Thinkpad T520 - Recommend Me a SSD

I recently received a Thinkpad t520. It has a 500gb SSHD (hybrid drive), i run crystaldiskmark and it reads and writes at roughly 85 MB/s. This does not seem very much compared to the ssd on my NUC which seems about 4 times faster than that.

Is it worth upgrading the hybrid drive to a ssd or is the laptop hardware likely to be holding back the read and write speed? The system does not feel as snappy as i would like it to be. It has the i5 2.5ghz cpu and 8gb or ram.

Going by the model number of the SSHD i probably need a 7mm drive.

 

An SSHD is just a HDD for more $$ and almost no better performance...

An SSD will give you a very large boost in performance over that hybrid drive.

I would recommend a 1TB or larger SATAIII SSD (MLC) OP'd by 33% if you want the fastest, sustained, performance over time from any SSD you install - and to have the ability to use it almost any way you want.

Depending on your workloads and usage style; a 2TB TLC SSD may give more peak (but not sustained) results (The 2TB EVO, for example).

What kind of use is expected of the system. And; can you put 16GB of RAM or more in it (asap)?

 

Hi thanks for the reply.

I have no need for large storage capacity because i have a NAS with 2 x 2tb hard drives. So the ssd just needs to be for the operating system and any programs i may install. I use it mainly for internet use and remotely connecting to my NUC with teamviewer.

The specs say it can only take 8gb of ram and that is what i have. How would more ram make it faster, i dont do anything that intensive but i just want to make it snappier and the ssd will hopefully do that.

 

The Samsung 850 EVO are quite popular and decent performing. Did you have any models in mind?

 

Hi i have the Samsung installed in my NUC but it they are pricey, as my laptop is 5 years old i was wondering if there is a recommended SSD that is more budget friendly.

I have ordered the sandisk SSD, it seems to be well enough rated on Amazon, its considerably less than the Samsung by £27.

 

Agree that an SSD can make a big difference for that "snappy" feeling. I've generally been a fan of Samsung drives, but there are certainly other options. Also, you can usually find better deals on their "PM" or "SM" series drives (e.g., PM961), which are the OEM versions of their mainstream drives, like the 960, 850, etc.

UserBenchmark is a pretty good site for checking out the performance of one SSD vs another, if you have some options in mind (if you aren't completely set on the Sandisk yet).

 

Thanks for your reply. I have already ordered the Sandisk, it was £48 compared to the Samsung at £76, i know the Samsung is highly regarded, i put one in my new NUC, this is for a 5 year old laptop so i thought i would try the Sandisk.

 

Though you've ordered a sandisk already I'd recommend a mushkin eco3 or crucial mx300.

 

I would like to counter the comment about SSHD NOT being faster. Mine is very much faster compared to when I had my HDD in my notebook.

 

It may be your setup/usage does benefit form an SSHD; that's great.

But in an optimally setup system with an HDD or an SSHD with any varied workflow? The SSHD is not worth the premium asked and they definitely didn't last as long as a typical HDD for me.

Contrary to the marketing; when the SSD part of the SSHD fails; it is supposed to keep working (and at least you should be able to get your data off the drive). Never seen that with any SSHD I've tried in the past (over two dozen with about 1/4 of them failing).

SSHD's are a failed experiment for me.

 

Work great for me. I am running two of the them right now, and they work and perform as advertised. My two dell's are faster, I still have awesome storage and they are quiet.

 

Interesting comments guys. I now have my Sandisk ssd installed and my system is much more snappy and responsive, it makes my 5 year old thinkpad feel like a more modern laptop.

Maybe the sshd drive that was installed was not the best example but i would not buy another, when using the laptop it just seemed like a normal hard drive was installed.