<geek thread> SSD in a laptop

Ken07AOVette · #1 12-29-2010, 10:45 PM

I just finished installing my first ever SSD and am getting things ironed out. I get tired of swapping drives every year or 2, and hope this is the answer. The prices are still ridiculous for SSD, 80 GB for $225.00 but if they last, well worth the money.

Anyone else try one yet/. Notice anything over platters?

Slannesh · #2 12-29-2010, 10:49 PM

Using one in my new gaming laptop... boot time from a cold start is about 15-20 seconds

WAY faster than a normal hard drive but all that speed comes at a premium cost in both money and storage space, thankfully the laptop I bought has a secondary hard drive so i've got a big slow drive for storage and the SSD for OS and program installs.

birchy · #3 12-29-2010, 10:51 PM

Haven't tried one personally, but have heard great things about them. Boss has one in his home laptop and says it's amazing.

For those who'd like one but aren't quite willing to foot that bill, check out the "Momentus XT" by Seagate. It's a hybrid drive and has excellent reviews.

Ken07AOVette · #4 12-29-2010, 10:53 PM

I read about the hybrid, not sure what to think about it, I think it is just a bigger cache, isnt it?

2 of my big laptops have 2 HDD slots as well, so I can run the smaller one for windows only, and the monster in the 2nd bay.

birchy · #5 12-30-2010, 09:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ken07AOVette

I read about the hybrid, not sure what to think about it, I think it is just a bigger cache, isnt it?

2 of my big laptops have 2 HDD slots as well, so I can run the smaller one for windows only, and the monster in the 2nd bay.

Not quite. This explains video explains it well. Not quite as fast as a dedicated SSD, but pretty close.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kss98VdhSj0

Oh, and I completely agree that if you're able, having an SSD for your OS, and then a HDD for your storage (if you have the extra bays) is the ideal solution.

diamonddave · #6 12-30-2010, 12:04 PM

.... I had no idea what you were talking about Ken, when I opened this thread, and I still don't........ But I have been told that I am one step down from a hillbilly so thats probably why.....

Ken07AOVette · #7 12-30-2010, 12:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by diamonddave

.... I had no idea what you were talking about Ken, when I opened this thread, and I still don't........ But I have been told that I am one step down from a hillbilly so thats probably why.....

SSD is a solid state drive, think of 80 flash cards from a camera shrunk down and stuck in a hard drive enclosure. No moving parts, so it 'should' never die, less heat, more durable, faster. HDD means of course High Density Drive which is comprised of rotating platters, the standard for hard drives since the onset.

OMG- I really am a geek......

I need to go kill something

Ken07AOVette · #8 01-30-2011, 02:41 PM

it's been in the laptop for 4 weeks, much faster, I like it.

When prices settle down, I am going to be putting them in some more computers

birchy · #9 01-31-2011, 08:07 AM

Good to hear! My next laptop will have one for sure..

horsetrader · #10 01-31-2011, 08:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by diamonddave

.... I had no idea what you were talking about Ken, when I opened this thread, and I still don't........ But I have been told that I am one step down from a hillbilly so thats probably why.....

I'm with you I had a hard enough time figuring out that coffee cup
holder that comes out when you push that little button.....

WCTHEMI · #11 01-31-2011, 09:45 AM

Been checking out the new Macbook Air, all SSD memory, seems to be lightning fast, despite not having a super-fast processor. Thinking I might be picking one up soon, just want to spend more time playing on one before I pull the trigger.

Ken07AOVette · #12 02-13-2011, 03:20 PM

I am still liking this one, only one hiccup so far, I blame windows.

Sputnik · #13 02-13-2011, 03:23 PM

Just bought 5 x Itronix GD8000 for work with SSD, two with 128GB and three with 256GB.

Will be setting up the work images this week with a company rep and our IT group.

Hoping for some of the same performance issues as have been mentioned here. Can't wait now.

mtylerb · #14 02-14-2011, 03:40 AM

I'm going to be getting an SSD with 80-120 GB's for my program partition and then a couple 2 TB HDD for redundancy when I get around to building my new 'puter. My old one is dead. Graphics card and motherboard toasted together to form a useless 24" paperweight. At least the HDD were recoverable.

Ken et al, let me know if you have any issues with your SSD. I'm interested in hearing how they hold up.

NoKlu · #15 02-14-2011, 03:59 AM

I built a gaming computer a year ago and I have a 60 gig SSD for the operating system and a couple of HDD's for the rest of the stuff. My best advice is to not buy a cheap SSD and learn all you can about them before you buy one. They get slower the older they get. They have a limited life span as well. Some are not as fast as a good HDD. The word is they will never replace the HDD because of the limitations they have. A really good place to get some in depth info on them is Hardware Canucks forum.

WCTHEMI · #16 02-14-2011, 11:44 AM

Picked up the Macbook Air last week and I am loving it so far! SSD sure seems to equal fast boot times and fast file access.

NaeKid · #17 02-14-2011, 02:15 PM

I have been running an SSD-based laptop for a few years now and I still have no problems with it, other than the screen is too small to see web-forums properly anymore (7 1/2" screen) so I need to hook-up an external monitor to surf.

Its got a very quick boot-up time (seconds, not minutes) from cold ...