Noticeable difference between external USB 3.0 / Lightning SSD versus internal?

[fuzzybabybunny]

So I've come to the conclusion that Apple's 13" MacBook Pro likely won't ever allow for standard upgradeable 2.5" HDDs or RAM. Unfortunately, I need a Mac for the coding environment and for the Adobe Suite to be on the same OS.

I will have to just order the max RAM when I place the order for the MacBook. I was thinking about just getting a 256GB SSD and running a 512GB USB 3.0 or Lightning external SSD full time.

Will I notice a huge speed difference in this regard?

 

[XavierMace]

I'm not 100% certain what you are asking. Are you asking if you can install all your applications on the external drive and basically just run off that and with what performance impact? You're limiting max throughput quite a bit doing that, but I'm not sure how noticeable that would be real world. I would be really hesitant about running everything off an external drive. Both for reliability and convenience sake.

Apple does offer a 1TB SSD in the top of the line 13" for $500. A quick Amazon search shows Transcend offering a 1TB USB3.0 SSD for $540. In addition to being more expensive, the performance numbers they quote are 300MB/s (or more) slower than the benches I've seen of the MBP's SSD.

 

[tweakboy]

300mbps is weak. ASUS has a add on SSD card, with SSD cache too , its 1000mbps