How is the SSD that Dell puts in the M17x?

Well, I'm still on the fence about what laptop to get, but ideally I want to end up with an SSD boot drive and a HD storage drive if I get a machine that is capable of having more than one drive. Dell unfortunately does not provide this as an option you can order for the M17x.

So, assuming I buy the second caddy parts, if I order the M17x, I would either get it with an SSD (buying a 500 gb 7200 RPM HD separately), or do more work and buy it with the 500 gb 7200 RPM HD and then switch it out for an Intel 25-M SSD later, making the HD the storage drive. If the SSD Dell is providing with the M17x is decent, then I would likely just go with the first choice and save myself some reformatting time. I'm still a bit skeptical of using another SSD as the storage drive, but if people have had good experiences with the SSD Dell is providing maybe I'd order it in the RAID SSD configuration.

 

the SSD's average 210mb read so they are pretty good


they are Samsungs


Also the SSD's are cheaper to buy through Dell then anywhere else(only when you configure it)

 

The SSD dell uses for the M17x are one of the better drives out there for both read and write speeds.

 

^ proof?

 

I ran a test on the 256gb SSD Dell provides and the numbers I got are very close to Tom's Hardware test of the Samsung 256gb SSD. They only have one currently so you can't miss it.

Basically, you are looking at average of 190mb read and 175mb write on my machine.

What's really amazing with the SSD though is the speed to copy multiple files at once. Where the HDD just slows down and call for help, there is not one single drop of perf with the SSD from Dell.

It's well worth the $400.

 

From what I've read, I concur. The SSD options on the M17x appear to be excellent and one feature that gives it a leg up on the more pricey options available from Clevo.

 

no need to prove anything that can be searched for on your own.

 

Well, I guess the next question is whether it's worth getting these in raid 0 configuration, as this is the only multiple-drive configuration Dell offers. I've never configured any of my drives in raid 0, so I'm still thinking one SSD for the boot drive and one HD for storage is a better option for me.

 

That's what I did. I'm happy.

 

Mandrake, did you just order the caddy for the second drive and then get the hard drive elsewhere?

 

if you have the money 2x SSD in Raid 0 is worth it but if you don't have the money the best bang for the buck would be a small ssd drive for the OS and commonly used Apps, and a 7200rpm drive for the rest.

 

Of course it will be worth it but would it be worth $800 for the RAID0 config. I am not so sure...

I think the best right now is getting that 256gb SSD from Dell and putting a HDD once you get your PC for storage.

I suspect with all the new SSD coming out in the next few months that by Christmas we will have 256gb SSD for under $300...

 

I actually ordered a handful of the 500GB hdd when Dell had them on sale which was about a week before the M17x went on sale. I called them to get the second hdd bracket.

 

The reason I ask is that I've read elsewhere about the lack of longevity of the current SSD's on the market (as well as the negatives associated with repeated deleting and rewriting to portions of the SSDs). My assumption would be that using a SSD for storage where you are installing and uninstalling lots of games/programs/files/etc., would not be beneficial to the drive's longevity and speed.

I'm also to overly fond of RAID 0 and the risks associated with the chance of one drive going bad. I don't think I'm convinced that there would be that much of a noticeable speed increase, especially considering how fast SSDs are already.

 

Question...will you notice a difference in speed when copying from SSD to HDD (or vise versa) vs copying between two HDD's?

Thanks

 

Too many variables to answer this question correctly.

 

Well, I've joined the bandwagon and made my order! Went with one SSD, and as I got a great price from Dell on the hard drive I got that from them too. I will hopefully join the owners group in about 20 days. Thanks for the advice.

 

The longevity issue for SSD is really a non-issue. Are expecting to keep your M17X for longer than 4 years??? Even if you are, you will be able to switch SSD in 4 years and get a 1TB SSD for $90... (Yes, I am pulling this out of my ) but nonetheless it would be very close...


The truth is SSD does make a real performance increase for the OS, it's simply the best so far.

 

MTBF for the Samsung SSD's are 1,500,000 hours

It comes out to something like if you thrashed your drive and wrote to it for 6 hours per day it will last 30 years.. lol

 

Exactly, the truth is unless you are using SSD for servers than you should have nothing to worry about...

 

Most of the time your aren't writing anything to your disk.

So, yeah.... SSD's will most definitely outlast your system.

 

Hello there, did you optimize your drive for Vista64 or are you using it as shipped?
I received my alien 2 weeks ago but was out of town and just started tweaking.

 

if i have already had a SSD 256 in my M17x, soon after i add another SSD 256in to it, how do i setup the Raid 0 ? is it possible ?

 

Yes. It's in the bios. Under Advanced > SATA operation. Change the setting to RAID and once you do that you will see a raid configuration option when booting. Go into that menu and setup RAID 0 by following the onscreen instructions.

 

test with 1M block's




awesome access time and read/write speed

 

I ordered my M17x with the 250GB 7200 rpm drive to save money but am really tempted down the road to get one of the Corsair P128 drives as these are getting amazing reviews and have the awesome samsung controller. Any thoughts? I will be doing this in a couple months most likely so I will probably end up with an even better drive than the P128, but as of today it looks NICE

Also, about the 1,500,000 MTBF claim, this is TOTAL BULL$HIT as they have no way of knowing....it is just marketing. The drives haven't been out or in research for nearly long enough to back claims like this up. I would only plan on using a drive for as long as the warranty period (2 years for the Corsair I mentioned).

 

You can still buy the drives from Dell and keep them under warranty with the system....and it should even be cheaper. I know I can get the 256 Samsung right now from Dell for $400.

 

Can you provide a link for where to get the drive as a "part" from Dell. Couldn't find this on their site. That is an excellent price given the performance numbers I have heard. I would have expected twice that (the Corsair P256 is $700 with similar performance)

Also, what is the exact model number for the Dell SSD's (samsung)?

 

Dell links don't always work. Follow Home & Home Office › Accessories › Storage, Drives & Media › Hard Drives - Internal › Solid State Disk (SSD)

Dell part# 341-9999. Lists as $479. Find a 15% off E&A coupon and it goes down to $400.

The Corsair P256 better have similar performance since it's the EXACT SAME DRIVE. Corsair just put their label on it.

 

OK, that is what I suspected (the same internals) since the same Samsung controller, cache, and storage cells haha

Sounds like an all around awesome drive and with Dell's price it is easy to see what I will be buying...

What is this E&A coupon?

 

Electronics and Accessories coupon. Dell sends them to people every once in a while. You should get one since you purchased a system from them.

 

awesome, I will definitely get this, THANKS

+rep

 

No, it isn't some made-up number that Samsung just throws out there

If it was why wouldn't they say 3 million hour MTBF? Please refrain from spewing if you don't know how they come up with these numbers.

The actual MTBF comes from the memory chip fabs (not sure but I think Samsung uses their own MLC chips in the PB22-J SSD). They know how long and how much data can be written to the chip before it becomes unreliable. The drive the chips are in may be new but the fabs have been making memory for a long time.

Believe me when I say they have plenty of testing labs in their facilities....

 

I trust that they test the bejesus out of the stuff, my point is simply that there isnt a way to fully validate a claim like 1.5 million hours yet....don't get me wrong, I am sure these last a hell of a long time, the consensus seems to be 10+ years of moderate to heavy use without any worrying