Mid-2009 13in Macbook Pro SSD Upgrade

M

melomania

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jun 16, 2005
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I have a mid 2009 13inch MBP with the stock 160GB drive. I'm debating on upgrading the drive to a SATAII SSD drive this Christmas. I should note that I upgraded it to 4GB of memory the day I bought it.

I'm very impressed with the performance increase by using SSD. Is my MBP worth upgrading?
 
Upgrading to an SSD can never be a bad thing. I have a mid 2009 13" MBP which I upgraded to SSD the day I got it and it still runs great. Obviously my more recent mac mini is faster, but experience-wise, the MBP feels "just as fast".
 
Do it! This is the single best upgrade that I have done to my MBP. (late 2008).
After the move to SSD my MBP simply flies through everything, and this one is still using the old "slow" C2D chip-set.
 
You will definitely get a performance benefit with SSD over mechanical. The only limitation is SATA 2, but once again the performance benefit will be great regardless of that. In this case, I would recommend buying a less expensive SATA 2 SSD over a 3 to save money. That is unless you plan to keep the 3 around after you upgrade to another laptop/machine.
 
I upgraded my mid-2009 2.26 13" MBP to a SSD and the difference was night and day. First off, boot time is super fast. Second, there is never any lag with spaces, expose, or spaces and expose, even with a million windows open. Before it would stutter and take a second, now it is super snappy. All of my apps load instantly, and installing software is super quick once the .dmg is downloaded. It's easily the best upgrade you can do.

I subsequently dropped 8gb ram into my MBP and the performance was unnoticeable. The SSD is well worth it, and I don't think I will need to upgrade this machine for a long time.
 
ryken said:
I upgraded my mid-2009 2.26 13" MBP to a SSD and the difference was night and day. First off, boot time is super fast. Second, there is never any lag with spaced, expose, or spaces and expose, even with a million windows open. Before it would stutter and take a second, now it is super snappy. All of my apps load instantly, and installing software is super quick once the .dmg is downloaded. It's easily the best upgrade you can do.

I subsequently dropped 8gb ram into my MBP and the performance was unnoticeable. The SSD is well worth it, and I don't think I will need to upgrade this machine for a long time.
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And here I was thinking the exact opposite. I put a ssd in my 2.26 mbp and I'm thinking about taking it out. SSD's help what? Bootup, app startup, anything else? Well, I RARELY shut my mbp down, which means all the apps I use are always open as well as not having to boot the laptop. So really the only benefits I'm seeing are no vibration from my previous 320gb 7200rpm hdd. Is this worth the price of an ssd and the loss of a lot of storage space? More and more I'm thinking no. I keep trying to convince myself but honestly installing an extra 4gb of ram was a better upgrade in my eyes. I feel like I might be in the minority though judging by what everyone says about ssds.
 
shoota said:
And here I was thinking the exact opposite. I put a ssd in my 2.26 mbp and I'm thinking about taking it out. SSD's help what? Bootup, app startup, anything else? Well, I RARELY shut my mbp down, which means all the apps I use are always open as well as not having to boot the laptop. So really the only benefits I'm seeing are no vibration from my previous 320gb 7200rpm hdd. Is this worth the price of an ssd and the loss of a lot of storage space? More and more I'm thinking no. I keep trying to convince myself but honestly installing an extra 4gb of ram was a better upgrade in my eyes. I feel like I might be in the minority though judging by what everyone says about ssds.
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I don't shut my down, but every now and again I need to reboot quickly (while in class) and it comes in handy. I am a heavy spaces and expose user. I'm constantly shuffling between all sorts of windows. The SSD makes that process instantaneous, which is worth it for me.

You do sacrifice money and storage space. Personally, my SSD was a bday gift, so not much money sacrificed, I just keep my school work on it, so storage isn't a big concern for me either. In the end, it's one of the best things I have done for me. If you value other things, then it might not be for you.
 
ryken said:
I don't shut my down, but every now and again I need to reboot quickly (while in class) and it comes in handy.
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Now why would anyone ever need to reboot a Mac, especially at an inopportune time? That only happens to Windows users.;)

SSDs are cool, they really do help with boot speed, initial program launches and larger stuff. Honestly for the price premium don't that they are all that but that said over the next year to 18 months I plan to migrate all of my systems to them for all OS and program storage and mechanical drives only for data.

So yeah the speed is great especially booting but still the price delta is the issue especially at the larger capacities.
 
heatlesssun said:
So yeah the speed is great especially booting but still the price delta is the issue especially at the larger capacities.
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Optibay. ;) Went 60gb SSD primary drive and 500gb in the optical space and haven't looked back.
 
