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    Studio XPS 13/16 SSD

    Discussion in 'Dell XPS and Studio XPS' started by hotfusion, Jun 25, 2009.

  1. hotfusion

    hotfusion Notebook Consultant

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    hotfusion, Jun 25, 2009
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  2. sleey0

    sleey0 R.I.P. AW Side Topics

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    Both the 128 and 256 SSD's that Dell is using are Samsungs (I know the 256 is the recently released PB22-J which is one of the best SSD's available).
     
    sleey0, Jun 25, 2009
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  3. Cin'

    Cin' Anathema

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    I'm currently toying around with EPP config's on the 1340, and so is my dedicated EPP Rep..is the 256 SSD well worth the price? :D

    Cin ;) :)
     
    Cin', Jun 26, 2009
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  4. Commander Wolf

    Commander Wolf can i haz broadwell?

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    These pictures are antiquated. As far as I know, Dell hasn't used SanDisk SSD since they started making D630s. All the drives should be Samsung now, though you may still get a first or second generation Samsung MLC. I think even the Samsung SLC is getting phased out...

    Yep. The 256GB drive is the second generation Samsung MLC. The 128GB drive(s) may still be using the older controller.

    Depends... what's the price?
     
    Commander Wolf, Jun 26, 2009
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  5. Cin'

    Cin' Anathema

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    I believe full specd after discounts should be around $1400, I will post the specs around lunch time today ;)

    Cin ;) :)
     
    Cin', Jun 26, 2009
    #5
  6. hah2110

    hah2110 Notebook Consultant

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    SSD is well worth it. My computer boots in like 20 seconds.
     
    hah2110, Jun 26, 2009
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  7. Badal

    Badal Newbie

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    I know this is an OLD thread. However, I am considering a 128 GB SSD for my new sxps 16, and would like to know if they still ship them with old controller or is it the second generation MLC?
     
    Badal, Dec 13, 2009
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  8. smjohns

    smjohns Notebook Consultant

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    To be honest, you would be better off requesting the laptop with a standard small capacity drive and then upgrade to SSD yourself. I installed the Intel 160gb X-25M and it absolutely flies. If you order from Dell (as with memory upgrades) you will pay over the odds and are not guarranteed what drive you will get. If they are fitting Samsung, then unfortunately these aren't the best drives on the market. The controller is better than the first generation but it is still not a match for the Indilinx (OCZ, Crucial, etc) / Intel offerings.
     
    smjohns, Dec 14, 2009
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  9. Badal

    Badal Newbie

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    ^ Interesting.

    I know usually the upgrades are expensive, but this was a little over $150 for 128 GB hard drive, and that's going to be cheaper than this size SSD I can afford for a while.
     
    Badal, Dec 14, 2009
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  10. ikjadoon

    ikjadoon Notebook Deity

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    Some people, *cough*you*cough*, got legit prices. Mine was well over $200 to get the 128GB.

    ~Ibrahim~
     
    ikjadoon, Dec 14, 2009
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  11. funky monk

    funky monk Notebook Deity

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    I want the new 1tb pureSI SSD when it goes down in price :D
     
    funky monk, Dec 14, 2009
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  12. Commander Wolf

    Commander Wolf can i haz broadwell?

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    At this point in time, I would think that the odds of your getting the new controller are pretty high. I feel like I read about someone getting a 64GB drive with the newer controller fairly recently, so such should probably be the case with the 128GB drives as well.

    No guarantees with these things, though.

    I would still second buying your own, too.
     
    Commander Wolf, Dec 14, 2009
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  13. Ollie222

    Ollie222 Notebook Consultant

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    My XPS 1645 was delivered at the start of Dec and it's 128mb SSD has the following details.

    Samsung SSD PB22-JS3 2.5
    Firmware VBM19D1Q

    Other than it being too small for me I'm very pleased with it and it only cost me £30 ($45) to upgrade when I ordered mine hence me going for it.
     
    Ollie222, Dec 14, 2009
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  14. Badal

    Badal Newbie

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    I will bite the bullet and get the SSD now, and upgrade in a year when (as people say) they will be half the price.

    That really helped, Thanks!
     
    Badal, Dec 14, 2009
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  15. superj

    superj Notebook Geek

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    Any of you guys know if I can remove the slot loading DVD drive and install a big hard drive in that bay? If I could, an SSD would be much more lucrative. I hate to give up 500GB of storage.

