SSD for 17" or 15" Macbook Pro

[Smartazz]

Hey everyone,
My father is in the market for a new Macbook Pro, either the $1700 15" model, or the $2500 17" model. There is an option to add a 256GB SSD and although it's expensive, it might be worth it due to the importance of the work on this computer(he travels a lot and cannot lose this data). Aside from the speed and durability advantage over a traditional hard drive, would there be a noticeable increase in battery life? Secondly, would it be better to install an SSD yourself, or is the SSD Apple uses top of the line? Thanks in advance.

 

[secretanchitman]

i would use/install an ssd yourself. the one apple uses is decent, but there are much better ssds for the money (intel for example), and not to mention, you get apple taxed on it like crazy. keep in mind that as of now, i *think* snow leopard doesnt support TRIM and im not sure if it ever will. it could be fixed with a software update though

 

[Smartazz]

i would use/install an ssd yourself. the one apple uses is decent, but there are much better ssds for the money (intel for example), and not to mention, you get apple taxed on it like crazy. keep in mind that as of now, i *think* snow leopard doesnt support TRIM and im not sure if it ever will. it could be fixed with a software update though

Yeah, the 160GB Intel X25-M seems like a winner. I don't understand why Apple wouldn't just go with the highest end reasonable SSD.

How important is TRIM support in SSDs?

 

[TheStu]

TRIM allows the drive to perform better, OS assisted auto-leveling functions that help to keep the drive feeling 'fresh' and last longer. You can actually replicate that on your own end, by doing something that I can't remember right now (I know, real nice of me to mention right? But, I am headed off to sleep)