Pre-ASUS UL80Vt-A1 + SSD

Okay, so here's the dealio. I'm moving back to Texas, while driving, and I want a laptop to play on for the 2500 mile trip. (From Mid-washington to Mid-Texas) I know which Laptop I want, which is the hard part to figure out. I'm going for the ASUS UL80Vt-A1. The preset package will come with what is listed below:

Intel Core2Duo SU7300 1.3Ghz Dual-core (10Watt CPU)
4GB DDR3 1066 6-6-6-18 Memory, Dual-channel mode
320GB 5400RPM Sata II (3.0Gb/s) HDD
DVD+/-RW SuperMulti Optical Drive
nVidia GT 210M w/ 512MB DDR3 Graphics Chip + Intel GMA 4500MHD (Switchable Graphics)
14.1" Glossy-type LED Backlit screen w/ High Definition
8-cell Battery 5600mAh wattage
Weight: 4.5 Pounds With 8-cell Battery installed (2kg) for 12 hours battery life!

Advanced Listing here: http://www.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=oJ2UcCTkGd6GG7Rs

Anyways, enough about the stuff you guys know about. This monster will release at $849.99 MSRP to the consumers, and I can get it for slightly less (But thanks to ASUS maybe 20 or 30 bux less; I'm a reseller that gets special ASUS Promo's) but that's not what I am going for in this forum post...

My mind is made up, and I am going to get this model.

That baby is smoking as-is. Now, what I want to put in it... An SSD. I wanted to know if anyone here knows much about the SSD's? Intel's are a bit too expesnsive, as I want to go for at least 120GB which has the faster read/write speeds, and a better MLC chip to keep the lifespan longer. (Needed as this will be my work laptop!) I was thinking about the OCZ drives, which seem to be the second-fastest (Maybe?) on the market. I have this neat opportunity to get an OCZ Vertex 120GB for about $250, new, and that's a generous deal seeing as how they sell for $399.

That's issue number 1...


For issue number 2, I want to know how the math works for the performance. I know how to get the 12 hours battery life, and I know what can do what internally to help it out... And I know an SSD will give me more life, though not by much, but I'm more working on the performance. How much extra performance will this SSD help a computer with the above specs? It won't be storing too much data, but there's a way to determine the speeds. It has never been tested on this setup before, so I was wondering if anyone knew a good way to find out?

I will be wiping out the Win7 Home Premium it comes with (it releases on October 22 with Win7) and putting Win 7 Professional on it. Win7 has this neat feature that helps SSD's speed, so it will be a good use.

Thanks ahead of time.

 

You read my mind. I was thinking of doing the exact same thing. However, I'd take that opportunity to get the OCZ SSD for $250. With $250 I can only get a Kingston 128GB. From what I read it's not the fastest and uses one of those old chips.

 

Only thing I can think of trying is to see about undervolting the CPU, but already being a CULV chip it might not go much lower. I hope SSD does improve battery life, but I've read too many conflicting reviews to be sure of that, but it'll make the laptop seem faster and almost silent which makes the total package very nice

 

I'm not worried about the battery life. I'm a PC/Notebook technician, so I know tricks that will keep the battery life nice and high. I'm more worried about how much extra performance ~$250 will get me.

 

For Intel, Indilinx, and Samsung based drives, you will have noticeably faster boot up and shut down times and also faster loading times for large applications. Tranfer rates will be faster, especially for bigger files such as DVD rips or if you have lots of files that you work with on a regular basis. Plus, you will definitely get more battery life (dependent on other components and battery capacity, but it will be noticeable) and shock resistance while having less heat/noise.

 

M'kay. So which drive would be the fastest for around 250? I realized last night that I may stick with an 80GB drive, depending if the reads are faster. But for most of the "specs" I'm reading, all the 250 have a faster write time than read time.

So will the afamed Intel 80GB have a better spec readout than the OCZ Agility or Vertex? Or even then Samsungs? (at 120GB)

 

kyonu, check this comparison:
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/storage/display/ocz-ssd-roundup.html

It probably has all the performance information you need on the Intel, Indilinx and Samsung based drives.

 

make sure you look at power consumption.

Some ssds can use 5 watts at peak.

The intels dont even hit .5 watts.

 

Intel, Indilinx and Samsung are very close. In real life applications, the Intel will be slightly faster since it has the best random writes. But honestly, all three will be very close in terms of performance. Specifications don't really mean that much since they use sequential speeds, which aren't very useful to most people, unless you transfer a lot of files or large files often. In terms of power consumption, the Samsung is the winner by a small margin, just like how Intel is the winner by a small performance in practical performance. Really, it comes down to budget and needs. If one of the products is significantly cheaper, then it will be the best valued buy.

 

Wow that link is great! Looks like the second-gen Intel (32NM) is the way to go, huh? The 80GB version is available on Newegg for $299. It goes on sale periodically for 249, so I will probably pick it up then.

Otherwise, if you're saving data to a backup device, it will go about the same speed as the normal HDD, or will that be based on the SSD?

I think I will pull the trigger on that laptop tomorrow when it becomes available for purchase.

PS: Also on the otherhand, the old G1 Intel is constantly on sale for 239.99... Would that, price per performance, be a better bargain than the G2?

 

Okay, so I have ordered the ASUS UL80Vt-A1 through my store. It should arrive within 5-15 Business days (Depending on backorder status; apparantly our vendor has sold out of them once, but luckily got a second shipment. They did not know if they would have enough to cover the preorders...)

After that, I will try and get the OCZ 120GB Vertex SSD drive as it seems to have the best performance for the price. (Or at least, the price of 250 that I can get it at.)

I will let you guys know how it turns out.

 

I would really like to know how this turned out. I stumbled upon this thread b/c I want to do the same thing with the same laptop.
The only difference is that I intend to use the Corsair P128 CMFSSD solid state drive.