XPS 1530 w/ 128Gb SSD

Hey all,

I got my XPS 1530 laptop with 128Gb SSD on Friday (also: 2.5GHz/Vista Ultimate/WUXGA+webcam/9-cell/8600M/Bluetooth/Verizon EVDO/finger scanner/yadda-yadda).

The drive seems "peppy" enough (especially compared to the old "beast" it's replacing), but I'm curious if any of you have suggestions of tests I should run (/results I should post). I suspect I'm not the only one curious how this thing really measures up.

I haven't added much to it yet (Firefox/Thunderbird), so I figure it's a good time to test. Also, I'll be writing Dell tomorrow for the 64bit DVD they owe me , so I'm going to keep the machine pretty "bare-bones" until that arrives.

Cheers,
:smile:
Brittnell

 

If you want to get the best performance, you should probably remove all the Dell bloatware, too.

I'm quite interested in the results myself, because I almost got one of those. For benchmarking, use HDTach and/or HDtune. You can google them.

 

Cool, thanks for the advice.

I'll try and grab the programs you mentioned today.

What, of all the Dell-specific stuff, is commonly considered bloatware? Dock and such?

 

Some trialware such as Roxio or other burner software, Microsoft works, and free stuff you may not want like Google desktop.

 

can we get some test benchmarks like boot time etc with the ssd

 

Which make / model SSD did you receive

ATTO is a good HD benchmark.

Defragging an SSD is not necessary, in fact it is probably even a bad idea.

 

SAMSUNG SSD RBX Series 1

What's the best (/most accurate) way of measuring boot time? I'd like to do something other than, "one-onethousand, two-onethousand, three...".

 

Stop watch would work. It doesn't have to be an exact science.

 

Does this help?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FTJN0n87WQ
Seems right at 35 seconds from "cold" start to log-on screen.

 

Thanks brittnell! Please post another video when you do the clean install for comparison.

 

Here are the results so far from HDTune (found HDTach doesn't support Vista, ATTO benchmark gave me some weird file error):

Transfer Rate:
Minimum: 75.2MB/Second
Maximum: 139.2MB/Second
Average: 117.7MB/Second
Access Time: 0.2 ms
Burst Rate: 122.9MB/Second
CPU Usage: 5.4%

 

The access time is where its at. I'd love to have an SSD.

 

Just for kicks, here are results from my desktop (Dual Xeon X5355 / 2.66 GHz | Dual WD Raptor 10krpm 150Gb SATA in RAID 0 | 8Gb DDR2 | XP Pro 64bit) for comparison:

Transfer Rate:
Minimum: 96.4MB/Second
Maximum: 131.8MB/Second
Average: 114.1MB/Second
Access Time: 8.1 ms
Burst Rate: 99.0MB/Second
CPU Usage: 2.2%

The variation between min/max is noticeably less. And although the CPU usage is less, once you factor in the 2 core vs. 8 core difference, it's a different story.

Otherwise, the SSD's results are pretty interesting, and do reassure me a bit about the "splurge".

 

How are the Xeon's working for you as desktop processors? I was leaning toward getting a Xeon but then I found the Q6600 on sale when I built my desktop.

 

Here is a thread that may help with your boot up time if you're looking to improve it (who isn't? lol).

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=166532

I assume you would want to wait until you get the 64 bit version but it should help a little.

 

atbnet: They've been working great. No real complaints. I do 8-10 hours of heavy 3D rendering and compositing every weekday using them, and they've been consistently solid since the build.

Aaronmcc: Awesome, thanks a ton for the link. I'll be making use of that as soon as I get the new OS installed.

Cheers.

 

My Roxio is supposed to be the full version.

 

mmm me like a lot- thanks- SSD is a must for me

 

So there are no problems with multitasking applications? I've heard some SSDs don't like multitasking at all, so while it loads 1 program fast, anytime you tab out it is slow as hell.

 

SSDs are a multitasker's dream storage solution. There are benchmarks for the OCZ Core SSD and it showed a 5x performance in multitasking benchmarks.

 

Here's a video of a "cold start" with the fresh 64bit Vista install.
Looks like it shaved a few seconds (7?) off the time.

 

Thanks for the new video! I am planning to upgrade to 64bit Ultimate as well after my system arrives.

 

Is this your video? I've seen a few SSD boot time videos and they are always impressive. Really makes me want to get one.

 

Yep, that's my video.

Just FYI, the install of 64bit was VERY straight-forward and simple.

The only things to note are changing the bios settings to boot from CD first, and then all of the driver issues everyone else has already mentioned here in the forums (namely the touchpad and fingerprint reader).

Otherwise, easy-peasy.

Ps. If you're a Mozilla (Firefox / Thunderbird) user, I can't recommend MozBackup highly enough for such instances. Great stuff...