I have a 13" mb pro 4 gigs ram and a old 120 gig agility ocz hdd in it a sad is the best upgrade to any computer. I want to put a newer faster 240 gig in someday..
 
dashpuppy said:
a ssd and a normal hard drive are the same. A ssd won't just not work in a laptop / desktop.
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This makes my brain hurt.

Yes the SSD will work in your 2.16 Black MacBook.

From a monetary perspective it would be a cheap upgrade rather then splurging for a new(er) MBP. I was in that situation and after splurging for the SSD my MBP felt like a brand new model. Ignore the SSD naysayers. Once you have one in your Laptop / Desktop you will not be disappointed.
 
It's a nice performance boost, and it's a little more peace of mind when you're lugging your notebook around (no spinning disk to hurt.)

Just be sure whatever model of SSD you get has the same low watt consumption as a regular notebook hard drive. My Kingston SSD Now! SNV425-S2 eats more battery than the WD Caviar Blue 500GB. When I purchased my mid-2009 MacBook Pro (13"), I threw in the WD drive to replace the stock drive, but then it started "clicking" after a few weeks and I found a deal on that Kingston SSD. I only get 2:54 battery life ever since, with the WD back in the battery life jumps to 3:28.
 
Farkle said:
It's a nice performance boost, and it's a little more peace of mind when you're lugging your notebook around (no spinning disk to hurt.)

Just be sure whatever model of SSD you get has the same low watt consumption as a regular notebook hard drive. My Kingston SSD Now! SNV425-S2 eats more battery than the WD Caviar Blue 500GB. When I purchased my mid-2009 MacBook Pro (13"), I threw in the WD drive to replace the stock drive, but then it started "clicking" after a few weeks and I found a deal on that Kingston SSD. I only get 2:54 battery life ever since, with the WD back in the battery life jumps to 3:28.
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This. Check the idle and active power consumption. This is where the Intel SSDs shine. I have the OWC Mercury Pro 240GB in my 15" 2011 MBP and it had definitely reduced my battery life, but I don't particularly care because of how much faster the system is. If I did it all over again, I would go for the lower performing Intel for more battery. In fact I may do just that and slap the Mercury Pro in my 2011 Mini (DOG SLOW compared with my MBP. Once you go SSD you wont want to go back).
 
heatlesssun said:
Now why would anyone ever need to reboot a Mac, especially at an inopportune time? That only happens to Windows users.;)
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I run OneNote through Crossover because I am in love with OneNote for taking notes in class. Unfortunately, it isn't the most bug free software, and it hangs stuff every once in a blue moon. You could say it's Windows that's creating the problem ;)
 
ryken said:
I run OneNote through Crossover because I am in love with OneNote for taking notes in class. Unfortunately, it isn't the most bug free software, and it hangs stuff every once in a blue moon. You could say it's Windows that's creating the problem ;)
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You're probably talking to the biggest OneNote fan and user on the planet, I've been using it for 8 years and I run OneNote 2010 on Windows 7 laptops, desktops, convertible tablets and pure slates 24/7 using keyboards, mice, touchscreens and digital pens and I can't recall ONCE having to restart Windows because a problem with OneNote. In fact I can't recall having to restart OneNote 2010 except in very rare cases where the IE to OneNote add-in gets weird, so my guess is that your issue has a lot to do with Crossover. OneNote does have a reputation for being glitchy while running in non-Windows hosted environments.
 
heatlesssun said:
You're probably talking to the biggest OneNote fan and user on the planet, I've been using it for 8 years and I run OneNote 2010 on Windows 7 laptops, desktops, convertible tablets and pure slates 24/7 using keyboards, mice, touchscreens and digital pens and I can't recall ONCE having to restart Windows because a problem with OneNote. In fact I can't recall having to restart OneNote 2010 except in very rare cases where the IE to OneNote add-in gets weird, so my guess is that your issue has a lot to do with Crossover. OneNote does have a reputation for being glitchy while running in non-Windows hosted environments.
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I know it's Crossover, or Crossover's running of OneNote. The smily face meant I was being facetious.

I suppose if there is one thing we can agree on, it's that OneNote kicks ass. I wouldn't have bought a mac if I couldn't run OneNote on it, it was a deal breaker for sure.
 
ryken said:
I know it's Crossover, or Crossover's running of OneNote. The smily face meant I was being facetious.

