanybay622]

Yes, people generally report anywhere from 20 to 30 seconds with SSD (any brand). Stock HDD is about 10-20 seconds longer.

[blasko229]

Looked like about 26 seconds from power on to desktop. Smokin....

[tuscanybay622]

No freezing what so ever. Never heard of any reports of freezing on the Intel drives anyway.

[syqwin]

Hi~ does it have a freeze problem on OSX???

[SupermansBoots]

No, that was JMicron controller.