Need an SSD to put in my Samsung ATIV Book 8...any suggestions?

So as anyone with an ATIV 8 would know, the hard drive in it sucks. This forum has made it very clear that I should switch this snail out for an SSD, but I'm stuck on which one to get. For one, I'm about to become a CS freshman student, so I don't have an insane amount of money to spend. Everyone on the owner's thread seems to be getting 256 GB Samsung 840 Pros, but I'm not sure if 256 would be enough for me since I've always kept all of my data internally. I'd feel more comfortable getting the 500 (or 512, can't remember which is pro and which isn't) model, but that's $500 and a bit out of my price range. I could stretch a bit and get that one if I needed to, though. So with just regular stuff (programs, about 20ish GB of music, games) would 256 be enough?

Also, is it worth it to wait for the Evo line? It looks like they'll be cheaper than the Pros per GB, but I'm assuming they must be worse in some way.

USA, btw

 

heres a screenshot of my partitions, C drive and H drive is my SSD partition, as you can see without games and stuff your OS can expand to 45Gb after installing adobe CS6 and other large programs, leaving you about 155Gb for games and stuffas internal storage after 20% spare area

I strongly advice having external storage for music and video given that a second internal drive is not possible at all, but thats just me

N.B. you only need some videos and music in the internal storage to keep you entertained on the go, when you station yourself you can plug it into external storage for your convenience

 

I'd definitely consider using an external HDD for bulky data like movies and whatnot. Though if you want a 500GB-ish SSD, you could look into the inexpensive ones like the Samsung 840 (non-Pro) or Crucial M4, which go for $330 and $400, respectively.

 

Yeah I looked into those, but I plan on using this for at least 4 years of college so I'd rather pay up for the better model.

 

The M4 should definitely last you 4 years, no problem (MLC NAND). The 840 might be an iffy with the TLC NAND, but is typically rated for 7 years use from reviews I've read. While it's not exactly fast at seq. writing (neither is the M4), I trust it enough to install it in my sister's laptop (also going to be first-year college). So long as you aren't writing an extremely amount of data (and in CS, you won't really be doing so), you should be fine.

 

I think I'm going to go with the Pro, if for nothing else the peace at mind. Before I buy it, though, will I regret not waiting for the Evo line or will they be worse than the Pro line?

 

The Evo line, from the looks of it, is nothing more than an 840 non-Pro with bigger capacity options. Both use TLC NAND and a Samsung controller.