Apple macbook, solidstate H/drive option or not.

We weren't referring to external noise.

Any good hard drive is pretty quiet these days - especially those designed for laptops. The average amp is going to generate more signal path noise than a spinning hard drive.

If you're worried about physical noise I suggest using a network storage device and stuffing it in a closet. You can get significantly bigger (and cheaper) space with that approach. I saw a 1 TB NAS drive for $220 the other day at Fry's electronics. At that price, buy two and use one as a backup.

You might be interested in reading this:

http://www.audioasylum.com/forums/pcaudio/messages/3/39967.html

Gordon Rankin recommends the SSD and has posted instructions on AA as to how to install one in a Mac Book.

While I haven't seen any conclusive evidence either way, the users of SSD appear to indicate that the lack of a moving spindle decreases internal noise which somehow improves the playback despite the presence of a buffer. Whether this is accurate or not I'm not sure but once I get my Intel SSD later this month I'll put it to the test against my WD 1TB Green Power RAID1 array.

there is a buffer after the hard disk.no sonic differences between solid state and spinning hard disk. use a dac with good jitter removal circuit. buy the biggest hard disk you can.
Nikos

Andrew,

Yes, the solid state drive has no moving arts and saves on energy and heat as well as wear and tear, that said it's a fortune! I just bought the older model MacBook Air from MacMall for $1,149, for me, the 80G HD is enough for my laptop uses, I keep all my music on a separate HD on my main computer so when at home I can access it with the laptop if I want to. Either way, the 120 or 128 G HD is likely too small for a real music collection and you'll need an external drive. (my music collection is over 600Gs!)