Best SSD Upgrade for my CTO Z-540?

I originally got my Z at launch with the 200GB 7200. I'd like to switch to an SSD drive. Is there a specific brand/model of drive that will work better with the Z? How easy is the drive replacement? Whats the best model price/performance wise? I was hoping to spend under $500. Thoughts?

 

You might be best asking this question in a generic storage/hardware forum, rather than the Sony forum?

But I've heard the Intel SSDs are very good. Unfortunately they're priced as such, too!

There are cheaper options such as the OCZ Core II series, but many of the cheaper models are said to suffer from lags under certain conditions. Also, I've read that Vista in particular isn't very kind to SSDs due to the way it makes frequent writes to the disk even when idle. Hopefully Windows 7 will be better (in many ways!).

If you're not desperate, I would wait another few months for the technology to mature a bit. Over the next couple of years there will no doubt be many new SSDs hitting the market. I plan to upgrade to SSD myself eventually, but not quite yet.

 

After further review, I think I'll just keep my original drive. It appears the drive is not meant to be user-replaceable like on other notebooks and I'm willing to risk any potential harm to my laptop. Further there seems to be some confusion over whether or not I'd need a 1.8" or 2.5" and whether or not the connectors would line up. I think I'll just wait until next year or whenever the next must-have Sony laptop comes out.

 

In case you do want to upgrade to SSD: Intel X25-M is the fastest. Samsung 64GB SLC or 128GB MLC are good choices too. You can find reviews on Tomshardware.com or Laptopmag.com

You need 2.5" SATA, no doubt.