Brain fart regarding MacBook storage

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I have a question, a silly one, and wondering if someone can advise...

I'm looking at picking up a MacBook of some sorts, either an Air or a Pro, but I have one question regarding the storage:-

On the Apple website, it states that the Air comes with "Flash storage". If I was to buy the pro, I would upgrade the HDD to a Solid State Drive, as I don't need oodles of space due to me storing the majority of my gumpf on the iMac.

Anyway, is there a difference between "Flash Storage" and a SSD? If so, which is faster/better/more reliable?

Both the models I've priced up, are in the same ball park, so just want to clarify the difference.

TLDR; What's the difference between SSD and "Flash Storage"?

Cheers, folks! :)
 
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Flash storage is SSD. They are the same thing, just different terms to say the same thing.
 
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Cheers, Stretch! I thought that would be the case...

Now, why does Apple insist on confusing morons such as myself by using all these fancy phrases?! ;)
 
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As stated Flash storage is SSD. But in the Air it is not a typical SSD like you would buy from a reseller or manufacturer. It is actually just the Flash chips without case or typical/normal connectors as you find on all SATA devices. That is why you can never upgrade it. Same for the RAM. It is not the type that you can replace. Both are built into the motherboard in some way.

For that reason I would never buy a Mac Air.
Although I just looked at the new Dell XPS 13 Ultrabook. But I doubt I will be buying one.
 
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As stated Flash storage is SSD. But in the Air it is not a typical SSD like you would buy from a reseller or manufacturer. It is actually just the Flash chips without case or typical/normal connectors as you find on all SATA devices. That is why you can never upgrade it. Same for the RAM. It is not the type that you can replace. Both are built into the motherboard in some way.

For that reason I would never buy a Mac Air.
Although I just looked at the new Dell XPS 13 Ultrabook. But I doubt I will be buying one.

No, the 2010, 2011 model MacBook Airs can have the SSD upgraded. Only the original versions of the Air have the SSD on the logic board. OWC offers replacement SSDs for the current generation Airs.
 
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SSD in Air and Pro

In comparing pure speed, which would be faster?

a) Macbook Air 13 i7 1.8Ghz 256GB "flash drive"
or
b) Macbook Pro 15 i7 quadcore 2.2 Ghz where I replace the 5400 RPM drive with a 256 GB SSD

Thanks
 

CrimsonRequiem


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MBP 2.3 Ghz 4GB RAM 860 GB SSD, iMac 3.4 GHz Intel Core i7 32GB RAM, Fusion Drive 1TB
In comparing pure speed, which would be faster?

a) Macbook Air 13 i7 1.8Ghz 256GB "flash drive"
or
b) Macbook Pro 15 i7 quadcore 2.2 Ghz where I replace the 5400 RPM drive with a 256 GB SSD

Thanks

Depends on the flash drive.
 
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In comparing pure speed, which would be faster?

a) Macbook Air 13 i7 1.8Ghz 256GB "flash drive"
or
b) Macbook Pro 15 i7 quadcore 2.2 Ghz where I replace the 5400 RPM drive with a 256 GB SSD

Thanks

You're kidding right?

You have to ask this question?

A Quad Core CPU that runs faster the the Dual Core CPU and you can't figure that out. The Flash Apple uses in the Air is no different, except possibly slower, then all other Flash SSDs.

So which one do you think is faster?
 

pigoo3

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You're kidding right?

You have to ask this question?

A Quad Core CPU that runs faster the the Dual Core CPU and you can't figure that out. The Flash Apple uses in the Air is no different, except possibly slower, then all other Flash SSDs.

So which one do you think is faster?

Careful now...let's "play" nice.:) Each person has different levels of "tech-savviness". What's obvious to one person...is "foggy" to another.

- Nick
 
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Thanks for the somewhat, conflicting advice - I think I'm gonna go for the MBP with 128GB SSD, as although I think 4GB RAM would be more than sufficient for what I would be using the Air for, for a very similar price I could get the MBP, which I feel would be more future proof due to the ability to bump up the RAM.

