SSD for older MBP?

[LongLensPhotography]

I guess it's my turn to ask the same question.

I have a minty MBP 15" 3,1 so that's about 4 years old, with 4GB ram upgrade and an upgraded rock stable motherboard as a result of warranty claim. In theory I could do with an upgrade, but not yet. I am not convinced the new MBPs offer that much more over mine: 4GB ram as standard (and an expensive upgrade to 8GB), same slow HDD as standard, no USB3 (let's face TB is nowhere in the periferals market and lots of new USB3 drives), same horrible TN screen, and some nice rumors that things will improve after next release.

I think the 5400rpm 160GB HDD is a bottleneck of my mac. All housekeeping utilities like search index and backup are wrecking havoc, and LR just finishes it off with it's temp files, and eventually swapping. I can't see that being any different in a new MBP.

So - shall I get a new SSD or just a 7200RPM large drive?
I would be looking to carry over the SSD to the new MBP so it needs 256+GB and be future proof (don't care about anything windows, I only use osx).

What do you think is best to get (price wise)? Are there any significant price movements like with HDDs now? Finally are there any issues I need to be aware of?

 

[trencheel303]

If you use a version of OS X that is TRIM capable and will allow the SSD to properly maintain itself then go for it. Lion might, but previous versions didn't properly. (I think you had to manually enable it in Snow Leopard) I haven't read about Mac OS much lately so do some research to double check.

Otherwise, a 7200 RPM with very fast seek time and spin up time will be cheaper for you. A 256GB SSD is expensive, we are looking at £250+

I run a HP G62 with 4GB of RAM, 64 bit Windows and a 64GB SSD. The computer was already fast but replacing the HD with an SSD transformed it. Boot and shutdown time were slashed in half and most programs open literally instantly. I will never go back to using a hard drive as my main system drive again knowing what a difference an SSD can make.

 

[LongLensPhotography]

Snow Leopard (currently) or Lion - that's an important question. I am happy to upgrade as I will be reinstalling, for as long as Lion doesn't slow me down any more. I don't think I have any legacy apps but then it may be hiding underneath.