Clevo p170sm-A/Sager 8278-S questions...

Are the msata slots both sata3 spec? I'm quite sure they are just don't remember where I read it and can't seem to find it in reviews, clevo's website, Xoticpc or google search.

Also, how much does a windows 8.1 pro clean install approximately take? I've read as little 23gb up to about 50gb, but I think the correct answer is around 30 gig'ish. Trying to figure out if I should get a 128gb/256gb msata ssd.

And what is a good msata? Seen very mixed reviews, especially from this forum. Reliability, staying somewhat cool for a msata ssd and decent speed are my prerequisites in that order. I want one for booting os. I just got two crucial m500 sd's but I'm not really feeling them. Had the serious hanging up and freezing issue. Did a lot of tweaking and got the freezes taken care of, but I am not sure exactly what took care of it as I threw all the 'fixes' at it. And currently I have hibernate completely turned off. I don't use hibernate often but I do occasionally on one of my power profiles. That, and I am not comfortable with the 20nm lithography. I know 840evo's were problematic but I can't think of one ssd manufacturer that hasn't had some kinks. Even Intel threw me for a loop and I wasted $300 on a 320 160gb that wouldn't let my laptop standby. I am thinking of getting a 850 evo or 850 pro. I believe both use 40nm NAND, which helps TLC out a lot, but definitely would be more comfortable with MLC. I would get one of the sandisks but no hardware encryption. And I do like the fact Samsung ssd's tend to use less power in general. And Samsung magician does make things a bit easier tweaking your ssd.

Thoughts much appreciated.

 

Msata question answered. Does anybody know if g. Skill ripjaws fit in this model?

 

Never mind about ripjaws. Thought they had heatsinks on them.

 

I'd suggest Plextor M6M mSATA SSDs. They're bloody fantastic. They use the same kind of memory as Samsung last I checked (but with their own firmware/memory controller optimizations) and they're lovely, at least in my experience. My M6M beats my 840 Pro, go figure.

Windows 8.1 Pro give or take would be ~30GB, yes.

Crucial M550s are apparently quite good but I've heard mixed feelings about the M500s. Never tried either however.

My Plextor lets me sleep and wake up perfectly fine; nothing on the Samsung gives problems after sleep/wakeup either (just games are there). If that's what you're worried about, no worries there.

850 Pros are apparently quite good and the Pro versions use MLC Nand as far as I know. My 840 Pro (PM841 512GB model) is NOT fully supported by SSD Magician. You'd need to find out if an 850 Evo or 850 Pro in the mSATA slot *WOULD* be supported. I've not seen 850 Evos selling; I believe they are only M.2 designation.

Anything else you want to know?

 

I was looking at the m5m and then m6m since you mentioned it and they don't support hardware encryption. I seriously want to start encrypting my stuff. I use rolling passwords and don't change them as often as I'd like and encryption would slightly offset that gap. My m500, since I tweaked it, has been fine. Got both for $160 apiece. If I do return it, I'll be looking at one drive for the price. I see that plextor went from Intel to Marvell though. Both are solid though. The 850 evo looks promising though. I am sure the 850 pro is solid. Still up in the air about all this. I plan on buying 32gb of ram right off the bat. Might keep the 8278-S closer to 5 years rather than my usual 3 year upgrade cycle. I'm on year 4 with my np5160 which is showing it's age. Need more ram and want to get rid of the cluster**** of external ssd's I am using.

 

The 850 pro really is the king of sata based SSDs, part of that is the extreme durability.

 

I would suggest the Sandisk Extreme Pro which goes for much cheaper here in the UK at least... (£155 cheaper for the 960GB version compared to the 1TB 850 pro).. Performance wise, pretty much the same and if it's cheaper, might as well get it instead.. Warranty is 10 years like the 850 Pro too..

 

It does have very good performance consistency too, if you get a good deal on either you are set.