silverlight Posted July 22, 2009 Share Posted July 22, 2009 Just in case anyone is about to make the switch to SSD, big price drop and some speed improvements for the industry-leading Intel M series drives. http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.aspx?i=3605 EDIT: here's the follow-up performance assessment on the new drives (impressive random read/writes): http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=3607 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820167016 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820167017 Link to comment
The Computer Audiophile Posted July 22, 2009 Share Posted July 22, 2009 Gee thanks Silverlight. I just spent $979 on a 64GB SSD about 10 hours ago! Founder of Audiophile Style | My Audio Systems Link to comment
Andrew S. Posted July 24, 2009 Share Posted July 24, 2009 Give it a year.... Best Wishes Andrew Link to comment
vortecjr Posted July 24, 2009 Share Posted July 24, 2009 "Dude you have some serious thills issues" hehehe I am building my audio pc this week and held out on the ss drive for now and I'm just using a small 2.5" WD drive I found for 39 bucks. It's very quite at boot, but I found out the hard way you can't boot up using hdmi....duuuuh. I guess its been a while since I built a pc Now I have to run out and get a dvi-i to vga to finish up. Did you see the http://atechfabrication.com/ for some fanless case ideas. I'm using a slim silverstone case with a low profile fan that I had from a failed project. SONORE computer audio | opticalRendu | ultraRendu | microRendu | Signature Rendu SE | endPoint | opticalModule DX | Power Supplies | Link to comment
cfmsp Posted July 24, 2009 Share Posted July 24, 2009 I just paid $1449 for a 128 Gb SSB. I can't believe the performance improvement, although I'm not using it for audio yet, and probably won't. PS, My $1449 'SSD' also included a Macbook Air. clay Link to comment
The Computer Audiophile Posted July 24, 2009 Share Posted July 24, 2009 That's the comment of the week! Founder of Audiophile Style | My Audio Systems Link to comment
DanRubin Posted July 25, 2009 Share Posted July 25, 2009 OCZ says their prices will drop in response to this move by Intel. Mac Mini 5,1 [i5, 2.3 GHz, 8GB, Mavericks] w/ Roon -> Ethernet -> TP Link fiber conversion segment -> microRendu w/ LPS-1 -> Schiit Yggdrasil Link to comment
cfmsp Posted July 25, 2009 Share Posted July 25, 2009 As you know, and I only just found out, the combination of Macbook Air and Screen Sharing (AKA VNC) is a phenomenal way to access a headless Mac Mini (or in my case, a 'headless' Macbook Pro) for music playback. No more 'convenience' (aka wireless) listening via Apple TV/Airport Express. Now it's Firewire 24x7x365, plus the external file server is no longer connected wirelessly to the playback machine. The only wireless aspect of my music playback chain now is remote access via Macbook Air, or iPhone. clay Link to comment
The Computer Audiophile Posted July 25, 2009 Share Posted July 25, 2009 Great to hear Clay. The Air as remote and direct connection for everything else is really the way of the future (or now). Founder of Audiophile Style | My Audio Systems Link to comment
rancew Posted July 25, 2009 Share Posted July 25, 2009 I've been using a MacBook Air to control my Mac mini via Screen Sharing for awhile now and couldn't agree more. Rance Link to comment
kana813 Posted July 26, 2009 Share Posted July 26, 2009 cfmsp- Where did you get the Macbook Air w'128Gb SSD for $1449.? Link to comment
cfmsp Posted July 26, 2009 Share Posted July 26, 2009 From the Apple site - check under 'refurbished'. http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/specialdeals/mac 1.86 Ghz, 128 Gb SSD. I think refurbished in this instance means 'previous model'. After doing some checking on the differences at www.everymac.com, I decided that this 'refurbished' model was the best deal, even though I could have gotten $100 off the latest model with an education discount. http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/macbook-air/macbook-air-faq/differences-between-macbook-air-mid-2009-and-nvidia-late-2008-macbook-air.html The biggest difference is the increase in battery life from 4.5 hours to 5 hours. IOW, no real difference. If you're not using it as a music player, but as more of a remote (via Screen Sharing) / internet surfing device / etc., you can get the original Macbook Air (1.6 Ghz) for $999, and with a 64Gb SSD for $1199, I think. Additionally, the performance of the most recent models are not as good as expected - another reason to buy the 'refurbished' model. "The late-2008 1.86 GHz MacBook Air was faster than the new top-of-the-line model [2.13Ghz] in 11 of our 18 tests, and as a result, the old system's final Speedmark score was slightly higher. The low-end 1.86 GHz model did a better job versus its predecessor, besting it on most tests and improving on its Speedmark score." http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/macbook-air/macbook-air-faq/macbook-air-mid-2009-late-2008-nvidia-performance-comparison.html enjoy clay Link to comment
