SSD for laptop

Hey guy,

I have a sager NP7358 with 750GB HD. I wanna add a SSD drive and I bought this laptop from XoticPC.

XoticPC is charging me the following price for a new 2.5" SSD. I would like to know if these prices are okay or if I can find cheaper in other places.

120GB EVO $129
250GB EVO $185
500GB EVO $279
1TB EVO $495

I think 120 GB is enough. I just want a SSD to install the OS and some stuff. The most of my files I can save in my HD.

Is it worth make this deal with XoticPC?

Thank you.

 

Forget anything called samsung EVO. Get a crucial or samsung pro or sandisk
Personal recommendation is Micron M600

 

Try Newegg or Microcenter if your in the US. They have lower price and I use Crucial for my Desktop and it works fine. They are bending your over hand and feet making a killing off your bank account. Posting prices from Newegg and Microcenter what they would charge for similar SSD Crucial drives..

Not worth buying.

Where you start to buy a SSD drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148948 for only $109.99 +.99S/H
http://www.microcenter.com/product/434188/MX100_Series_256GB_SATA_III_6Gb-s_25"_Internal_Solid_State_Drive_CT256MX100SSD1 for $109.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148821 for $210.99
http://www.microcenter.com/product/434189/MX100_512GB_SATA_III_60Gb-s_25"_Internal_Solid_State_Drive_CT512MX100SSD1 for $209.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148947 for $379.99+1.99S/H
http://www.microcenter.com/product/443434/BX100_1TB_SATA_III_6Gb-s_25"_Solid_State_Drive_CT1000BX100SSD1 for $379.99

No, 120 isn't enough...you want at least min 256G SSD0 and the max 1tb SSD. So as you can see they are trying to force you to buy something that you can find else and cheaper and if you pay more you get a larger drive for your money. Never buy from the maker of the laptop they are padding their wallet not yours. I would say if you got the money to spend get the 1tb SSD drive....otherwise you can't go wrong starting out with the 256 or 512 if you plan to install lots of games on it.

 

As others already noted: don't buy from xoticpc and don't buy an EVO, period.

Keep in mind that the nominal capacities are not even close to what you need in a working setup. Add to that that you want at least 25GB free at all times and preferably 50GB and if you want the fastest SSD experience consider an additional 30% of the real capacity as 'used' (it is used; by the SSD internally) by OP'ing, then even the 240/250/256GB capacities are not worth buying.

I am currently allocating 150GB for my C:\Drive partitions for the O/S and Programs. My next build (imminent) will be based on 200GB for C:\Drive and I'm considering to standardize to 250GB actually.

Here is a sample of OP'ing by 30% and a 500GB nominal capacity:

500 x 1000 x 1000 x 1000 = 500,000,000,000 bytes actual

500,000,000,000 / 1024 / 1024 / 1024 = ~465GB total (real) capacity

465 x 0.70 = ~325GB total/real capacity after OP'ing

With even 150GB for your O/S and Programs that leaves just 175GB for data, today. This may seem like a huge amount to you now, but free space is gobbled up by Windows Updates, program updates and user data in large chunks on an ever increasing basis.

Do yourself a favor and forget the toy like SSD's of smaller than half a TB in the second quarter of 2015. And definitely don't consider Samsung SSD's either.

See:
http://www.overclock.net/t/1512915/...es-benchmarks-needed-to-confirm-affected-ssds


See:
http://www.overclock.net/t/1507897/samsung-840-evo-read-speed-drops-on-old-written-data-in-the-drive


Good luck.

 

Thank you guys for the all information. I really didn't know about the SSDs.

Yes, I am in U.S. However I'm leaving from here next month, and because of that I wanted to make some updates in my laptop.

Thank you. Absolutely I'll forget Samsung SSD's. However, I cannot spend too much money in a SSD driver. I'm thinking to spend no more than $200. Then, I might consider some options below 1TB, but no smaller than 256GB.

I do plan to install some games. My question is: Will I have a greater perfomance in games with SSD or just a better speed in the loadings? Because as I need to save money, my first goal is to increase the OS's performance.


By the way, thank you everyone so far.

 

You might get maximum 1-2 FPS increase tops thanks to loading/access times. You will find decrease in loading times for sure.

 

Yeah, I see. Then, probably I would install few games in the SSD.

I'm think about go through http://www.microcenter.com/product/434188/MX100_Series_256GB_SATA_III_6Gb-s_25"_Internal_Solid_State_Drive_CT256MX100SSD1

or http://www.microcenter.com/product/434189/MX100_512GB_SATA_III_60Gb-s_25"_Internal_Solid_State_Drive_CT512MX100SSD1

They sounded like what I want and the price is good.


Is it easy installing a SSD? Is it something that can do watching a video tutorial in youtube?

 

Those are both good budget drives, and will both me massive speed increases from a standard HDD. SSD install is super easy. Just pull your old HDD out (search for your specific laptop), change the caddy/screws from the old on into the SSD, plug back in, reinstall windows, good to go.

 

Stay away from this junk called EVO or any TLC based SSD. If you want consistent high performance every day and everytime, go for the SanDisk Extreme PRO 256GB.

 

Thanks. But I don't wanna replace my old HDD. I just wanna add a SSD and work them together. It's possible, right?

I found this one with a good price. Is it a good deal?
http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Extreme-2-5-Inch-Warranty-SDSSDXPS-240G-G25/dp/B00KHRYRNM

 

Depends on your laptop. Most laptops have only one HDD slot, so you will HAVE to replace. Unless your laptop comes with something like mSATA or M.2, or multiple 2.5" bays, you likely have to replace your existing drive.

