T400s SSD's, what models shipping? Ordering to night, please advise asap

Hey guys,
Ordering a T400s tonight, here are the options

64gb ssd w/ Ultrabay adapter (put 320gb 7200 rpm drive in it),

or

128gb ssd

the 128gb ssd is $75 more all entailing. however, they both have their pro's/cons. From what i have read the T400s ships with the newer samsung MLC SSD which has very good performance and comes pretty close to the intels. However, what about the 64gb ssd? Is it the newer model as well or should i steer clear?


thanks

 

The T400 comes with the Samsung SSDs but I am fairly sure they are not the newer controller design. If the upgrade cost @ Lenovo is as much or more than the cost of any of the above mentioned drives, do your own upgrade. AFAIK, only the new OCZ Summit drive has the new Samsung controller in it.

The new Samsung controller still sucks at random write performance though, so the X25-M or OCZ drives are better for general usage.

There are *some* reports that the Summit does not maintain performance over time though...

 

Note that they also can ship with Toshiba SSDs. Though there performance isn't as good as the Intels or even the Indilinx in benchmarks, they all will give a significant benefit when you're coming from a HDD. Personally, I don't see the performance difference btw the "good" SSDs as being really noticeable in most real life situations. I would still recommend Samsung since they can be had for the cheapest cost per GB without sacrificing much performance.

 

Sorry, shouldve given some background. I'm a student and I'm stretching my budget to the limit + some to get this. So I can't afford a newer ssd. If the 128gb ssd isn't the newer version I'd rather get the 64gb + 320 in an ultrabay. Overall what do you think is the smarter option? Worst case scenario I'd sell the drive that came with it and get something of equal value (I doubt I can get anything much better though).

 

Can you get it without an SSD? How much less does that cost?

 

That would be my #1 option

Here's the price scheme

64gb ssd : subtract $39
120gb 5400 1.8" halogen drive: stock
250gb 5400 1.8" halogen drive: add $80
128gb ssd: add $111

 

basically, my dilemna is that whatever i buy i have to end up keeping, because i cant afford to sell it and get a pricier drive. So, overall do you guys think its worth the chance of getting a "bad" 128gb ssd? or should i just get the 64 w// the ultrabay adapter so i can play it safe with a 320gb 7200. i guess worst case scenario is that the 128gb ssd sucks and i get the ultrabay adapter for my 320gb anyways..... but that would kinda suck :/ lol.

im pretty much sold on the 128gb ssd, i just wish their was some sort of gaurantee that i would get the new one

 

Even the older generation Samsung 128GB is still better than a regular hard drive in performance. However, you're most likely going to be getting a Toshiba SSD or a newer gen Samsung, so there is almost no chance that you will get the older Samsung SSD.

 

ya, its better but not necessarily worth the extra money for the extra performance. But i guess its a gamble lol.

thanks alot for the input

 

if i were you (hell i am you, because i was in the exact same situation, sort of), i'll just get the cheapest harddisk, then wait (and save money) for the 1.8" intel x18-m g2 to come

<- t400s user with 250gb hdd, waiting for x18-m g2

 

lol, how much is the x18-m g2 gonna be around roughly?

alsom how good are those halogen drives? same as all other 5400 rpm's? or slower?

 

no idea. currently the demand is a lot lot lot more than supply, therefore the current price is $stupid. but the cost (or the previously reported cost) is usd$440 per 1000 units.

no idea what halogen drives mean, but they should be the same as other 5400rpm drives. mind you, the t400s uses a 1.8" drive, so they would be slower than the "other" 2.5" 5400rpm drives.

but i really don't recommend a toshiba/samsung drive.

 

ya thats pretty pricey, i doubt i could ever justify splurging that much on an hdd.

halogen drives are the 1.8" drives the t400s uses

 

i mean, to me, they're drives. i'm just guessing halogen is a "green" term, implying that it's somehow better to the environment or something silly.

and yea, no doubt they are more expensive, but they are quite a lot better, not only performance wise, but also in the long run. (and thats why i mentioned save money)

 

ya lol, probably, another excuse to drive the price up

 

lol im back to getting the 64gb ssd w/ the ultrabay adapter. i think its the smarter choice. Less money more storage. Plus its the best of both worlds.
64gb ssd for fast bootup/running programs
320gb storage that is also decently fast (7200rpm drive)

however, im guessing this will have an impact on battery performance.


vs a 128gb ssd that costs an extra $80 over the other 2

 

well you can always pull the harddisk out when you don't need it

 

nah, 64 is totally not enough ill have the 320gb in permanently if i go that route

 

The 128GB should be worth the extra $80, considering that you can sell it off at a pretty good price when you want to upgrade to a better drive when the Intel X18 G2 comes out (which is what I'll do with mine too). The 128GB is not even a poor SSD at all, so I don't understand the fuss that people are trying to bring up here. Lenovo's choice of OEM SSDs has been pretty good as they have used all the decent Samsung/Intel/Toshiba SSDs, so you're not going to experience the problems seen in those with JMicron controllers.

 

QFT. The cost of the Intel X18-M is too much for me, if I had to make the choice, I would get Samsung (or even the Toshiba) as it is much cheaper and it doesn't sacrificing much performance (if you compared going from a HDD to either SSD, you would be hard pressed to know which SSD you even had).

 

$80 for the 128GB SSD is not much when you consider the whole price.

 

sorry guys lol. thanks alot for your input, but my brother just bought a mbp last night , and gave me his sony vaio vgn-sr140d.

so im gonna stick w/ that for now, probably will grab the t400s later on. or maybe the newer model. \for now im gonna stick w/ the sony and see what happens.

thanks alot for the input though,

 

I ordered a T400s a few days ago, and it had the option to buy it with an Intel High-Performance 80GB SSD for an additional $80 over the most basic option.

 

most likely because u are in the states? the options are different between the canadian and united states site ( ) and we cant order from the states site

 

Well it's not an option on the States site when I checked.
@arekieh - I realize it's too late now, but for me, I'm seeing the 120GB HDD as default, the 250GB HDD = 64 GB SSD = +40, and the 128GB SSD = + 240.
Strange that it's so different in Canada.

 

ya, maybe its another typo :/ but the 64gb ssd is a lower config

 

Ahhh, yes, that makes sense.

Actually, I called in to the Canadian call center too to check out the deals. They're currently offering 30% off, though I only specifically asked about the T400s.