SSD or upgrade 4GB to 8GB ram? Few other ?'s

I've read the forum alot, so just a few reassurances would be great. New laptop coming in this week, has 4GB ram. I'm not running virtual machines or doing programming, just web browsing, multitasking, encoding videos, playing games. 4GB ram is fine for that, right? I want to get "faster", so getting an SSD over the 5200RPM HDD would be the better upgrade?

2) Sata II motherboard I'm assuming on the new Sony Vaio CB laptop. Best SSD? Seems to be the Crucial C300 from what everyone here is saying. Looking at 128GB, so the $199 price at Amazon and Newegg would be ideal. Seems to be both priced well and fast enough according to the reviews and discussions on here. Also saw the Samsung 470, but that's around $70 more I think.

3) I'd like to keep the 5400RPM drive in my optical bay, since I barely use dvd's anyway. Would any SSD adapter work to make it fit in a 2.5" laptop bay?

4) Is there any specific type of adapter needed to put the HDD into the optical bay? Or any generic one will do? Best place to buy: ebay, or other?

Thanks alot guys, always helpful here at Notebook review. I've read the topics, but some are 900 pages, can't get everything lol.

 

I don't think they are comparable price wise and what do you mean by faster ?

Personally, i would say neither until you find out what is 'unacceptable slow' to you after some usage. A more in the middle of the road alternative is a 7200rpm scorpio black or 7K500.

Don't throw money at perceived problem which you may not even have in the first place.

 

Fair enough. I've used enough 5400RPM drives over the years though to see their slowness, despite what machine it's in, lol. 7200RPM drives can be a) loud b) cause vibrations depending on the laptop build. Really don't want to deal with either of that.

I was mainly just looking for suggestions. By faster I meant the speed of booting, program opening, etc of an SSD

 

Well in that case, you only choice is SSD as no RAM can give you fast boot.

Though if you use the notebook like me(where I seldom reboot), it becomes a non-issue. program opening also becomes a non-issue as with enough RAM 95% of my programs are cached always so they load as fast as SSD.

that however may require change of habit.

 

1) ??? (isn't step 2 supposed to be ???)

2) Sounds like a winner. I've got an older 256GB Crucial in my Envy and I love it.

3) You shouldn't need any SSD adapter. You will probably need a model-specific drive-bay adapter though. It depends on what laptop you have.

4) I'd buy it online, and I would just check to make sure it's compatible with your computer model. Universal ones will likely work work, but if you got a Dell, Sony or HP or something like that you may need a manufacturer-specific drive bay. What computer are you getting?

You may also want to look into a USB slim optical drive enclosure to move your optical drive to so you can still use it for the rare occasions you have to.

 

Yeah, I didn't put a 1 lol oops. Just saw the C300 is 2.5", (I thought 1.8"), so yeah it'll fit right in. Just need an optical enclosure, and drive bay adapter.

I'm having a Sony Vaio CB delivered this week.

 

I would get the notebook (new, current, right?) with Win7x64 and 8GB RAM with WD 750GB 7200 RPM drive.

The RAM is a must for a system in 2011 (on a current platform) and the 750GB WD HDD is faster than a Seagate XT Hybrid (known to be called a 'poor man's SSD).

These two parts together; your system will really be faster, smoother and more 'balanced' than just gettting an SSD could ever make it. Along with proper partitioning of the HDD.

Unless you just want to impress your (self/friends) with how fast it reboots.

 

Yeah, new and current. Sandy bridge i5, 1920x1080 screen, sep graphics, etc.
Only problem I'm worried about with a 7200 WD HDD is vibration/noise.

 

As long as you don't have one of the 'designer' systems like from uh... Apple, you shouldn't notice any vibrations and consider that SSD's make noises too (if you're young enough to hear that high).

 

lol, I have pretty good hearing (23), but I didn't know that SSD's also made noise. That's why I ask you experts lol. So since 7200RPM is being mentioned, any recommendations? I haven't looked at them in awhile. Comes with a 5400RPM 320GB HDD. 500GB main drive should be fine, but since it's HDD and they're cheap, might as well go as big as 750

 

Buy the system with the cheapest HDD you can get for it. You'll only use it to sell the system as 'complete' in a few years with none of your data on it.


