SSD yes or no.

Hello Guys and Galls,

So, here´s my story:

I was browsing the internet looking for good info about the m11x, and then google found me this superb forum. After a bit of browsing on the forums, i decided to buy the m11x.

Ordered on the: 29-07-2010
EDD: 24-08-2010
DOA: 09-08-2010

So that was pretty nice!

This is my set up:
M11xR2
i5
4gb ram
160gb hdd 5200 rpm
bluetooth 2.1

Called with a dell sales person, and got it for a total of 913 euros incl. taxes and shipping cost. Which is an awesome price, because the R2 starts at 999 euros, so i got like a 200 euros discount. (holland)

But, let´s get to the point. I chose for the most standard HDD because i was thinking of upgrading it to a SSD, and as i read here the ones dell uses aren´t that good.

So a few questions, i hope you don´t mind helping me out.

Q1: I´m using the m11x for college, and casual gaming. (WoW and CoD6) So is it worth it upgrading?

Q2:If so, which one to buy? I found 3 SSDs in the range of 200 euros that had comparable speccs.

OCZ vertex 96 gb
Intel Postville X257m 80gb
WD digital silicon edge 128 gb

Q3: Hows the lifetime of a SSD compared to a Normal HDD?

Q4: How important is firmware/trim?

Q5: Whats the best way to put windows on it? Using a backup usb, the alienware CD or ? And will it then have the alienware login screen etc?

Q6: How much GB would you suggest for the HDD? Windows 7, WoW, and CoD6. (would use a external for music etc.)

Would really appreciate any help! And thanks for helping me chose for the M11x, it is really awesome and i love it. And if I had to chose again I would buy one without hesitating!

 

SSD is REALLY NICE.

If you want to have the best OS experience, choose Intel.

If you want great transfer speed and read speed, get OCZ

 

Would you mind explaining that? The intel is best for OS and OCZ is best for? I dont need it high transfer speeds, from drive to drive or something.

 

If I was buying an SSD, I'd go w/ Intel.

Then I realized I was too cheap to buy an SSD, and went for momentus XT x)

 

I read about that one, but a SSD is only 50 euros more.. and that´s only a small investment in the future.. right?

 

Intel has great 4K random reads/writes which is essential for an OS drive.

OCZ has great transfer/read rates.

Both are GREAT SSD's. You'll see huge improvements no matter which one you choose.

 

I know, but @ what size difference?

Even you have super fast ssd, it defeats the purpose if you lack too much space. I cheaped out because SSD I want was atleast 200gb+, and price was just too much for it.

 

Hmm ok, but would the intel be better for games aswell? I saw the intel / ocz have about the same read speed, but does write speed matter that much? I`snt it just for installing games and moving data?

And I don't need that much space, since I'm using a external drive for everything else..

 

I like to put a SSD in any kind of mobile PC for safety reasons. You can't go wrong with an Intel SSD and if space isn't an issue, a 80GB ssd for the OS and a couple of games is enough. For my netbook I have a 40GB and I back everything up in a 250GB external that I carry around in the bag with me. Gaming wise there isn't a big difference, it'll probably load maps etc a little faster than a 7200 rpm platter drive but that's it, no performance gains.

 

Same. I have a 40GB Intel X25-V in my m11x. Have steam games and all the essential programs installed with no problem.

 

What´s the best Intel x25 drive, and what´s the max hight of a drive 10 mm?

 

Yeah, the reviews on intel x25's I've read were good, while OCZ reviewers claimed it's customer support experience was poor.

 

Thought I'd answer your Qs:

Q1: I´m using the m11x for college, and casual gaming. (WoW and CoD6) So is it worth it upgrading?

A M11x-R2 might be a little overkill for both those games but who says that's a bad thing right? The main thing that it's versatile (for college) and can handle other tasks no problem. Gaming is just a huge plus for a laptop that small.

Q2:If so, which one to buy? I found 3 SSDs in the range of 200 euros that had comparable speccs.

OCZ vertex 96 gb
Intel Postville X25m 80gb
WD digital silicon edge 128 gb

I'd definitely go with the Intel. I've been using Intels for a long time and though they might not have as much space or speed (depends on the future of flash tech), they are very stable and have low failure rates.

Q3: Hows the lifetime of a SSD compared to a Normal HDD?
All drive eventually fail.

