Pls help me decide which SSD for my new laptop

Hi all

I just bought a 17" Asus N750JV: the 1tb hard disk is a bottleneck in the system with its 5400rpm and since there is an empty slot I was thinking of buying a SSD and use it as disk for the OS and other software I use frequently (Photoshop, Lightroom etc).

I am tempted to buy something in the range of 128-256gb as a temporary solution till prices of larger storage drop further. Could you please suggest me some SSD with a good price/performance ratio? Any particular advise i should be aware of when deciding?
many thanks!!

 

Not knowing your budget, I would try to go bigger if you can stretch it a little, say $70-100. A little more than a temporary solution, price/performance plus size Crucial M500 480GB for about $80 more than something I would recommend in the 240-256GB class. The price/performance winner is the 960GB M500 at $450. I, personally, wouldn't go smaller than 240-256GB in this generation of SSDs.

 

Your purchase would be decided by how long is "temporary" and how much you are willing to spend. The price of a 120GB Crucial SSD has dropped $30 since June 2012 (which is when I purchased mine). The trend will probably continue which means you are looking at a $370-400 960GB SSD in mid 2015, unless they come up with a revolutionary technology that reduces cost dramatically.

If that price a year and half from now seems worth it to you and you don't mind running on a 120GB SSD until then, then purchase a 120GB M500. It all depends on your use. Mine is primarily gaming and I don't have more than two games installed on my SSD at any given time. I don't recall using over 50GB on there. Of course, your use might be more or less. If you frequently use over 80GB of space, go for the 240GB ones. Else I'd suggest you purchase the 120GB M500 and wait until the larger capacity ones become affordable to you.

 

If this is a work system (for PS, LR, etc.), then anything smaller than a 480GB/512GB SSD will become limiting in your wait for a more affordable and larger SSD over the next couple of years.

If this is a hobby (for PS, LR, etc.) then a 256GB SSD can be made to work while you wait for that future deal.

In both cases though: keep in mind that at least 25% OP'ing (according to Anandtech; I recommend 30%+ for the same type of workload you do) will give you the healthiest SSD while also giving you the highest sustained performance over time.

See:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/sol...g-1tb-msata-840-evo-coming-3.html#post9569064


If your O/S, Programs, Scratch Disk and working and static data can fit on ~155GB (70% of the formatted 240GB SSD), then you have your answer.

Otherwise; the 480GB capacity or larger (~313GB usable) should be your goal with any current MLC drive you can source locally.

 

many thanks to all for your very helpful thoghts.
I think I have not been very clear though with what I'd like to do - I noticed that despite the large RAM (8gb) and fast processor (i7-4700) windows still takes as long as my previous win7 system (4gb, i5-520m) to boot up and launch programs. I believe this is due to the slow 5400 hard disk. So ideally i would like to couple it with an SSD that will be used as OS and programs disk - all data will stay on the old 5400 HDD. It is a personal notebook not a workstation so I do not need to load raw pictures in PS faster, as long as the program itself loads and runs smoothly. So I compared prices and I think that for the moment I'd settle for a 120gb disk - the pricing is quite affordable.

I was considering the Samsung 840 EVO 120gb, but I see that the Crucial M500 is even cheaper than that. Do they have similar same performances?
thanks again guys, you have been very helpful!!

 

Every SSD is same when it comes to speed you will not see difference if you don't start benchmark.Reliability is one of the main factors and Samsung is best at the moment.What you want also is power efficiently.
What i didnt get is do you looking for msata or 2.5" SSD?


It seems 840 basic and Crucial M4have best power consumption but if you have Haswell with EVO you get deep sleep option which saves even more power.

 

ah sorry, I am looking at 2.5" .. I do not have a mSATA port in my laptop.

 

Interesting charts. There is a 30 minutes difference between the most and less power efficient SSD. But i guess it is still better than a normal mechanic HDD?