I suppose if there is one thing we can agree on, it's that OneNote kicks ass. I wouldn't have bought a mac if I couldn't run OneNote on it, it was a deal breaker for sure.
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Fair enough, I was just being anal, OneNote is my favorite program ever after all, I knew you weren't really blaming Windows. :)

OneNote seems to be the favorite Windows app of a lot of Mac users, I see the subject come up a LOT, it really is one of the best things Microsoft has ever done and it's unbelievably cool on nice digital pen capable slate.
 
heatlesssun said:
OneNote seems to be the favorite Windows app of a lot of Mac users, I see the subject come up a LOT, it really is one of the best things Microsoft has ever done and it's unbelievably cool on nice digital pen capable slate.
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Office 2010 in general is a superior product to Office 2011, nevermind the fact that 2011 doesnt have OneNote.
I find myself running Windows 7 in Parallels just for Office 2010 and SMB Browsing (Finder blows when it comes to network shares) and ImgBurn.
 
heatlesssun said:
Fair enough, I was just being anal, OneNote is my favorite program ever after all, I knew you weren't really blaming Windows. :)

OneNote seems to be the favorite Windows app of a lot of Mac users, I see the subject come up a LOT, it really is one of the best things Microsoft has ever done and it's unbelievably cool on nice digital pen capable slate.
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It's always perplexed me as to why there are no mac versions of OneNote. Why isn't it included in Office Mac? Why doesn't Apple try to rip it off? I think there is some money in an Apple-focused One Note, but no one ever puts one out. Specifically, I love that I can create two columns of notes. One for notes on my assigned readings, one for notes from class. Then I can create tabs and pages based on topic. It is incredibly awesome for school.
 
Hey! More OneNote fans! I run Windows 7 in VMWare exclusively for OneNote. I'm considering an SSD right now just because I want the performance bump. I just keep hearing everyone GUSH over it.
 
ryken said:
It's always perplexed me as to why there are no mac versions of OneNote. Why isn't it included in Office Mac? Why doesn't Apple try to rip it off? I think there is some money in an Apple-focused One Note, but no one ever puts one out. Specifically, I love that I can create two columns of notes. One for notes on my assigned readings, one for notes from class. Then I can create tabs and pages based on topic. It is incredibly awesome for school.
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The no OneNote on the Mac is also a big topic of conversation with Mac OneNote users. Oddly enough Microsoft developed an iPhone version. There have definitely been a number of note taking programs to burst onto the scene especially on tablets since the arrival of the iPad and there are a few pretty good alternatives like Evernote which isn't bad if you don't care about ink.

But OneNote is almost 10 years old and it is kind of interesting that no one has really tried to copy it closely. But when you throw in the ink technology its pretty high tech still and must be pretty expensive to develop.
 
Dew said:
Office 2010 in general is a superior product to Office 2011, nevermind the fact that 2011 doesnt have OneNote.
I find myself running Windows 7 in Parallels just for Office 2010 and SMB Browsing (Finder blows when it comes to network shares) and ImgBurn.
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command k :)
 
shoota said:
what the heck is onenote?
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OneNote is part of the Microsoft Office suite and is a combination of a digital analog of a paper notebook and a free form database that can store just about anything, text, handwriting, images, video, sound, virtually any file system files and is organized just like a paper notebook with sections and pages. It's power lies in the ability to search, one can search text, text in images even handwriting stored as handwriting, it never has to be converted to text.

If you take notes or collect free form information and want the ability to search and find stuff it's probably the best program out there.
 
Sounds cool! I guess I didn't know about it because I don't do any of those things..
 
shoota said:
Sounds cool! I guess I didn't know about it because I don't do any of those things..
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I never used it in college because I could still manage paper notes in notebooks. In medical school, I find it to be the best solution. All the professors use powerpoint and they're all rather speedy during lecture. Trying to write everything down is a fool's errand and definitely not for me. OneNote helps to organize everything in one place. Totally worth it.

In other news... I got the 120gb Corsair Force 3 from Frys and I am loving it. Mid-2009 MBP, Lion with TRIM turned on and I find myself closing out programs completely just to restart them. The speed is incredible. I absolutely love it.
 
Wow, so it made that much of a difference on a mid 2009 MBP.. I have a mid-2010 MBP (still core2duo) and thinking of getting one myself. How do you guys enjoy Lion? I havent made the switch yet due to what people are saying about it.
 
refraxion said:
Wow, so it made that much of a difference on a mid 2009 MBP.. I have a mid-2010 MBP (still core2duo) and thinking of getting one myself. How do you guys enjoy Lion? I havent made the switch yet due to what people are saying about it.
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haven't really had any issues with Lion, i do notice once in a while a few video artefacts...
 
Personally I like the changes overall in Lion. I do miss the original spaces control in the system preferences panel, but the workarounds do well enough for that. I like the new gestures. I think the only thing that falls into 'useless' for me is Mission Control.
 
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refraxion said:
Wow, so it made that much of a difference on a mid 2009 MBP.. I have a mid-2010 MBP (still core2duo) and thinking of getting one myself. How do you guys enjoy Lion? I havent made the switch yet due to what people are saying about it.
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I'm enjoying Lion. So far, the beta of Spotify caused a kernel panic and that's it. I expect that from a beta.
 
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