How much is an SSD worth over a single HDD?

I'm looking at buying a new M17x soon, and I'm trying to determine the importance and/or usefulness of a 256GB SSD. I know people would suggest buying a cheap HDD and replacing it with an SSD off ebay or something, but I honestly wouldn't have the slightest clue how to do something like that, and honestly the idea of replacing something that important on my own makes me think I'll screw something up lol. I'm mainly talking about the purchasable upgrade from .Dell.

Is it anywhere near worth the extra $$$? What kind of difference will I really see?

Thanks

ALSO: Would it be worth getting only a single GTX 260M and the SSD over dual GTX 260m's and an HDD?

 

You'll see a MASSIVE difference in boot time, loading times and the such. You'll also likely see a small increase in frame rates for games as well, but just like 1 or 2 frames. It is also far more reliable, it'll last far longer and takes a lot of hits to break, compared to a very fragile hard drive...

It's your choice if that is worth the extra $$$.

 

dual 260's and normal hdd's

I use dual 250gb hdd's in my m17 and have no complaints, i would have guessed for the performance the 260's were better then the ssd

 

Purchasing it directly from Dell also allows it to be covered under the warranty.

Regarding if it's important the answer is yes. The slowest part of any system will always be the disk. The money question usually depends on the individual buying it. For me the extra $400 for 256GB SSD is worth it. Other won't buy it until the price is on par with non-SSD disks.

 

Sorry, didn't see it. People have said getting an SSD for your PC is a really nice upgrade, but there is no way it's worth getting a single 260 and an SSD over dual 260s and a hard drive. Installing an SSD later should be fairly easy, there are plenty of guides on it. (I plan on getting an Intel 80GB or 160GB X25-M SSD this christmas, it's pretty much the highest performing SSD on the market)

 

exactly same for me, ssd is too much money compared to getting dual cards in my m17

another example is the cpu, i literially just brought one for £250 compared to £900 Aw wanted

 

Ok, so if the SSD is, in many cases, worth the upgrade, how necessary is the 256GB SSD versus the smaller 128GB SSD? The price difference is $200, and I'm looking to save money wherever I can.

 

well that really depends on how much data you want to store on it

 

I'm honestly not too familiar with how much space any given application takes up.. I do play games and listen to music on iTunes and whatnot, but I don't know exactly how much space that will use.

 

if you're conservative with the number of games you install, 128GB will do just fine. I currently have about 10gigs of music, the OS (about 30gigs), some data (under 1gig), some other applications (10gig) and the rest games. still means you can have at least 3-4 games installed at the same time, and you don't really need any more anyway.

 

Very helpful, thanks.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solid-state_drive

 

Why don`t we have a SSD build option in the uk as i heard the Samsung SSD that Dell/Alienware use has been getting rave reviews ?

http://configure.euro.dell.com/dell...s=dhs&sbc=laptop-alienware-m17x&~lt=alienware

 

That's not the only difference. I can only guess that since the systems are built in different locations parts availability is different.

On a side note the Corsair P256 is a rebadged Samsung.

 

What other differences have you spotted with the M17x between whats available to US customers and whats available to European customers apart from the big price differences where we seem to be paying more in the UK for an M17x.

 

I know processor and memory options are different.

 

Where are the european/uk models assembled and shipped from ? I can`t see why it would be so difficult to offer UK customers a SSD option.

 

Someone posted before that they are made in Poland. I don't know that for sure but I do know the ones shipped to the US are coming from Malaysia.

I would be upset about not getting to upgrade to SSD also. Much cheaper as an OEM upgrade option than to go out and buy something similar retail.

 

Do you reckon they will offer the option at a later date to European customers? I would rather have a SSD direct from the factory than have to buy one at a later date for obvious reasons, i wonder if you rang Dell explaining you were planning on spending a lot of money with them but only if they offered a SSD option on the M17x, do you think that would have any influence on them changing their minds to include one for UK and European customers ?

 

If their not offering upgrades to more expensive options there has to be a reason. Supply makes the most sense. I doubt there are legal reasons but you never know.

As far as having them in the future, Dell will change what options systems have from time to time because of supply and/or compatibility issues.

 

One more question... Is there a noticeable heat difference in the computer's body when being used at a decent capacity? As there are no moving parts, it will obviously run cooler, theoretically, but is the difference noticeable?

 

I'd be interested to hear opinions on BomberMan's question.

Also, the SSD price jumped significantly recently. Someone else noticed this and posted on it but I can't find that post at the moment. Anyone know why the steep rise in price? Is there a shortage?

Thx.

 

flash memory costs seem to fluctuate a lot. They must me on the rise right now.

 

is this a good deal? Intel X-25M 160GB SSD for $400

 

Hey Stig, They do have the option to buy 2x 256GB SSD's Raid '0' in the UK, you have to order over the Phone or via the Chat system. This is what I did. The upgrade cost is £600 as of 30/11/09

 

Rave? Samsung? I think not. http://anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.aspx?i=3631&p=19

 

When Intel announced its G" drives there was a lot of interest. Then they had to pull them because of a firmware problem. When that go fixed there was a slow dribble of the drives - to small to meet demand, especially in the US. That meant that some suppliers (Newegg spring to mind) could really boost the price. I wouldn't be surprised if other manufacturer's drives went up at the same time.

Now that supplies are increased a price drop seems likely.

 

If you play MMOs, you will notice a huge difference in the ammount of time it takes to 'zone' into many areas also.... just be carefull zoning into hostile areas! I zone so quick on some games I am in and dead before the first of my party makes it in.

 

Maybe. Used be surprised how many different versions of this drive there are. There is even one version that doesn't fit in notebooks! Post a link to it if you can or provide the whole model number.

 

actually found a better deal for $350 trying to get the model number right now. its just off of local craigslist. its advertised as new but i don't really know if it is. but will post a model number once i hear back from the seller.

 

Same here. For HD media files I put them in External HHD.
If youre on budget then go for SLI. SLI is a must and thats a main reason to buy M17x over M15x.
If money is not an issue then SLI + SSD.
SSD is by far more reliable than SSD. You will not see hiccup in media playback when you hit your lappy. A lot more quite. Save some extra battery.
And yup, incredible boot time.

 

Mandrake got the model number could you tell me if this could go into my M15x.Model # SSDSA2MH160G2C1

Thanks for any help