Corsair or Intel or ? is best??

I have a Sager NP8760 S1 with dual 500gb 7200rpm hhds. I am thinking of upgrading to a +/-240gb ssd. What would be the best ssd to get, and how hard is it to change the raid 0 dual hhds to a single ssd? My battery life never was really good, but my battery is dead now and if I replace it I think the ssd will surely help its life in the short and long term. Plus the speed boost should be a big benefit right?
Thanks in advance for any help anyone can give me!

 

Of those, I cannot say about Corsair. But most people on these forums seem to always say, Crucial, Intel, or Samsung.

In regards to getting your data over, you'll need to use something like acronis or if you have Win 7, then its image backup (assuming you wil be removing the platter based drives) to take a system image, and re-image the disk.

However, I would like to make a different (and more time consuming suggestion). If you have Windows 7, you may want to back up the data you need to keep, and then installing it from scratch. During install the Win 7 process will test your SSD for certain features and speeds, and then turn on/off some Windows functionality that may help. Once that is done, re-install your apps, and restore your data. Finally, you can apply any tweaks you see fit (if you even need any at all). Otherwise, since the original install was done w/ different drives, you may need to a lot more tweaking by yourself.

HTH

 

It all depends on what you are doing. SSDs will drastically improve boot up time, overall system responsiveness. There is no FPS increase with SSDs, just faster load times. You'll need to back up your data and delete the array. Also in a laptop like a Sager, you won't really reap the benefits of less power, considering you have a gaming laptop. The .5 watts saved compared to what 150+ on load, maybe 40 watts idle won't make much of a dent.

Corsair mostly uses SF, and SF is crap. Stick with Intel.

 

Thank you both for your informative replys! I see there are different models of intel SSDs. Which is considered the better one? What would be you first choice of any SSD brand?

So after saving my apps I can take out the HHDs and install the SSD then turn on the laptop and insert my windows 7 disc and start over from scratch?

 

yup, (aside from turning on AHCI in your bios) if however you used acronis true image to make a copy of your hdd then just plugging in your ssd after restoring the image should do it (although you'll have to tweak windows 7 to turn off stuff like defrag, hibernate and other ssd related settings).

for intel the 510 series is slower but more reliable, the 520 series is the new king of the hill for intel ssd however there's still few reports for reliability and reviews here about it.

(although sager resellers are already suggesting the intel 520)

 

Yes, that is what I'm recommending. A fresh install with the SSD.

Also good advice!

 

What is AHCI? Windows 7 sets everything else so I would turn AHCI on after install of Windows?

 

AHCI Specification for Serial ATA

It is enabled in BIOS or via regedit.

 

Advanced Host Controller Interface AHCI is a SATA protocol in which SATA controllers and devices exchange data. It is something that is controlled within your computer's BIOS. Note, if you're hardware BIOS does not support AHCI, don't even mess with any of this.

The easiest way to ensure AHCI is working is to have it configured in BIOS *before* you install Windows 7 - also note AHCI vs. IDE are the options you are looking for. If you see AHCI/RAID then *either option* will work just fine.

If you did not have it turned on during installation, you would need to enable it within Windows 7's registry, and then turn it on in BIOS after that tweak. More info here.

 

Thanks for the info and help! One last question. Intel 520s come in two types, Cherryville and Elm Crest. Is there any difference in the two? Is one more stable then the other?

 

Actually, I believe the Elmcrest is an Intel 510, and the Cherryville is the Intel 520.

The Intel 510 has been out for quite some time, and historical data has shown it to be a reliable drive. The Intel 520 is brand new, and also uses some different internal components. If you can, I'd suggest waiting a bit on the Intel 520, until more data can be collected. But, it is really your call. Also, you may want to pick up the thread regarding the Intel 520 here - http://forum.notebookreview.com/sol...sd-520-includes-sandforce-23.html#post8299579

 

Thanks for all our help?

 

The 320 comes with a 5 year retail box warranty and has been out for a while. I bought mine OEM for only $138 from Dell (huge credits after major screw ups). It ships with the newest firmware. If you decide to go with an Intel drive, be sure to install the Intel Toolbox. I installed my 320, 120GB drive back on January 4th and it has been problem free.

 

I would actually recommend Crucial. I'm very scarified with my M4 128GB, but some report high failure rate for the 256GB models...