Should I buy an SSD, which size and why?

steveomcl

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May 10, 2012
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Hey Guys I am new to this thread,

I have a SONY VAIO VPCEB4C5E
Ive had the laptop for a year now and I am in the market for upgrading it.

Current Specs:

Windows 7 Professional 64bit
CPU: Core i5 M480 2.67GHZ
Graphics: 1GB ATI Radeon HD 5650
Memory: 8 GB DDR3 RAM
Hard drive: 320 GB Serial ATA (7200 rpm)
Display: 1920x1080 15inch
Optical drive: Blu-ray re-writer

I have scheduled the Laptop to be cleaned inside and out and for a clean install of windows as I would like to get rid of VAIO bloat ware.

I was wondering If I should buy an SSD before I perform the clean install and what advantages it would have over my 320GB Serial ATA (7200 rpm) drive.

whats your opinion? Would spending £100- £200 ultimately give me a better experience?
 
SSD Advantages

Many of the advantages SSD drives offer are directly related to the very thing that makes them different from traditional hard drives: no moving parts. Mechanical failure is the No. 1 reason traditional hard drives often "crash." Over time, the moving parts that make up a traditional hard drive wear out or simply fail. Solid-state hard drives work more like the flash memory cards used in digital cameras and the thumb drives that have all but replaced CDs and floppy disks. They use no moving parts for data storage, so they have a lower failure rate.

Speed is another advantage of SSD hard drives. Start-up time and disk-read time is faster in SSD hard drives than in traditional hard drives, again because of no moving parts. Traditional hard drives are literally "disk" drives; they must spin up at start-up and while processing data. With no disk to cue up, SSDs start and read data more quickly. Another plus to SSDs' lack of moving parts: They make little to no noise, compared with traditional hard drives.I use a 128GB Crucial M4 and highly recommend it you can get them at newegg $124.99 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148442#top hope this helps good luck!




 

mmilner1

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May 10, 2012
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Adding a SSD was one of the best upgrades i've ever noticed on my PC, as the previous poster said 120GB should be the minimum size. If you can afford bigger then go for it but if money isn't quite the issue look at the REO drives using PCI express, transfer rates are smoking. As far as SSD brand OCZ is the fastest but less stable while Intel is the most stable but slowest, probably in the middle but rated very highly is the patriot. New models are being released now so these recommendations could already be old.
 

steveomcl

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May 10, 2012
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10,510
Thanks for the advice!

I am still wondering whether I should or not? Will for sake of argument the Samsung 830 have noticeable differences in boot up times and file transfer over the hard drive that i have?

As in is it worth the $180 price tag.......

Also will the Samsung 830 be compatible with my set up? Crucial recommended the M4 128GB however I don't mind spending more if the likes of the Samsung or the Intel are the faster and superior drives
 

steveomcl

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May 10, 2012
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10,510
thanks for all the replies

With all the SSD's mentioned above M4, 830, OCZ etc etc will they all be compatible with my system? and how hard are they to install?
 

You can look here to help you decide http://s3s-main.net/l2/67LPejdem34/30458119/2700350540.html
 

mmilner1

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May 10, 2012
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What you should know;

For one you most likely won't eliminate the need for a mechanical hard drive, especially if you need storage for music, videos' and games. 120 GB will get eaten quickly trying to store files. What i have personally assembled was an OCZ 120 GB as my main boot disk and a separate drive for storage. I keep my favorite games that i mostly play on my main for the speed and office, music and everything else on drive D.

Also when I mention stability, the one downside of SSD's is the blue screen or disk not found errors. I'll go over to my computer after it sat all night and see a disk not found error on my monitor, i reboot and everythings fine. This happens about 2-3 times a month, perhaps I need newer Marvell drivers but that means reloading windows again. It's annoying but SSD's are not 100% stable in that regard but getting there. With that said it seems the Intel SSD's are the most stable but also has slower transfer rates compared to OCZ who boasts the fastest transfer speeds but the more random crashes.

Dont let that scare you though, SSD's are incredibly fast, my PC now boots up in about 8 seconds compared to almost a minute on a regular hard drive, and in windows you click a file and there is no searching on the HD its just there. Awesome upgrade,


You can even look here in toms hardware and find the SSD's they recommend.
 
very easy here a video to show you how to install http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CIkBEBYwAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pcworld.com%2Farticle%2F192579%2Fhow_to_install_an_ssd_in_your_laptop.html&ei=TN-rT-i4EoaZiQLP65H2CA&usg=AFQjCNGfNlx2R9m7muT_2dep7qRhieTr8A&sig2=Gk0Ast0XTOhC48LoKtIqfQ and yes they all be compatible ;) don't forget to select best answer
 

steveomcl

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May 10, 2012
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I cant afford a 256GB drive atm. Ive had my laptop for a year now and ive used about 150GB out of the 320GB i have, note that includes 40GB of windows and a few GB of bloat ware....... I use the laptop mainly for Adobe design based programs, Autodesk and 3DS Max..... which are all hungry programs. I do have an external WD passport 1TB hard drive which I have barely used so I could use it more often if I had an SSD.

Ive also read about taking out the optical drive for the SATA drive together with the SSD as my laptop only has one main port.. although that sounds like a complicated expert process
 

steveomcl

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May 10, 2012
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10,510


Thanks for the video link it will prove very useful when it comes to upgrading. Im not sure if im overly confident doing it myself though. I might give it a go as Im always keen to learn new things and tinker with my laptop.

Now I just have the problem of deciding were to lean Intel/Crucial/Samsung or OCZ? confused.com
 

steveomcl

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May 10, 2012
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Ok guys thanks for all the great advice I know I ultimately have to choose myself but Id love a little push in the right direction. I intend to buy one of these now. here is my shortlist: ALL 120GB options

Patriot: Pyro
Crucial: M4
Samsung: 830
Intel: 530
OCZ: Agility 3
Mushkin: Enhanced Chronos

Id love some final advice I have around £150/$240 to spend
 
I went to the Sony web site in order to take a look at your laptop's specifications. I wanted to find out more about the laptop's port/connector for a storage drive before posting a comment. Unfortunately a SONY VAIO VPCEB4C5E is not listed at the official web site. It is also not listed as a discontinued item.

Do you have any information about the port/connection? What type of port/connector is it? Does it support SATA 3 6Gb/s ssd's or just SATA 2 3Gb/s ssd's?
 

steveomcl

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May 10, 2012
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Im not sure Johnny my laptop is a custom build of the Sony website I got it 12months ago this month! all I know is the hard drive that i currently have is what i stated in my first post. Serial ATA (7200 rpm)

I have CPU-Z would I be able to find any more info for you on there?

This is the info I would like to be sure off before I buy.