New Laptop, SSD or not and which

iTent

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Hello people,

I am looking to buy a new laptop, and I found a nice looking model.
Its a XXODD laptop, which is a reseller of Clevo.

to summerise some of the specs:

Intel Core i7 720QM (4 cores, 8 threads, 1,60GHz, 2,80GHz Turbo, 6MB)
CHIPSET Intel PM55
VIDEO ATI Mobility Radeon 4570, 512MB GDDR2 VGA
Memory 4GB DDR3 1333Mhz (2x 2GB)

with a 6 cell battery

Website with full specs (Google Translate)

The machine will need to be able to run a couple of Virtual machines

Now my issue is, SSD or no SSD.

I can get

120GB Serial-ATA Solid State Drive G1
64MB cache buffer
260MB/s read, 180MB/s write

for 312 euro (~460,- USD)

After informing I found out its from Team Group
I have never heard of this group and for some reason am unable to find any benchmark or review.

Now I wonder, is this a good idea, or should I get a normal disk and order an SSD myself (suggestions please, heard intel one is populair currently)

Or do you say, skip SSD entirely

This laptop only holds one 2.5" drive and it will have to do as my system drive and some storage.
It does have an ESATA port to I could get an external hard disk should I run out of space for Virtual Machines and what not

I hope I can get some help here, searching the internet for 2 days without finding results is demoralising
 

iTent

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First of all, thanks for the reply

I would say a budget of about 1500 euro

With that SSD the laptop would be 1388 so within budget

Most people tell me an SSD is the best upgrade you can get for any PC or notebook which sounds very tempting
As said before, if storage becomes an issue I can always attach a E-Sata (or even USB) hard disk its not really my main concern

 

sub mesa

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If you do pick an SSD, do pick a good one. The MB/s performance is misleading and it obscures true performance in IOps. The Intel products far exceed other SSDs in performance. The Kingston SSDNow V 40GB boot drive is a derivative of the Intel SSD and features the same controller, so its a cheap alternative of around $100.

But the best SSD right now is still Intel X25-M G2 80GB.
 

iTent

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Sadly, I can't easily get my hands on a 80 Gb model (without importing, silly country this is)

I can however get the Intel X25-M SATA II, 160GB | SSDSA2MH160G2R5

That's the non boxed version

I would assume the performance should be the same?
 

sub mesa

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Looking at the model number it has G2 in the name so its the newest version yes, so the performance would be the same as the 80GB model, just more expensive (though slightly less expensive per gigabyte of storage).

In my country the 80GB model is available and in stock, but it seems that doesn't count for all local areas. Did you try webshops?
 
The 160 gig vs the 80 gig is sligthly faster (mainly on the less important Seq writes with the new Firmware (WHEN INTEL GETs it Fixed) . Boosts the 160 more than the 80 gig version.

Anadtech Quote
Alongside TRIM there’s one more surprise. If you own a 160GB X25-M G2, Intel boosted sequential write speeds from 80MB/s to 100MB/s:
End Quote


??? The R5 is for a "Boxed" Version
 

sub mesa

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Yeah okay there are minor differences, but if the controller would have double the amount of channels it could also have been roughly twice as fast, and that's not the case unfortunately. Maybe with next generation SSDs, the bigger the capacity the higher the performance.
 

iTent

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Yes, I just noticed

Assumed it was not, the website I will order it from has two versions listed

The R5 and the C1, the C1 is 40 euro more expensive.

Guess they mass bought R5's

As for webshops, yes can't get SSD's in normal stores, and if you could it would be way more expensive than the webshops.

Thanks for the replies, I think I will order my laptop with a 500 Gb Sata II drive, put in the intel 160 gb and put the 500Gb in an ESata enclosure.
 
I have this one - Looks great, SMALL ( fits in shirt pocket) works Ok. Does not have external PS connection. Have to use the USB for power when using sata connection. Comes with a great caring case.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817159090

Also Have one simular to this one
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182182

Alittle larger, but has a power input and mine has a small on/off switch.

But just about any will do, just stay away from any that have a rather High Negative.