M1330 and SSD

hello all -
i've never owned a laptop, and i'm looking at the M1330. is the hard drive easily replaceable/upgradeable in these machines? i would like a solid state drive, but i'm not sure if i want to pay the extra $650 to upgrade from the 200GB 7200rpm to a 64GB SSD right now.

i'm guessing that the costs of solid state drives will drop quickly over the coming year or so, and if i can plug one in easily later i'd be tempted to do that.

or should i just go whole-hog now and get the SSD?

thanks for your thoughts!

 

It is easily replaceable, so you can wait if you don't want to spend a fortune right now. But I wouldn't count on SSD prices dropping so much in just another year.

 

Flam/Les? =D

 

you really don't think SSD prices will drop anytime soon? like i mentioned, i'm not as in-tune to the industry as many others are, but i assumed that with its more "mainstream" introduction that it would happen rather quickly.

i still think i'm leaning toward the SSD anyway.

thanks for the input so far - any other thoughts?

 

Their will be a release from mtron witin the next few weeks regarding the 64Gb 1000 series in mlc form factor (if unsure what mlc is see my latest article below). They are claiming these SSDs will be reduced significantly compared to the last.

On the other hand, Im going to believe the new Dell's coming out will soon have the new SATA II 64Gb Samsung which you are going to want to ask about. They are claiming 100Mb/s read and write which would then make it worth it to gain a deal with the system. Im awaiting the first off the rack for testing from Samsung.

Many have had success talking deals with systems that are upgraded with things such as the SSD.

SSDs will be dropping soon. Many manufacturers right now are fighting to get the mlc design out to consumers...Its a race of production right now.

Oh and as for easily replaceable? I have a m1330 which I have switched off the Sandisk 32Gb, Samsung 64Gb, Mtron Mobi 32Gb, Mtron pro 32Gb and Memoright 32Gb ssds. Every one was simply changed by by unscrewing the 4 hd screws on the bottom, pull out the HD, insert the SSD, boot to Vista disk, reinstall OS (follow my Clean Install Guide) and your off to the races...literally speaking.

 

Whatever Les says here is definitely how it is.

He's the authority on M1330 SSD drives. :yes:

 

wow, thanks for the help Les. i'll be sure to keep an eye on things.

 

Do you think they'll get bigger than 64 soon?

 

I'd wait for the newer SSDs that Les has mentioned.

 

With the 64 will come the 128Gb and higher soon enough. In fact, Samsung has committed to a 256Gb by years end. The whole reason for manufacturers to go to mlc (multi-level cell) is so they can answer the consumers need for higher capacity ssds.

 

how are these updates announced? or does everyone just kind of wait for Les to post that dell is now shipping notebooks with the new drives?

 

SSDs at the consumer level have been pretty scarce, given exception to Dell and some other laptop manufacturers because, initially they were all trying to hit top performance, which resulted in very high cost and low sales.

I try to speak with manufacturers, and have established pretty good contacts, in order to get an idea what can be expected soon. The Mtron was supposed to have been released in Feb but was pushed back to March. This ssd is probably going to be the first mlc which will include higher capacities being released at lower pricing.

Updates are not announced given exception to what reviewers can dig up. The reason is still because of price fluctuation.

With respect to Dell, I have 2 contacts that are going to get a hold of me as soon as they here when the new SSD arrives as well as a great new samsung contact who promises the same...Out of this im hoping to get it reviewed.

Can I get into this conversation now? lol

 

Les, thanks for the great information. I did see on the Direct2Dell blog that they plan on using the Samsung SSDs "in the coming weeks" and that was posted in mid-February. I am for sure going the SSD route with my next laptop so I'm going to wait until this summer to see what all Dell has to offer. Should be exciting, keep us up to date if possible.

 

I was hoping to have the Samsung reviewed by now but they are holding back on them for testing as their has been an unexpected occurrence in RAID on reinstallation.

Hoping to have news soon.

Thanks.

 

Hello, so if I understand you correctly, my new M1330 does not come with the 64-GB Samsung SATA-II SSD?

If so, should i send it back and get the new version?

 

I don't think they have released the new hard drives yet, they should post it on their blog when they do. If they are having problems then it may be a while before they get the bugs out.

 

My m1330 came with a Samsung 64gb SSD. I don't know if its SATA II or not but at this point, I am not really fretting about it.

 

i posted this in Les's "Know your SSDs" thread:

From my company's Dell rep:

so i doubt any machines currently have the new SATA-II. not even sure that sending it back would be an option since they're not out yet.

 

Eventually all of the tech support stock piles will be replenished with the SATA II drives. If you drive breaks down in a couple of years, you will probably get upgraded...

 

With M1330 Dell seem to sell something named:

"Ultra Performance: 64GB Solid State Drive "

Upgrade price from 320Gb disk was $500.

Is this the new SATA II drive?

 

way to dig up a 2 month old thread. yes, ultra performance SSD is the new SATA II drive.

 

Just in time for Samsung to announce their 256GB 200MB/s SSD.

Me wanty.

 

B U M P

Any more info on this?