Muchos gracias.
 

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Thanks for the somewhat, conflicting advice - I think I'm gonna go for the MBP with 128GB SSD, as although I think 4GB RAM would be more than sufficient for what I would be using the Air for, for a very similar price I could get the MBP, which I feel would be more future proof due to the ability to bump up the RAM.

Muchos gracias.

Another alternative is to get the MBP with standard HDD, then purchase SSD and Data-doubler from OWC and swap out HDD for Superdrive. Will follow up with link on OWC components.

Data-doubler $70 USD
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/DDAMBS0GB/

120 GB SSD $178 USD
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/SSDEX3G120/

External Case for your Old Superdrive $40 USD
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other World Computing/VLSS9TOPTU2/

Total Cost: $288 USD
 
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That's awesome! Thanks, Razor! - I tried to give you rep, but I need to spread it around a bit first! :)

Couple last questions, before I take the plunge, if I may?

Can I use an OEM version of Windows with Bootcamp? Or does it have to be 'normal' version, if you catch my drift? Purchased and fully legit, of course.
 

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That's awesome! Thanks, Razor! - I tried to give you rep, but I need to spread it around a bit first! :)

Couple last questions, before I take the plunge, if I may?

Can I use an OEM version of Windows with Bootcamp? Or does it have to be 'normal' version, if you catch my drift? Purchased and fully legit, of course.

That one I don't know the answer to. I don't voluntarily run Windows on any of my computers. But, I suspect you have to have a retail version (could be wrong, someone else will have to answer that).
 
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Ahh okay no worries, once I've got the MacBook I'll look into that!

Woooo! Just purchased it! 6 months after getting an iMac, I've now got a MBP...

Oh one last question, I promise... Do OWC ship overseas?!

Many thanks, you've been a star!
 
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"If I was to buy the pro, I would upgrade the HDD to a Solid State Drive, as I don't need oodles of space due to me storing the majority of my gumpf on the iMac."
just curious will just install the 128gb ssd good enough ? since you are not going to use that much space in the mbp,
 
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Well, I went for the base model MBP in the end. If I decide I want to dabble with the SSD, then I'll whip out the optical drive and stick one of those in, as Razormac suggested.
 

RavingMac

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Ahh okay no worries, once I've got the MacBook I'll look into that!

Woooo! Just purchased it! 6 months after getting an iMac, I've now got a MBP...

Oh one last question, I promise... Do OWC ship overseas?!

Many thanks, you've been a star!

I looked at their shipping info and they list international options, so I think the answer is yes. They also reference purchasing through Amazon, so you may be able to go through Amazon UK.
Other than that I don't know, and one of your countrymen may know if they ship or if there is a UK counterpart.

EDIT: If you decide to go with the SSD and Data-doubler later, the preffered route as I understand it is to move the existing HDD to the optical bay and install the SSD in place of the old HDD.
 
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EDIT: If you decide to go with the SSD and Data-doubler later, the preffered route as I understand it is to move the existing HDD to the optical bay and install the SSD in place of the old HDD.

Negative. Leave the HDD in the original location, and put the SSD in the optibay. Reason being the native 2.5 in drive mount is cushioned (it has rubber mounts), and the optibay is hard to the MacBook frame. Older MacBooks had an issue with this I believe, but new models don't. After the thunderbolt update, this was pretty much a non-issue, plus both SATA buses are now 6G.
 

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Negative. Leave the HDD in the original location, and put the SSD in the optibay. Reason being the native 2.5 in drive mount is cushioned (it has rubber mounts), and the optibay is hard to the MacBook frame. Older MacBooks had an issue with this I believe, but new models don't. After the thunderbolt update, this was pretty much a non-issue, plus both SATA buses are now 6G.

Good to know . . . thanks for the updated info.
 
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Cheers, I'll check it out!

Many thanks to you both! Itching to get my hands on it now! :D
 

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