Solid State & Hybrid Question

Hi,

I am currently looking to purchase a new notebook and I am trying not to miss out on the latest and upcoming technologies.

As I understand it a Solid State drive will increase the performance, battery life and mobility (it doesn't mind being rattled a bit) of a new notebook.

My questions on the subject are:

1) Do most notebook manufactures allow you to add a Solid State or Hybrid drive when you customize your purchase?
2) If not, is there usually an additional bay or the option to add an additional bay in notebooks for an extra HDD so that I can buy a Solid State or Hybrid HDD and install it myself?
3) Although this may take away form the added mobility of the drive, is an external drive of this sort worth considering?
4) Is there any point in having a drive like this and not installing the primary OS on it?
5) Is this really a cost effective addition to my overall purchase?

Any recommendations for specific Solid State and Hybrid drives will be greatly appreciated.

Thank You.

 

1. None that I know of.
2. Nothing is needed, you just buy the notebook and the drive.
3. Not really, be cause they have slower read/write speeds, and they don't have high capacities.
4. No.
5. If you use the notebook on battery, don't have a lot of things to put on it, don't care about the fastest speeds, and your notebook takes a beating then yes.
I would wait until they come down in price, get faster read/write speeds, and have higher capacities. It is technology, so you don't have to wait long for those things.

 

I think that Solid State and Hybrid Drives are still either experimental/prototype or are appallingly expensive to buy. That means that for now you don't have to worry about them until mid-next year.

Hard drives today in notebooks still use the old magnetic disk system.

 

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article624-page1.html

~US$2350 (~US$1800 without Solid State Drive)

so i'd guess a solid state drive is around $500?