Do I really need a SSD?

[asusx556u]

Hi,
I want to buy a laptop and here are the specs that I need

CPU: Intel Core i7 (7th gen or newer)
GPU: Nvidia GTX 1050 or 1050ti
RAM: 12GB DDR4
Storage: 1TB

And my Budget is around 900$.
But whatever store I go the tell me to get a laptop with an SSD on it, I know that SSD is much faster than HDD but here is what I need my laptop for:

Light video and photos editing
Some gaming
Virtualization (Virtual Machine)
And some of other school stuff

I personally don't think I need SSD but if I take one it doesn't make huge difference.

So do I really SSD?

 

[Nemanja Djordjic]

It will make huge difference, Windows will be a lot more fluid and startup will be a lot faster. SSDs aren't really good for games as there is no FPS difference. Try finding a laptop that offers both.

 

[USAFRet]

I would not have a laptop or PC without one (or more than one).

 

[asusx556u]

I know but my budget is a bit tight and I need the best bang for buck and I won't mind if windows takes 5 more sec to load

 

[Corwin65]

Having become a recent convert to SSD's I can say it's night and day.

For gaming, I play WOW mostly, and being able to load from place to place quickly lets me maximize my play time. It's more important to me than FPS (to a certain degree).

In general, I don't get the sluggishness that I would get after a while.

 

[feelinfroggy777]

Check out the Acer Predator Helios 300. It has a i7, 16gb RAM, and a 1060 with a 256gb SSD. It has room for another SSD or HDD for more storage. They cost around 1k, but have nice specs for a laptop.

Here is a helios 300 refurb on newegg for $780. That is a really good price for the hardware you get, it just depends on how you feel about refurbs.

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834316212&cm_re=acer_predator_helios_300-_-34-316-212-_-Product

 

[geofelt]

I know but my budget is a bit tight and I need the best bang for buck and I won't mind if windows takes 5 more sec to load

Do you really need a SSD?
Perhaps not, but anyone with one will tell you that they will never again buy a pc without a ssd.
It is not the startup time that makes a difference with a ssd.
First of all, laptop hard drives are optimized for battery run time, not performance.

A SSD makes everything you do quicker.
Apps open quicker, thumbnails appear instantly, browsing is quicker, maintenance takes half the time, and so on....

But, if you can find a laptop with a slow hard drive, it is often cheaper to buy your own ssd and replace the hard drive.

 

[quilciri]

I know but my budget is a bit tight and I need the best bang for buck and I won't mind if windows takes 5 more sec to load

An ssd makes the system much more responsive overall. Anytime you're starting a program, or loading a file, the ssd system will feel much better. And when memory needs to dip into the swap file, which happens very often, even on system with 16+GB of memory, having the swap file on an SSD will make it nearly unnoticeable. For this reason, you can also get away with having less RAM in a system with an SSD.

 

[SgtScream]

Not going with at least a Hybrid SSHD on a high end system like that will be huge mistake and will hold the system back if you game. For example I have a system with a hard disk drive and PUBG Finally loads when the plane is flying over the map. That is not good.

 

[Nemanja Djordjic]

Not going with at least a Hybrid SSHD on a high end system like that will be huge mistake and will hold the system back if you game. For example I have a system with a hard disk drive and PUBG Finally loads when the plane is flying over the map. That is not good.

I don't play games but yeah, SSDs only help in games is faster loading not higher FPS or smoother gameplay.

 

[jsmithepa]

Can always add-on later although less painful to have it from the get-go.