 

I just did a quick search online and look what I found:
"Since the NP7358 (exactly my laptop) has 2 SATA bays you can put both the SSD and HDD in there. You also will have an open mSATA slot. As mentioned, be aware mSATA and a 2.5" SSD drive are different form factors and go into different slots. Be sure to order accordingly."

So, I think I can fit the both in my laptop.

 

I'd buy a Samsung 250GB 850 Evo. They're cheap, and for light usage pretty much as fast as anything else out there, and unlikely to be plagued by the read speed degredation issue of the 840 Evo - they also have greater write endurance than the 840 Evo. If you're a standard PC user, ie office applications, gaming, watching movies, internet browsing, then this SSD will be fine for you. (But really if you're not bothered by having a really fast SSD, then just choose the best value deal you can get, as long as it's a model that's not plagued by issues - ie. I wouldn't recommend you buy the 840 Evo!!).

 

Buy Crucial or SanDisk.

Crucial if you want budget - mid range.
SanDisk for high-end.

 

Yes, you can add the SSD then. I would re-install windows clean on the new SSD, don't do a migration. I would use the HDD as data backup/game installs/movie drive.

If you have the mSATA option, you can pick up a Crucial M550 512GB msata drive for around 190$

 

What is it better, a mSATA or a conventional SSD? I know that mSATA are smaller SSD, but I don't know which one is more suitable for me.

 

If you have an mSATA connection in your laptop, then you can use an mSATA SSD. Sometimes the mSATA SSDs don't perform as well as their corresponding 2.5" versions, but you'd wanna check the specs of that particular mSATA SSD vs the same model in a 2.5" version.

 

You can do that but I would use your System REcovery media and restore it to your SSD and use that as your Main Drive and move your HDD as your backup or 2nd drive setup. That way you get the speed of the SSD right away. That is how I would do it to get the most benefit of the SSD drive.

 

Seconded, thirded and fourthed.
BTW, Micron == Crucial. Micron does sales to OEMs almost exclusively while Crucial is the commercial/consumer side of the company.

 

Going off of that, Micron M600 = Crucial MX200

OP's laptop has 2x2.5" SATA (1x9.5mm 1x7mm) and 1xmSATA. Since OP is an SSD novice, high-end drives like the Samsung 850 Pro and SanDisk Extreme Pro are overkill. The Crucial BX100 and MX200 are enough. You can get 500GB for less than $200.

 

Yep. And BX100 has demonstrated very good bang for the buck. I'm getting a pair of them, 500GB each, for my Clevo P750ZM.

 

Everyone here not recommending the 850 EVO has likely never even owned the 850 EVO. They're just basing their recommendations on the previous 840 EVO, which has worse NAND technology. The 850 series has been improved.

By the way, the 250GB EVO was $95 on Amazon this morning.

 

I own an 840 Pro 120GB and a 850 EVO 120GB. They're both nice drives. And I'm still going with Micron/Crucial in my new Clevo.

 

I would get the MX100/200 instead.. The BX100 are total bottom tier SSD's... The MX100 is slightly more expensive but performs better too..

OP, if you want pure performance, the 240GB Sandisk Extreme Pro is the one to get..

For you though, something like the MX100-200 is good enough and you'll get a 512GB model for around $200..

 

MX100 is gone, replaced by MX200 aka Micron M600. BX100 uses the same NAND chips as MX200 and has about the same performance (BX100 is less consistent than MX200). BX100 uses a Silicon Motion controller that lacks the bells and whistles of the Marvell controller on MX200.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/9144/crucial-bx100-120gb-250gb-500gb-1tb-ssd-review

 

Dude BX100 is a better buy than both MX100 and MX200

 

I would go with Sandisk Extreme II \ Extreme Pro series, and yes - it is better to stay away from TLC based drives.

 

Oh really? From what I've heard, it's garbage compared to the other 2... Got some info to back up your claim?

 

http://www.anandtech.com/show/8861/crucial-announces-mx200-bx100-ssds-ssd-toolbox
https://techreport.com/review/27824/crucial-bx100-and-mx200-solid-state-drives-reviewed
http://www.maximumpc.com/ces_2015_crucial_intros_mx200_and_bx100_ssds332
http://www.anandtech.com/show/9144/crucial-bx100-120gb-250gb-500gb-1tb-ssd-review

I don't know told you that BX100 is junk but whoever did is flat-out wrong.

 

All the reviews rave about it

 

+1

Any SSD, even SATA2 models would be dramatically faster than HDDs. The difference between a low end and a high end SATA SSD, however, would be much smaller. Given that OP is budget limited, it's way better to get a bigger but somewhat slower SSD. Having more capacity means OP is more likely to have all the data (all the frequently used data anyway) fit on the SSD, and having a slower SSD for pure SSD operation would be much smoother than mixing a fast SSD with a HDD. Pure SSD also has the advantage of shock-resistance, which on a mobile device can be a big deal at times.

I would be willing to go for an old model in stock to save money as long as it's warranty backed and not the 840 Evo (or any other known defective model). There's no need to get the latest and greatest if that leads to more capacity restrictions.


TL;DR: If you need to choose different SSDs in the same limited budget range, go for the bigger one, not the faster one.

 

Wrong thread.

 

Wrong thread? Ninja'ed

 

There's much difference between the Crucial M550 and the new MX200 series? Thinking to put my 2nd mSata slot to work...

 

Nope, just get whichever one is cheaper

 

Both use the same Marvell controller. MX200 uses newer flash chips that are more reliable than the ones used in the M5xx series, and uses some clever caching tricks to make it operate faster.

 

And there is noticeable increase in performance by using those tricks or its just benchmark performance?

 

Maybe. Write performance should be better but that depends on how much isn't in use (only unused flash blocks can be "flipped" to operate as SLC flash) and how many flash chips are on the board (more chips means better parallelization means less benefit from dynamic write acceleration).