So I'm buying a new gaming laptop (don't care about the criticisms- when you might live in 3 different countries in 3 months, you'll understand) and I already have the model and most of the features picked. The only thing really left to decide is whether I'll get a SSD boot drive or not.
The laptop I've picked is the MSI GX640. It comes default with a 7200rpm 500gb HDD but I'd replace it with a 80GB Intel X25-M and stick the HDD in the optical bay (meaning I'd get an external DVD drive.) The total cost for doing that would be $210~ (SSD) + $45~ (optical bay caddy) + $20-45~ (external DVD drive.)
So the question is, is a SSD boot drive worth +$300? (I'd already be saving about $50 by doing it on my own instead of having Xotic do it.
I've been bugging Fragkrag for a while but it hasn't really helped me choose. I've asked a few other hardware geek friends and the 1 with an SSD said it's worth it, the 2 without them said no.
So what do you think, TL? Keep in mind, the total price of the laptop is $1100.
Poll: Is a SSD boot drive worth an extra $300?
No, it's not worth $300 (and I have a slow ass hdd) (20)
42%
Yes, it's worth $300 (and I have a slow ass hdd) (13)
27%
Yes, it's worth $300 (and I have a SSD) (8)
17%
No, it's not worth $300 (and I have a SSD) (7)
15%
48 total votes
Your vote: Is a SSD boot drive worth an extra $300?
(Vote): Yes, it's worth $300 (and I have a SSD) (Vote): No, it's not worth $300 (and I have a SSD) (Vote): Yes, it's worth $300 (and I have a slow ass hdd) (Vote): No, it's not worth $300 (and I have a slow ass hdd)
In a gaming laptop, you are better off upgrading the video card as much as you can.
While SSDs are amazing, since you are going to be adding it after the original configuration there is no real hurry. I'd use the laptop as is (with the 7200 RPM drive) and decide from there. The longer you wait the cheaper and faster SSDs will be.
Lol in the end you'll prolly just end up regret not getting it if you're thinking about it this much right? Such goes the world of buying shiny toys. Spose it depends on how you feel about honestly spending the money eh. I've always felt blah when not bein' able to get parts I've wanted, when I know I could have. Got money spares, do it, else it'll eat your brains for a month or longer.
On May 16 2010 11:17 AraqirG wrote: It depends on the other specs.
In a gaming laptop, you are better off upgrading the video card as much as you can.
While SSDs are amazing, since you are going to be adding it after the original configuration there is no real hurry. I'd use the laptop as is (with the 7200 RPM drive) and decide from there. The longer you wait the cheaper and faster SSDs will be.
That's what I'm leaning towards.
The video card is a Radeon 5850 mobile, which is an underclocked desktop 5770, which makes it one of the best single card performers available. Tom's and notebookcheck both have benchmarks out, but both are a bit suspect right now. The Notebookcheck ratings are from the GDDR3 version and the Tom's benchmarks just make no sense at all.
Anyways, the important thing is that the laptop can run SC2 fluidly on Ultra at max resolution.
The HDD is one of the largest bottlenecks present in any machine. Speeding up your HDD, shy of adding RAM (up to a point), is the single most effective way to boost performance of a computer.
If you already have a lot of speedy RAM, I say go for the SSD. Use the SSD for the operating system and games, keep data (and possibly a backup of the SSD's contents) stored on the secondary disk.
Your initial startup will be much faster, games will load more quickly, and applications will start up almost instantly.
Installation times will also be much, much faster when using the SSD.
SSD. Upgrading from mechanical to solid state has changed my computers speed in so many ways. Boots and waking from sleep are much faster and load times are much reduced in games. With that said, the improvements are obviously going to only affect things that deal with hard drive access. For $300 there could be other areas which you can spend on which could possibly increase your overall experience, like GPU as mentioned above. Its really up to you, your computer won't play SC2 any better with an SSD but it will load faster.
For me I have a 5870 and an 3.6 ghz Core 2 so the upgrade from HD -> SSD was the most cost effective.
The new Sandforce based drives are faster than the older Intel drives. Although they offer less capacity than the Intel 80 GB drive. Crucial RealSSD, OCZ Vertex 2, OCZ Agility 2, OCZ Vertex LE, Corsair Force, and OWC Mercury Extreme uses the Sandforce controller.
On May 16 2010 11:19 d0da wrote: To be entirely honest I'd rather take the insane amount of extra space than having things load faster.
