About to order HP Envy 15... Should I get dual SSD's?

I am literally sitting at the HP checkout page and before I hit the purchase button I wanted to get an opinion on the dual SSD's. Is it worth it get two SSD drives or should I get SSD + 5400RPM drive combo?

My purchase price after tax, shipping, and the $300 coupon is $2300. If I opt for the combo my price goes down about $300. However, if it makes sense to have two SSD's then I will purchase the current configuration.

Thanks!

 

*bump*

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As long as you perform regular backups go for the SSD's. If not just get a regular HDD.

 

I would get the mix. Cheaper. More storage and still get the zippy performance.

 

Dual SSD is waste in my opinion. While SSD is fast, there are flaws. I would go with one SSD and on HDD. If you want dual SSD later, you can always swap out the HDD since the bracket is there already.

I have that.

 

SSD prices are always coming down. get the best conventional hard drive you can afford now (7200 rpm, lots of cache) and in a year or two, upgrade to an SSD or two.

Right now, SSDs are priced as premium items much as LED backlight screens were 18 months ago. Unless you have a SERIOUS NEED for the speed of an SSD, don't bother.

 

One thing to note. If you get a standard drive now w/o SSD option. You have a 2.5" bracket in there you will need to replace to 1.8" later if you decide SSD. WHere to get the bracket is beyond me, but some people here have done it successfully.

 

Thanks for all of the replies! I am going to go with the combo so I have the 1.8 bracket in there.

 

Curious, what are the flaws of dual SSD's?

 

To get the speed increase from having dual SSDs, you need to raid the drives in a mirror configuration. In this configuration, the data is mirrored on each drive so if you have to 160 GB SSD's in RAID you only have 160 GB of total storage, since the data is duplicated onto 2 drives but you get a big speed increase. However, this is costly and if one drive is corrupted you lose all the data.

 

Just need to reply to this.

This post is 100% incorrect.

The best configuration is RAID 0 which results in 320 gb total strorage and increased performance.

There are no disadvantages to the dual ssd configuration. I will argue that even two intel SSD's in RAID 0 will be more reliable and long lasting then a single hard disk of any size.

The only "disadvantage" to the dual SSD configuration compared to a single SSD configuration is that the RAID 0 configuration nullifies TRIM which may result in the performance not being 200% that of a single SSD drive configuration. However, compared to any hard disk configuration, there is no disadvantage.

 

He got striping (RAID0) and mirroring (RAID1) mixed.

RAID1 = lose 50% of space (2x 160GB SSD yields 160GB usable space). Data is duplicated on both drives in realtime, nothing is lost if one of the drives failed. Does NOT increase performance.

RAID0 = 100% of space usable (2x 160GB SSD yields a 320GB drive). Data is *striped* across both drives (half of the file on each drive). Everything is lost if one of the drives failed. Theoretically doubles the throughput of the single drive.

 

As a result of the SSDs, my Envy 15 boots, shuts down, and performs a number of tasks more quickly than my desktop which has a more powerful processor, GPU and more RAM. Once you go to SSD you will do almost anything to avoid going back to traditional hard drive. If you decide to get an SSD/HDD combo, make sure you can fit your operating system and all your programs you ever intend to install on the SSD. I have 320GB and it is already getting quite cozy, so I bought some 32GB and 64GB SDXC cards for the card slot in the front of the Envy. When I work with large video or artwork files they load much faster if I transfer them to the SSD.

Anandtech is a great source for articles exploring the benefits and problems with SSDs in depth. I understand that over time the SSD gets a little slower unless you are able to use some sort of TRIM or GarbageCollector process to wipe off deleted data. However, even if you didn't do that and the SSD got degraded, it will still be many multiples faster, quieter and generate much less heat than using a traditional hard drive.

I recently booted up an old Compaq Presario in my office and I could honestly hear the little HDD platter spinning around, trying to load up Windows.

Edit: This video comparing the load times for OSX and six Creative Suite 4 apps on identical MacBook Pros, one with SSD and the other with HDD is what initially turned me on to getting the SSD option.
http://eshop.macsales.com/Customized_Pages/Framework.cfm?page=ssd-speed-test-feb-10.html

 

Once you go SSD, apparently you never go back. So to save my wallet from extinction, I will never go SSD

 

Never say never