SSD vs Hyrbid vs HDD (end of budget)

So I'm pretty much at the top of my budget, and as such was going to settle for a stock 500gb 5200rpm HDD.

However I, of course, began reconsidering today. I would love and SSD, but unfortunately, my chosen laptop can only has 2 slots (and I need an optical drive, can't really have an external, as I'm on the go a lot). So, I would need to use my SSD as a storage drive as well - so the only affordable SSD for me would be:
Option 1)the Crucial M4 256GB SSD. Currently, I only use roughly 150gb, most of this being movies and music. But my laptop is ridiculously old, so I haven't had games on it for many years - and I think that last 100gb would fill up pretty quickly (esp. with more music and films being added to my collection). It would cost be $200ish to upgrade to this option, as well

Option 2)A 500GB Hybrid Momentus XT Hard Disk Drive - this is a $99aud upgrade from the stock 500gb HDD. I think it's probably my best option, but I know very little about hybrid drives.

Option 3)I'm only chucking this in, as its the same price as option 2 - a 750GB 7200rpm Hard Disk Drive. Probably the best size for me - I 'do' film as a hobby, and those video files add up fast - I've not editted on my laptop previously, as it's so slow. I could use an external for this, but then that takes away a lot of the speed in editting on a laptop. 500gb should hopefully suffice

Option 4) Bag the $100 and stick with the stock HDD. As I say, stretching my budget a little - but if the price of the upgrades is justifiable, I do have the money.


Thanks in advance

 

Option 5: save your money and get a Crucial M4 512GB SSD or two (one via USB3... along with the best new computer at THAT time, that you can afford)...

Your current options are limiting what you need to do today (capacity, productivity/video, etc.) - don't buy a system that you'll outgrow in two days. Money well wasted.

Save your $$$$ and get the new system you really need and want - waiting a little more time is always worth it - especially if you keep your systems for at least 2-3 years.

Hope this helps.

Good luck.

 

Those are horrible choices and and most of them overlap. You need to categorized and eliminate the non essential ones. Considering speed is your primary focus, the only thing that stuck out is that your laptop is old. That mean the "injection" of a new SSD would be the most effective way to give it a new lease on life. Everything else is secondary.

 

Krane, the laptop is 'old'?

I didn't get that fromt the OP's post...

I responded on the basis of him/her running out of budget on a new system.

 

Taken from OP:

Emphasis mine.

 

R3d,

Yeah, I did read that - as 'my current laptop'... and deciding how the OP would likely manage storage capacity going forward.

 

Aye, apologies for the lack of clarification there. I meant my current laptop is ridiculously old (hence why I don't edit or game on it).

Well, given my income I can't really justify saving a little longer to buy a 512gb SSD (I really need to save what I can for actual uni costs). And there's also "if you wait two months something better will be out". It's also hard to justify on the fact I 'might' be editting - I have no idea if I'll have the time, or the friends interested, when I move to another city to attend uni, to keep my film hobby up.

Edit: I hadn't actually considered external SSD's. If I did keep film up, then I might buy an external SSD then. So the drive I'm currently trying to buy would just be a primary drive for OS, programs, movies, music and games (of not that high intensity, i'm only getting a Nvidia gt640m)