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    Boot Times for SATA vs SSD

    Discussion in 'Acer' started by Binables, Dec 19, 2016.

  1. Binables

    Binables Notebook Enthusiast

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    Right now it's between the Acer Aspire R15, 1T of storage & probably the i5, unless someone convinces me I should get the i7, and the Dell XPS with either a 1T of storage + 16 or 32GB SSD or one with a 256GB SSD. But I'm wondering just how much faster would the Dell be in loading pages & downloading YouTube vids, etc. And since I have not owned a computer in awhile, how long can I expect boot times to be?
     
    Binables, Dec 19, 2016
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  2. Galm

    Galm "Stand By, We're Analyzing The Situation!"

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    The ssd will be the largest gain for boot times and usage. I strongly recommend one and avoid the hybrid drives in the XPS. Hybrid drives don't tend to be reliable and are slower than a real ssd. It's nearly 10 times faster with an ssd, the computer is far snappier.
     
    Galm, Dec 19, 2016
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  3. Binables

    Binables Notebook Enthusiast

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    Wow! I'll make a note. But since I'm not a power user-- just get on it once or twice a day for a bit of web-surfing, emailing & YouTube video viewing--I'm not sold on the idea that I gotta have the SSD. Do you know how long it would normally take for these machines to boot or download a short (10 min) video?
     
    Binables, Dec 20, 2016
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  4. downloads

    downloads No, Dee Dee, no! Super Moderator

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    Boot times are not really relevant - you do this once and then the computer stays on for hours. It doesn't matter that much if it takes 7 seconds or 30 seconds. What matters is what happens afterwards - how snappy computer is, how quickly do the applications start and close - to put it short - responsiveness.

    You don't need to be a power user to appreciate this - you will keep opening and closing different applications and you will keep using them - you will see the difference. I bet you you will find no experienced users on this forum that will tell you SSD is not worth it.

    As for how long it would take to download a video - this is not a HDD/SSD dependent task, so it won't matter. It will take the same time which will depend on your network connection and/or server speed.

    If it makes sense to buy a computer with HDD and then upgrade to SSD rather than buy one with SSD straight off the shelve, do that, but trust me - you will like SSD a lot.
     
    downloads, Dec 20, 2016
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    ellalan likes this.
  5. Binables

    Binables Notebook Enthusiast

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    Fantastic response, downloads. I'm narrowing my choices. Thank you for the cogent explanation.
     
    Binables, Dec 20, 2016
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