 

That are 2.5" SSD charts.
So now its up to you.I would always take 30 minutes,because when it comes to speed you cant see difference.Whats even more interesting i have feeling my M4 is faster and snappier then Samsung PRO even benchmark don't say so.But how much i can remember Anadtech found how Samsung cheat with benchmark on Android phones so i would not be surprised if they did that here.But i don't care while Samsung is the most reliable and that's most important thing for me.

 

If you're still convinced that sticking with a smaller (120GB) SSD is the way to go - don't consider the EVO as it's TLC based and with your intended workflow (even at a personal, not work level) you are pushing against the limits of that tech.

The M500 is also not a good choice imo because not only do M500's run warmer (too warm for me for notebook use; they throttle when they do) - it also has much less performance than the recommended 480GB capacity which is the capacity/size point which begins to give better performance than the older M4 256GB models do.


Also keep in mind that 120GB nominal capacity is 120,000,000,000 / 1024 / 1024 / 1024 = ~111GB formatted capacity of which I would recommend you partition it to ~78GB (70%) of actual usable capacity. To keep the WA as low as possible (keeping the nand healthy) and getting the most performance, sustained over time.


The choices at that capacity point (for me) are; no SSD at all. But if you must choose one, then an Intel 520 Series, Samsung Pro, Crucial M4 or SanDisk Extreme would be my only choices. With each and every one needing 30% of it's capacity left 'unallocated' to give you the sustained performance increase you expect with an SSD installed.


Again; any 'last gen' SSD I would recommend the 240GB/256GB size only (with the Crucial M4 at 512GB being the only 'bigger' sized SSD to consider). Any current gen SSD; you need to consider 480/512GB SSD's only. That is if you want the most balanced performance current SSD's can offer, given the different nand nodes used, how fully utilized the controller channels are implemented and how effectively the nand chips on each channel is interleaved.

Smaller SSD's make tradeoffs in all those areas and can leave you with performance that is closer to a HDD than an SSD, depending on the workload you subject them to.


Good luck.

 

wow, Tilleroftheearth, many thanks for your explanation!! that is very detailed and helpful.
I am totally new to the SSD world, and I must say I am not sure what are the "last gen SSDs". After your explanation I am more tempted to invest the extra bucks into a 240/256gb drive, as I understand that otherwise I would not get the benefit i expect (honestly at this time I have no budget for sizes larger than 256gb).
What are a couple of last gen SSD 240/256gb you'd suggest? M4 is one of them if i understand correctly? problem is that it looks like no one is selling it anymore and the only stock available has a rather high tag Crucial m4 256GB SSD 2.5 SATA III interne SSD-Festplatte: SSD-Speicher Preisvergleich - Preise bei idealo.de

 

The following links may be helpful:

See:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/sol...45541-msata-vs-2-5-pros-cons.html#post9570325

See:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/sol...g-1tb-msata-840-evo-coming-3.html#post9569064



Last gen SSD's are discussed a little here:

See:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/sol...-me-decide-ssd-my-new-laptop.html#post9570303


Hope this helps.


Good luck.

 

The price look nice: Crucial M500 2,5" SSD 240 GB Solid State Drive 0649528764188 | eBay
EDIT: It's new, 43 sold and 10 available, seems a good deal.

 

yes, I can find a similar price in Amazon. The price is attractive, but I understand it has overheating and throttling problems in a laptop...

 

It has no such chronic "problems". There's a few people that have had issues but there is nothing concrete on them throttling regularly (like say how some of the MSI laptops had throttle issues or the older AW M14x).

 

Haven't had any issues with my 256 M4 2.5".


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

The M4's do not run warm - the M500's definitely do.

Crucial obviously sees the possible issues; that is why the firmware can throttle the drive if it reaches ~70C.

When I tested a 480GB model, the temp was ~45 when idle - just as warm as a HDD when pushed hard (actual workflow, not torture). I did not need to keep testing further for notebook use. (I know what higher temps do for reliability, performance and durability of computer components).