I have an early 2011 MBP,17" with 500gb hd,and now I am running out of space. Was either thinking an external hd or upgrading to a SSD drive. External cheaper,but SSD I think would be a better option just because great performance. What are some good external drives, how about SSD's? I want to get something so I won't have to worry about running out of space again. Thanks for the help. John.

 

You would be looking at about $380 for a Samsung 1TB ssd when they are on sale (often).

That said, what is filling up the MBP? Do you NEED it all on the local drive? If you can offload a lot of the files (old movies you don't watch, etc..) then you can obvously look at lower size (and cost) Samsung SSDs. I use the Samsung ssds exclusively and find them to be very good balance of performance and reliability.

SAMSUNG 840 EVO MZ-7TE250BW 2.5" 250GB SATA 6Gb/s 1x nm Samsung Toggle DDR 2.0 3-Bit MLC NAND Flash Memory (400Mbps) Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) - Newegg.com

 

Yes, get that one. I upgraded my '11 MBP (which I gave to my mother, the good son I am) and put an SSD in it. Reduced the noise/heat and increased the battery life. Oh and it's fast. Fast enough for most day to day tasks.

Money well spent.

 

Mostly files for work, there are some pics and movies that I can delete. Thanks for the link, I will check them out

 

You have 500GB of work files stored locally? Wow.

 

Small SDD upgrade internally. Large external HDD for backup. So...< $250 total for say 256GB SSD and a 3TB external? Winner.

Edit: Or go even cheaper, add an internal SSD, and buy an external enclosure for your current 500GB.

 

Yep, SSD is to speed up the laptop and large external for storage. My super old HDX16 laptop with SSD to this day works like a charm.

 

I have a 2001 iMac with an SSD in it

Since there were no fans in the computer it is completely silent

 

^Lol. Surprised it even recognizes it.

 

SSD all the way.

 

I used to call my porno "work files" when I did a lot of traveling.

 

I remember paying $250 for the Intel 80gb SSD when it was the fastest consumer drive on the market

 

I remember when SSD was a venereal disease.

 

I still remember paying $350 for a 350MB (yes MB) hard drive and being damn happy for the deal I got. Another epic purchase takes us back to the late 80s where I spent around $200-$300 for a 1200bps modem.

 

I remember my Dad buying me a second HD, it was twenty MEGABYTES