As mentioned, the Western Digital Scorpio Black is the fastest HDD I have ever used - even over the Seagate XT Hybrid with built-in SSD to help things along.

Much faster than the 500GB Scorpio Black, btw.

You don't buy a current/latest HDD for the capacity: you buy the biggest capacity for the speed the newest tech offers.

As you said; HDD's are cheap - enjoy them while you can!

 

Yeah, the laptop is already being sent. I got the cheapest HDD, since obviously cheaper to upgrade.

Amazon.com: Western Digital Scorpio 750 GB 2.5-Inch SATA 3GB/s 7200rpm 16 MB Cache Internal Bulk/OEM Hard Drive WD7500BPKT (Black): Electronics

Is that the correct one you're referencing? WD Scorpio Black 750GB

 

Yeah, that's the newest storage sweetheart for notebooks.

 

Hmm...read some reviews, looks like the WD Black 750 is the fastest platter drive out there. Still doesn't touch low end SSD's, but it is $90 cheaper lol. Decisions decisions...could go WD Black 750+8gb ram for the price of the C300 alone

 

Yeah, reviews are alright - but they don't paint the whole picture either.

See:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/sol...le-copy-result-hdds-ssds-easy-comparison.html


Notice that my partitioned XT in the link above actually surpassed at least one SSD in that list. As did my Hitachi 7K500 with the exact same partitioning scheme.

SSD's are still not my preferred choice (until I can get (here) a 600GB model (or larger).

 

Guess I can keep the optical drive if I rock the 750GB lol. Yeah, SSD's are still too pricey. So you're liking the WD more than the Hitachi 7K500? Saw a topic on here from January comparing the two, wasn't sure what to think.

Saw there was a partitioning topic, quite long. Guess I'll get to reading lol

 

January? I didn't think they were available back then.

Yeah that 'quite long' partitioning post is probably mine. Sorry.

 

Maybe if was Feb. It was definitely 2011 and on this forum lol. The Hitachi wasn't out yet, it must've been right whenever the WD came out. Well if it's your post then I'll definitely give it a read. I appreciate the help alot. Looks like I'm gonna roll with the WD 750 and get some 8GB ram.

 

tiller, you , let that man get his ssd and enjoy it. just because you can't understand and use them doesn't mean he can't (as most others can).

the c300 is a good choice, and virtual machines are very fast on it.

 

Please be very careful with following Tiller's advice. He's been trying to promote HDDs over SSDs for the last year.

In reality a modern SSD is always faster than a HDD, sometimes up to 350%, in the following area's:
-launching programs
-booting
-copying files
-disk intensive multi tasking
-installing and uninstalling programs
-installing Windows updates
-unzipping
-hibernating
-sleep / wake up





Source: http://www.anandtech.com/show/3741/asus-u30jc-ssd/2

Check this review for more real life results:
Intel SSD 320 (300GB) Review

The argument that SSD make as much noise as HDDs is crazy. There are some SSDs that make noise, but not many people can hear it and these SSDs are exceptions.

WD's Black range is known to be a relatively noisy and vibration prone notebook hard drive. Some people mind, some don't.

It's not just Apple notebooks that let through noise and vibration. I've noticed strong vibrations from WD Black in my Acer and HP notebook.

Also keep in mind that some users may benefit from 8GB, some users will not. I know that with my usage I will not gain benefit from 8GB.

 

normally, an ssd makes zero noise (i've > 10 ssds by now, from different manufacturer. i can tell). there are some that might create some high pitched noise, but they should be the exception and RMAable.

as the op noted VMs, "disk intensive multitasking" and "booting" should be of highest importance for him. there, ssds massively help. vm's on ssds are just like the ordinary os. doesn't matter (within limits of course) how many you run in parallel. this is not possible with hdds, where the different os' quickly get into the way of each other, slowing each other down to a crawl.

and, no matter how much ram, if you have >1 vm, you'll at one point start to page out (in-vm or in the host-os). so the disk gets even more important. once one os starts to page, every os is affected by the slowdown.