They are way too expensive per GB for my taste. Some day though, I will enjoy a SSD thoroughly
Yeah but you could just as easily get 1 TB of external hard drive space for like 150 and install a cheaper SSD to get the performance. This is my plan as of now anyway.
I'd wait till Black Friday for the good deals. Technology evolves so quick, SSD is going to become standard before you know it. Might as well save your money for when that happens.
While it is unquestionable that SSD is better than HDD, I've never been able to justify paying the extra amount yet. It's still too expensive in my opinion. Boot times, while the lower the better obviously, is not something I'm willing to spend too much more for. When I was building my desktop a month ago, I considered getting an ssd but figured I would of been better off spending the difference on a better graphics card/etc. rather than ssd, and I stand by that. Although this doesn't apply to laptops as much, I don't think its worth it.
On May 16 2010 11:42 T.O.P. wrote: The new Sandforce based drives are faster than the older Intel drives. Although they offer less capacity than the Intel 80 GB drive. Crucial RealSSD, OCZ Vertex 2, OCZ Agility 2, OCZ Vertex LE, Corsair Force, and OWC Mercury Extreme uses the Sandforce controller.
depends on what you're doing, either way the sandforce controllers are better at sustained writes then intel's offerings. But they are pretty even as i've seen test vary when it comes to reads.
Personally, I would upgrade the video card first and then when you get a chance upgrade to a SSD. They are amazing but it's easy to replace compared to a video card, especially in a laptop.
On May 16 2010 12:10 GreEny K wrote: Personally, I would upgrade the video card first and then when you get a chance upgrade to a SSD. They are amazing but it's easy to replace compared to a video card, especially in a laptop.
Not quite so laptops can have issues with the sizes of certain ssds although granted still easier to deal with then a video card even the ones that are compliant for modular design.
And SSD is noticeable performance though while a 5850 is still a pretty good card to have in a computer only one better would be a 5870, or a sli set up with nvidia cards.
Tough choice. I would say it would still honestly depend on exactly what you're going to be doing with your computer. I would say that it also depends on the type of games that you're going to be playing. Something like a heavily modded game like Oblivion you'd want the SSD. Something like Crysis: Warhead you might consider skipping it. It honestly doesn't matter for mass SC2 gaming, but if you expect to be switching between applications or stuff like that, then get the SSD.
I would also expect that you'd be keeping this one for a while, so I'd recommend the SSD based solely on that. $300 for a HUGE time saver over 5 years is seriously worth it.
On May 16 2010 12:17 Xeris wrote: MSI is a good choice ^_^!
the build quailty has gone up quite a bit in the past years i mean they aren't like foxcon or biostar anymore etc but their customer service still blows, ofc that never stopped people from buying ocz.
It's certainly not going to make an impact on your gaming...
The big pro (in addition to speed) is that it's safer to wear and tear. I don't think most HDDs have too many serious issues until they get old, but it's always something you worry about.
The big con is that its life expectancy probably won't match that of a well-maintained HDD - it's almost guaranteed to completely die in several years.
Either way your important data should be backed up on another location, and either way you'll probably be buying a new machine in a few years anyway.
On May 16 2010 11:52 Wr3k wrote: Imo, unless everything else in your machine is already top of the line, no point in getting SSD (at least for gaming purposes).
This. Afaik gaming performance isn't really affected by hard drive speeds, except in loading levels.
But I'd personally get a shiny SSD in my new laptop, just to get that "cutting edge" feeling where your new computer outperforms your old one by a significant margin.
Intel 25nm NAND flash is actually coming out in the end of this year. Don't expect huge price drops since I think the 25nm X25-M line will be limited to 160GB + models. Sandforce and the new Indilinx controller which is slated for last half of the year should help as well.
The SSD market is becoming as competitive as the CPU and GPU market, and I would expect prices to drop.
I run a RAID0 in my desktop and there is a noticeable difference. A fast system drive is great and worth some additional costs in my opinion, but I advise against your solution. 300$ and no internal optical drive isn't worth it at all. Don't forget that a SSD doesn't improve your 3D performance at all, it only affects loading times, booting, application starting times etc.
I used to be skeptical of the SSDs. I own a velociraptor (300GB) that runs at 10k rpm so I didn't think there would be that big of a difference. And honestly, the boot time is SO MUCH FASTER on a SSD. Loading games is not much faster but the boot up on a SSD is incredible. I got the intel 80gb one. Programs like iTunes and word load up WAY faster. Like in a split second. However... I still don't know if the price was justified. I don't really care though since I got it for cheap at microcenter and had money laying around.
EPT
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