kana813 Posted July 26, 2009 Share Posted July 26, 2009 Clay- Mahalo for the info. I just upgraded my wife's white Macbook 2.0 GHz with 4Gb of RAM and a 60Gb OCZ Vertex SSD for $247. to test Amarra. If I go with Amarra, I'll probably get a new Macbook Pro to use as a music player and install a 2nd Gen Intel SSD. Aloha, Dan Link to comment
cfmsp Posted July 26, 2009 Share Posted July 26, 2009 Namaste/aloha/et al, A Macbook Pro is definitely the machine I'd get for use as a combo laptop / player. I got the Macbook Air as a replacement for an MBA I was using for work (and which was paid for by m previous employer). I debated between the two for a long time, decided I needed one of each, and bought the MBA first. Currently using a headless 2006 MBP as player (display was broken, and after my 'fatal' attempt to fix it, I didn't bother re-attaching the display when I put "Humpty" back together again). enjoy, clay Link to comment
DanRubin Posted August 1, 2009 Share Posted August 1, 2009 Anyone seen these new Intel drives show up for sale anywhere yet? Or the expected OCZ price cuts? Mac Mini 5,1 [i5, 2.3 GHz, 8GB, Mavericks] w/ Roon -> Ethernet -> TP Link fiber conversion segment -> microRendu w/ LPS-1 -> Schiit Yggdrasil Link to comment
The Computer Audiophile Posted August 1, 2009 Share Posted August 1, 2009 Hi Dan - There is a firmware problem on all the new drives thus they were held back from shipping. Founder of Audiophile Style | My Audio Systems Link to comment
silverlight Posted August 1, 2009 Author Share Posted August 1, 2009 I ordered and received 3 of the new drives although can confirm with Chris that they're holding off for a couple weeks to update the firmware (drives have an issue if you use bios level passwords). Since i using a mac that uses EFI rather than BIOS shouldn't be affected and they're working great. Will flash them with the new bios when it's available. Newegg is where I got them from and had them in stock right away (and will again I'm assuming as well). Link to comment
vortecjr Posted August 21, 2009 Share Posted August 21, 2009 Does anyone know if there is a sonic difference between the mainstream "m" and the extreme "e"? It seems like the "e" has the better slc technology, but any other advantage then it lasting longer for that price? SONORE computer audio | opticalRendu | ultraRendu | microRendu | Signature Rendu SE | endPoint | opticalModule DX | Power Supplies | Link to comment
silverlight Posted September 1, 2009 Author Share Posted September 1, 2009 An updated article from AnandTech on SSD's http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.aspx?i=3631 Link to comment
vortecjr Posted September 2, 2009 Share Posted September 2, 2009 and is a most read for someone looking into SSDs. http://www2.electronicproducts.com/SSD_performance_Benchmarks_that_matter-article-FAJH_Intel_Apr2009-html.aspx Basically, the the sustained sequencial reads and writes mostly publised are important. However, so are the least published reads and writes OIPS spcifications at random 4KB. Quote from the link: "An SSD with good sequential read and write performance does not necessarily have good random read and write performance. Real-world workloads show that more than 50% of I/O transfers are small file sizes ( SONORE computer audio | opticalRendu | ultraRendu | microRendu | Signature Rendu SE | endPoint | opticalModule DX | Power Supplies | Link to comment
cfmsp Posted September 2, 2009 Share Posted September 2, 2009 Wake me when they've figured out how to erase data in much smaller chunks than 512kb, say, something much closer to the 4kb minimum page size than to the current 512kb minimum size for erasing. I really want to get one for my music server - I got one with my Macbook Air - but I'm trying to remain on the sidelines until they sort this out. Perhaps a good play is to assume whatever you buy now will only be amortized over 12 months? clay Link to comment
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