 

No no, VMs are not important, I don't use them at all lol. Tiller, you trickster .

 

No tricks, honest!

But, go ahead; get an SSD and feel that by 'snap' you got 'faster'.

Especially when you finally compare a more balanced system (max the RAM out!) with what you'll have. For the $$$, I'll always take the system that produces more 'real' work than the one that simply 'feels' faster (initially).

Good luck.

 

I actually appreciate getting both sides. Thanks everyone.

 

An SSD will not only 'feel faster initially', it will be faster and feel faster for years to come.

The only credible argument to make against SSDs is the price. Whether the performance gain is worth the price is up to the individual to decide.

Getting more than 4GB may also be a good idea. It may benefit performance, but it doesn't benefit performance for everyone. It depends on your usage.

 

and because of your nice stated reasons, the first thing i do for EVERY system, is getting a nice ssd. because i always take the system that produces more real work, not the one that simply feels faster initially.

and you're still very much alone with your view, hinting that you just did something wrong. (i do have had one system where putting in an ssd made ZERO benefit btw. but that was a laptop with some weird sata throttling going on essencially disabling all the ssd gains. taking it out into another laptop and tadaah, ssd expected performance was back there. so i stay with my point: you had/made something wrong).

maxing out ram isn't that important on an ssd system btw. but it still has some inpact, and is worth it for some few $. but > 8gb is not worth it except when one knows it is (and then, one doesn't have to ask)

 

I upgraded from Seagate Momentus 7200.4 320Gb to Samsung 470 SSD, My Laptop now does everything much faster, by the time My fast Momentus did check disk and free space,My SSD has that plus full virsus scan plus sfc/scannow, the momentus 7200.4 is at the top of list for fast laptops HDD's, plus SSD and Laptop runs cooler and has 1 1/2 longer battery life under the same power plan... I put my momentus on craigs list and sold it within a couple of hours,,lol

Cheers
3Fees

 

IMHO:

4GB is plenty for what you say you're going to do, although 8GB can be had for as little as $70 (sometimes less), and even ~ $80 normally.

7200RPM HDD's don't make more noise. They can make more vibration, but depends on the laptop if it's noticeable or not. Most 14" and larger laptops you can't tell.

If you get an SSD, best to put that in your primary SATA slot and HDD in your optical drive caddy adapter.

Just my two cents.

 

They actually do, whether you can hear the difference depends on your laptop and hearing.

 

the identical hdd spinning at 7200rpm or at 5400rpm will be more loud the faster it spins. just as it creates more vibration (noise = vibration, just different frequency / amplitudes).

wetter you notice it or not, that's another topic. but it's physically impossible to be the same noise volume. else, a turned off disk would still have the same noise level.

 

I HATE that sound HDDs make. You will understand once you switch to SSDs. My G2 SSD from Intel are 100% silent. Well, you can hear a high frequency sound if you put your ear ON the laptop and there is no noise in the room.

 

I vote for getting SSD. More overall performance. Though you could use a program like eboostr to make use of 8GB of RAM. A 4GB RAM cache would be interesting.

 

Well to the layman, noise = audible, vibration = physical. Yes they are essentially the same, but I can't hear a 7200RPM in my Alienware M11x, but the vibration will put my hand asleep, which is one of the main reasons I put an SSD in there.

 

does not matter. a 7200rpm drive will create more of both. the setup determines if one can hear andor feel it. but a 7200rpm drive will always create more of both (as well, heat) as the identical drive on 5400rpm, as well as the identical drive turned off (at 0rpm).

and yes, both vibration and noise annoy me, which is why i don't use ANY fans on my systems, except where needed (laptop, sadly, still needs one).

i'd hope they would put synjets into laptop. more efficient to cool, and better for the flat side-vent design of laptops, too. should help to get the noise down of fans.