You can't go wrong with an SSD in a laptop, even if it isn't cutting edge.
I know there are lots of synthetic benchmarks out there that point to issues with write speed, with gradual loss of speed due to wear levelling, etc, but having used a laptop with a run of the mill Samsung SSD (Macbook 13") for almost a year now, I can honestly say that in real world usage, the SSD is a monumental upgrade over conventional laptop hard drives, even 7200rpm ones.
At their very worst, they are performing as well as a 7200rpm drive, without the heat, vibration, noise, or vulnerability to mechanical shock. In general though, the machine boots quickly, apps launch incredibly quickly, and anything that does lots of little file operations, benefits enormously from the very low seek times. When I have to work on a conventional laptop now, I am astounded at how badly mechanical hard drives perform in comparison.
So if you are on the fence, I highly recommend taking the plunge. You won't regret it. You won't even regret paying the SSD premium once you experience it on your own machine on a daily basis. It's that good. The 128 gig SSD in my Macbook was a $800 option, and I can honestly say I'd pay that again if I had to.
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-Scott
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With regards to laptop SSDs... While I'm certainly down with the performance, I need the size to come along before I'll consider switching. Crazy, I know, but I need the space. 256GB isn't bad, but I'm waiting for at least a 320(ish) one.
well i was thinking about buying another hard drive, but i think i'll just wait now until these start becoming available. an 80gb Windows/Games drive and my 500gb for storage, that'd work
Yeah, looks like they bumped it. 320 was supposed to be before the end of July (according to Tom's Hardware), now not until first half of 2010. Looks like I'll be waiting until next year. Good news is, with the larger capacity, they're also introducing another speed bump... bad news, is it will probably be pretty pricey.
Quote:
Winslow also addressed rumors circulating on Monday about higher-capacity drives. Intel will not introduce a 320GB SSD this year, he said. "What we decided to do is split 34-nanometer into a two-step process," he said. The first step will be to cost-reduce existing 80GB and 160GB drives. "And what we'll do later--and it's not even going to be this year but first half of next year--we will introduce, also on 34 nanometer, a performance enhancement and a doubling of the capacity," Winslow said, meaning that larger capacity drives, such as those over 300GB, won't appear until next year.
Whoops, I missed this. I'd want the drive for my macbook, so RAID is a no-go. I mean... I could take the DVD drive out and buy one of those 2nd-drive mounting kits I saw... I looked into them a few months back, and they sound pretty cool - but doing that opens up a whole can of worms with regards to the warranty.
Ncix.ca is the only place I've seen that even has it on their webpage at $274.99. Newegg has been gouging people since day one, and theirs is up at $359.99.
Memoryexpress doesn't even have this in stock and don't know when they will be.
Memoryexpress has a lot of other brands of SSD's, with OCZ supposed to be the fastest. i'm very tempted to pick one up, but i'm still wary of the degradation issues after extended use. i don't want my SSD to become slower than a HD after a few months of use
New SSD announced by Intel
