News, info, and opinion by Mac users, for Mac users.

February 7, 2008

hardware

Macworld does you a solid (state)

Posted Feb. 7, ’08, 8:28 AM PT by Dan Moren
Category | Hardware

HD vs SSDThe MacBook Air is filled to the gills with new features, but the one that we didn’t know much about before now was the performance gain, if any, from the $1,000 build-to-order solid-state drive option. But our devious cohorts at the Macworld Lab have gotten one of the much-ballyhooed models in and given it a full and thorough rundown, Macworld-style.

Since the version that they’ve tested also includes a 1.8GHz processor, it’s a bit speedier than the stock 1.6GHz that grand poo-bah Jason Snell already reviewed. The verdict? Modest gains in some tests, such as boot-time and Zip archive creation. There were almost negligible performance differences in most other tests, suggesting that the 64GB SSD may not be worth the dough.

The labs are waiting on one final model, a 1.8GHz with a standard hard drive, which should help them run more efficient comparisons. When the results for that hit, we’ll let you know.


1 Comments

Goobimama said:

The only thing that makes the SSD sort of an option right now that it has no moving parts. I'm guessing most people will take the normal HDD, but there is still use for an SSD where the lappy has to survive some rough rides...

February 7, 2008 11:10 AM

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