Mac laptops can only be configured with Solid State Drives now.  They haven't put spinning hard drives in laptops for several years, though you can get the SSD's up to 1terabyte in size.

The one exception you shouldn't waste money on: it's a single low end model that hasn't changed since 2012, heavy, with a slow processor and slow memory, low res screen, etc.  It's not a modern computer.  Even Apple's cheaper laptops take SSD's.

The fact that Apple, which has to service their own systems, has gone to all SSD's should tell you a lot.  SSDs have no moving parts so less prone to failure, especially in a laptop environment where they're subject to all sorts of physical stresses.  They're also roughly 5-10X faster than a spinning hard drive, use far less energy (which increases battery life in a laptop) and put off far less heat (which means less cooling and thus greater battery life in a laptop).  They also don't add vibrations and they take up a lot less space in the confines of a small laptop.

SSD's keep getting faster and even more reliable while the prices keep dropping precipitously.  There's only three hard drive manufacturers left in the world.  I'd be shocked if there were still production lines in 10 years.   I wouldn't be at all surprised to find them gone in five years.  

Arthur Gaer
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Senior Systems Manager 
Harvard University
Department of Mathematics
Science Center
1 Oxford Street
Cambridge, MA 02138




On Jan 13, 2016, at 1:38 PM, Adam Jazairi <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> The technology is similar (both are non-volatile solid-state memory), but
> the flash drives you'll find on a laptop nowadays generally have more
> storage than an SD card and are much faster. That said, a 1TB SSD will cost
> a premium compared to a 1TB HDD. It's been a couple years since I bought my
> Macbook Pro, but I think it was something like $200 extra just to upgrade
> from 128GB to 256GB.
> 
> On Wed, Jan 13, 2016 at 1:07 PM, CJB <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> 
>> Thank you - but aren't flash drives the same as SD cards?
>> 
>> But a 1TB conventional drive seems OK.
>> 
>> CJB
>> 
>> On 13/01/2016, Stewart Gooderman <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>> MacBook Pro 13” can be gotten with a 1 TB hard drive.
>>> MacBook Pro 15” can be gotten with a 1TB flash drive.
>>> 
>>> DrG
>>> 
>>>> On Jan 13, 2016, at 9:14 AM, CJB <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>>> 
>>>> BTW if anyone knows of a brand (not Lenova with in built spyware) that
>>>> offers laptops with proper hard-drives do let me know. As others have
>>>> opined re: SD cards aka solid state 'drives' of limited robistness,
>>>> please let me know.
>>>> 
>>>> CJB.
>>>> 
>>> 
>> 
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Adam Jazairi
> Digital Collections & Preservation Librarian
> Boston College University Libraries
> (617) 552-1404
> [log in to unmask]