    A friend of mine has new MacBook Pro with SSD, that he rebooted in 12seconds in front of me. SSDs seem like a huge performance boost.
     
    superj, Dec 14, 2009
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  16. ikjadoon

    ikjadoon Notebook Deity

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    Yeah.....the links for the bay have been posted a lot on the forums, do a quick search, should find it soon. But it's certainly possible.
     
    ikjadoon, Dec 14, 2009
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  17. funky monk

    funky monk Notebook Deity

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    At their current rates SSD's will probably be faster than RAM in a few years :p
     
    funky monk, Dec 14, 2009
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  18. ikjadoon

    ikjadoon Notebook Deity

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    Well...let's say that's pretty unlikely in just a few years. Maybe decades. I think SSDs now can put out, what, 250MB/s maximum on sequential reads? The memory in my system (DDR3/1333MHz) puts out 10.67 GB/s. DDR3/2000MHz (popular with overclockers) reaches 16GB/s.

    I would say SSDs have a far ways to go. It would be pretty nice, though, one day! :D

    ~Ibrahim~
     
    ikjadoon, Dec 14, 2009
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  19. funky monk

    funky monk Notebook Deity

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    Well some SSD's have got to the point now that they have to use PCI express since SATA isn't fast enough
     
    funky monk, Dec 15, 2009
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  20. toronto

    toronto Notebook Deity

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    On the Dell Canada site, to upgrade from standard 320GB SATA HD to the 128GB Solid State Drive is only $100. You can't buy a 128GB SSD for $100, so Dell's upgrade option is the more cost-effective way to get one.

    Dell's upgrade option to 256GB SSD is $500 which, while perhaps not as good a deal as the 128GB upgrade, is still likely cheaper than buying a 256GB SSD from another retailer.

    Also, there is an advantage to having all internal components from Dell if the laptop needs repair under Dell warranty. If everything is supplied by Dell, it's all covered by them and there won't be any issue of them suspecting that the third-party addon is to blame. That's not the most important criterion for deciding where to get the HD, but it is a valid consideration.
     
    toronto, Dec 16, 2009
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  21. funky monk

    funky monk Notebook Deity

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    Yes, but it's an upgrade from a hard drive which probably already cost almost $100 to begin with, what dell charges you for the SSD is the price of the existing hard drive plus the upgrade price
     
    funky monk, Dec 16, 2009
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  22. hanming

    hanming Notebook Evangelist

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    Some how dell gone mad. If i want to buy a 256gb ssd from dell alone, then it will cost me 849.99....i thought it was 479.99....strange :(
     
    hanming, Dec 16, 2009
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  23. buckZor

    buckZor Notebook Geek

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    Why can't you use the e-sata port for your fatty rotational storage?
     
    buckZor, Dec 16, 2009
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  24. toronto

    toronto Notebook Deity

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    I'm aware of how it works. How Dell works its pricing is somewhat irrelevant. The forum member I quoted said that it would be "better" to buy an SSD separately and install it yourself, claiming that it would be cheaper than getting it as an upgrade from Dell. Clearly, at least here in Canada, that is not true. It is much cheaper to select the SSD as a Dell upgrade rather than buying from a separate vendor.
     
    toronto, Dec 16, 2009
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  25. hanming

    hanming Notebook Evangelist

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    It is because the SXPS13's e-sata port has compatibility issues... :(
     
    hanming, Dec 16, 2009
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  26. toronto

    toronto Notebook Deity

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    If your eSATA port is not working properly, tell Dell and get it fixed under warranty.

    However, eSATA cables can be finnicky. They don't lock in place and the cable can easily become slightly dislodged, causing the connection to fail. In an audio-video forum I use, we've had discussions about eSATA drives suddenly not responding. It often turns out to be a slightly loose connector. In some cases the user is unable to get the cable to work anymore, and changing to a new eSATA cable solves it. In those cases there is nothing wrong with the port but, rather, it seems that some cables just don't fit tightly or permanently.
     
    toronto, Dec 16, 2009
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  27. ikjadoon

    ikjadoon Notebook Deity

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    I mean, that's true....but you'll remember that it took a 24 SSD RAID 0 to break 2GB/s.

    For SSDs to increase in speed to RAM, that'd be a 5x improvement needed. It's definitely going to happen, but I imagine it'll take quite some time.

    ~Ibrahim~
     
    ikjadoon, Dec 16, 2009
    #27