A mechanical drive can fail rather easily really (simple bump or fall can kill it). A SSD cannot be killed by that kind of action but can become slow when the flash cells are used repeatedly.

In a way it's like this: Mechanical drives= no lifespan with repeated writing but can fail if roughly handled when on, even off sometimes lol.

A ssd: A finite amount of writes before it starts to degrade (though by that time, you would most likely have most likely moved on to something better) but cannot be damaged as easily.

Q4: How important is firmware/trim?

I wont pretend I know exactly how trim works, I do know it's very important to the overall health of the SSD

Q5: Whats the best way to put windows on it? Using a backup usb, the alienware CD or ? And will it then have the alienware login screen etc?

I like to use the CD that came with it and an external drive to load the OS. The AW login etc will have to be manually put into the system. A quick search for AW wallpapers etc will give you good results.

Q6: How much GB would you suggest for the HDD? Windows 7, WoW, and CoD6. (would use a external for music etc.)

40-80GB minimum

Intel SSD height is 7mm

 

Hmm thanks for the info man! I think ill buy a Intel X25, but still dont know which version of the Intel X25 (m, v, are there more?). And i saw a link to alienware login etc. in another HDD Q thread.

 

Q1: I´m using the m11x for college, and casual gaming. (WoW and CoD6) So is it worth it upgrading?

YES YES YES YES YES

Q2:If so, which one to buy? I found 3 SSDs in the range of 200 euros that had comparable speccs.


Intel Postville X257m 80gb (OR A ssd WITH THE sANDfORCE CONTROLLER)


Q3: Hows the lifetime of a SSD compared to a Normal HDD?

You will be getting rid of your system LONG before your ssd. An SSD simply blows away the lifespan of a HD.

Q4: How important is firmware/trim?

Always make sure the firmware is up to date (especially with a OCZ (Yuk)) and TRIM will take care of itself.

Q5: Whats the best way to put windows on it? Using a backup usb, the alienware CD or ? And will it then have the alienware login screen etc?

The best way is a clean install as there have been countless of people who have cloned only to realize the ssd performance wasnt up to par. They ended up with a clean install anyway.

Q6: How much GB would you suggest for the HDD? Windows 7, WoW, and CoD6. (would use a external for music etc.)

You can trim down the ssd through optimization first and get rid of pagefile of u have enough RAM as well as hibernate and shut down system restore and this will get you back just under 9Gb. The best way to do everything is to follow an optimization guide and get to know your system and ssd.

 

To me the SSD question is really easy.

If you can afford it = YES!

If not, a 7200rpm will do just fine.

 

i would get a ssd , just gonna wait for them to get alittle cheaper

 

I think you are cheating yourself by ignoring the Dell SSD based on what you ma have read alone.

All SSD are so much faster and efficient than any hard drive that the differences between them are tiny compared to the differences between SSD and Hard Drives.

I have a 256gb Samsung as Dell uses in my M11x and could not be happier,especially considering the price!

I did not get mine with the SSD but found one and installed it myself.
To single out any SSD as bad just misses the "Big Picture" in my opinion.
I have the one people love to hate and it "Feels" just like the others that I use.

 

I don't know how you folks get away with such small drives. I live on my m11x, so I have 4 games, some music and a couple of movies on it. I'm already at 92GB used and That is without moving my entire MP3 collection over.

 

bang for buck
elitism
extreme
best of the best (and not some cheesy movie)

all reasons to nitpick technology. There are others too! As for storage space for some users they are moving from their prior laptop from 3-5 years ago... when storage space sucked. 80gb was common!

That said I do not have SSD I can dream about the diff though.

 

SSD is worth it. Online games or any game that makes frequent reads for maps or textures it is worth it. I love my SSD. Wish I could buy one with more space. Best wishes, StevenX

 

Hi friend, the momentus XT is really good as seagate says in the website?
Momentus XT | 7200 RPM | Seagate

what is the score on windows 7?

sorry for the bad english, i'm from Brazil

 

It's pretty good, but it's no SSD. Would I buy again? Hell yes.

 

nice, but what is the score on windows 7 for it?

thanks!

 

5.9 like most 7.2k drives.

 

i thought that was more because i have a Sony Vaio F i7 with a 500gb 5400rpm and it scores 5.9 too...

 

The score doesn't jusity is all I can say. I'm not here to convince you anyways x).

 

yes, after looking for some reviews i found that this hard drive is not good in benchmarks but in common use the performance is really like ssd hard drives.