Thanks to significant performance improvements in JMicron's latest JMF612 solid state drive controller - we're seeing the return of SSD's with the inclusion of a mini-USB port return to many SSD drives in 2010. The convenience of instantly being able to connect via USB to copy, clone, or transfer data adds value to a solid-state disk purchase, and the revised JMicron controller's increased cache size makes write stuttering and slowdowns a thing of the past.

Examples of the drive well suited to Apple laptop SSD upgrades is the value priced Corsair 60 GB Reactor Series 2.5 Inch Solid State Drive. This new controller delivers great Read/Write performance for less than comparable Indilinx controller based drives of the same capacity - with the benefit of built-in USB.

Tags: usb ssd, usb solid state drive, usb flash disk

In a somewhat suprising move after the success of it's 80GB and 160GB XM-25 solid-state drives - Intel released a smaller capacity version to fill a gap at the low end. The Intel 40 GB X25V Value SATA II Solid State Drive may be a fine MacBook or Mac mini upgrade for those with modest needs. Unlike competitors with SSDs in the 30-32GB or 60-64GB range, Intel's SSD architecture started with an 80 Gigabyte drive, then 160, now down to 40 GB to shore up the low end. This is also a G2 - Second Generation drive with improved firmware - all in all an affordable choice for those who aren't data pigs with videos and tons of music clogging up thier hard drives. With it's SATA II interface, it's compatible with all Serial-ATA based Mac computers - whether with older SATA I - or more recent SATA II controller chips.

Tags: value ssd, bargain ssd, macbook ssd, mac mini ssd, apple ssd performance

As Apple and other computer manufacturers introduce the next performance level of the 6Gbps SATA III serial ATA interface standard -- Lexar / Crucial will be there with it's RealSSD C300 drive: The upcoming drives will come in 128GB and 256GB capacities, have a 2.5-inch form factor, a SATA III 6.0 Gbps interface, utilize 34nm MLC NAND Flash memory chips, and deliver read and write speeds of up to 355 MB/s and 215 MB/s, respectively - a nice jump in read speeds from current SATA II SSD's hovering in the 225/200 range.

Tags: sata3 ssd, sata III ssd, 6Gbps SSD

For those wanting a few insights on what might be involved replacing your Apple computers factory installed hard drive with a solid-state disk alternative - please visit these new pages for Model-Specific DIY Apple SSD Upgrade & Replacement Info:
MacBook SSD Upgrades
SSD Drives For G4 and Intel Mac mini
3.5" SSD for iMac and Mac Pro Tower Upgrades

Tags: ssd mini, ssd imac, ssd mac pro, ssd macbook

This chart - Lifted from BenchmarkReviews.com - pretty much says it all: As of Mid 2009 the truly decent SATA interface SSD's worth buying -- and that give the best bang for the buck can be simplified down to a handful:

The best value lies in these few drives: An OCZ Agility, A Super Talent UltraDrive ME or GX, The Patriot Torqx or Warp V3 Series, and an OCZ Vertex Family -- or perhaps a RAID 0 Apex. The rest of the chart was cropped out - It just wasn't worth bothering with - although Intel's X-25M and E drives probably should have been in the original list. Intel's drives are consistent top performers in nearly and SSD benchmark.

Other OCZ Vertex drive variants and Firmware Revs shown below matter only to the incremental Tweaky-Geeks who live by a stop-watch or have bleeding-edge wallets. The designs, controller chips, the flash memory chips used - are all leveling out to a basic commodity used in most of the drives these days. Any of the handful of SSD's above will deliver GREAT performance far, far exceeding your Macs original SATA hard drive.

Tags: fastest ssd

The Mobo-Bear: Elric Phares over at www.motherboards.org did a nice real-word and straight-forward video of a Super Talent FTM28GX25H 2.5-Inch 128GB UltraDrive ME SATA2 Solid State Drive vs one of the absolute fastest traditional spinning platter drives: the WD Velociraptor 150 - on Apple Mac's running OSX. This clip should tell you all you need to know: This Super Talent solid-state drive beats the pants off the best 'old fashioned' disk drive made. So what are you waiting for?

Oh it was all a brief TEMPEST IN A TEAPOT as hardcore SSD 'enthusiasts' found some speed limits in the only-just-shipping 2009 MacBookPro's SATA controller. Well, to stop all the WHINING - Apple released a Firmware update to shut them up. So there. We now have a fix, those of you who just had to have the barely a week old MacBook Pro, and just had to gut it and slap in a high-end SATA II class bleeding edge SSD - and just had to whine about reduced performance: Here ya go. Download it, run it, and resume measuring your weenies:

"MacBook Pro EFI Firmware Update 1.7 addresses an issue reported by a small number of customers using drives based on the SATA 3Gbps specification with the June 2009 MacBook Pro. While this update allows drives to use transfer rates greater than 1.5Gbps, Apple has not qualified or offered these drives for Mac notebooks and their use is unsupported."

OCZ pre-announced its 500GB and 1 TERABYTE COLOSSUS SSD line expected in the Fall of 2009 - This SSD will feature dual Indilinx controllers and a JMicron RAID chipset to deliver huge storage capacity, stunning performance, and the drop-in ease of a standard 3.5" form factor for desktop systems such as Intel iMacs and Mac Pro towers.

60GB SATA Agility SSD

OCZ's Midrange SSD
Bringing up the rear - for those of us with more meager budgets and smaller needs - it looks like OCZ will also revamp it's mid to 'low-end' lineup with an affordable MLC based OCZ Technology OCZSSD2-1AGT120G Agility Series SATA II 2.5-Inch SolidState Drive Is now in-stock - we'd expect this 'value' drive to deliver great performance just below the Vertex series - and make a possible phase-out of the Core and Solid series lines seem highly likely as technology marches on.

Tags: ssd for Mac Pro, value ssd