MX11 SSD from Dell? their answer

wow, so basically they just say, you will get whatever we decide you will get, LOL I understand that practice on normal harddrives but for a $570 upgrade and under the alienware brand name?


4:53:33 PM BE_EPP_Rep_Albert B Welcome to Dell's EPP System Sales Chat!. I hope you are doing well. My name is Albert. Please provide your phone number and e-mail where I can contact you in case we get disconnected. How can I help you today ?
4:54:08 PM Doug Hi, I was looking to purchase the Alienware MX11, and was wondering what type of SSD hard drive it uses?
4:54:53 PM BE_EPP_Rep_Albert B We randomly use different SSD brands Doug.
4:55:39 PM Doug well thats not what I wanted to hear for a $570 upgrade
4:56:15 PM Doug with SSD performance is everything, so how would I know if I am going to be sent an older drive or a up to date one?
4:58:43 PM BE_EPP_Rep_Albert B It's an up to date one.
4:59:01 PM Doug so is the performance comparable to Intels SSD drives?
5:00:38 PM BE_EPP_Rep_Albert B Yes that is right.
5:01:53 PM Doug has the SSD changed since the MX11 first was released? because I have read that the original one a few months ago were shipped with slower SSD drives, with about 110 read and 80 write speeds, where current drives like Intel have 220 read and 100+ write
5:03:23 PM BE_EPP_Rep_Albert B I believe we always offer what's the latest regarding hard drives.
5:04:32 PM BE_EPP_Rep_Albert B Since we don't stock computers because we build it from scratch.
5:04:40 PM Doug so there is no way to confirm the speeds of that SSD drive? If I order it and its slower can I use this chat session to get a full refund without restocking fee if I return it? I know with normal Hard drives, brand doesn't matter too much, but with SSD it means everything
5:06:18 PM BE_EPP_Rep_Albert B I'm afraid but we really don't have information about its speed.
5:07:29 PM Doug but what about the hard drive itself? I mean the consumer has the right to know what they are buying and if I purchase it I will be able to find out anyway since it will be in my system, so why won't Dell say what it is up front?
5:08:25 PM Doug If I receive it and find out its a cheaper model and I want to return it, Dell will hit me with a 15% restocking fee! Which is why HP has a much better policy, no restocking fee if you are unsatisfied for any reason
5:08:53 PM BE_EPP_Rep_Albert B It's just that our program here does not say any information about the SSD on that package regarding its specs.

 

Sure it will still be the Samsung SSD's. Intel only do the 80 & 160GB and the M11X option is a 256GB one isn't it?

I just bought one with the include drive & put an Intel in mine.

 

Dell uses the Samsung drives, TRIM supported. Here are the numbers in my M11x R1 with the 256 GB Samsung SSD. Obviously there is going to be some variation, but this is a general idea. I bench the drive from time to time. This should give you a ball park range. Now they won't perform like an intel, but in my eyes, they beat any HDD, and they offer more space for less money per GB.

 

If you're willing to spend 579 bucks on an SSD upgrade, get the cheapest hard drive option and then buy a 200GB OCZ Sandforce-equipped drive ( link) from Newegg. They're covered for three years.

 

DR650SE, thanks for the numbers, that is what I have been looking for but couldn't find anywhere. looks like the seq read and write are the same as the Intel but I think Intel has everyone beat at random times.

thats not too bad though, with my EPP discount its actually a $513 upgrade. and I don't see any SSD with 256GB cheaper than that! if intel comes out with that size soon (G3 version) it will probably be $750

 

well actually since I can get the MX11 one for $513 ($550 with tax) its still cheaper than that $630 plus it gives you 56 more GB, so I am looking at $2.15 per GB with Dell or $3.15 per GB with that OCZ, thats a pretty big increase, almost 50% more per GB

but you make a good point. I might just stick with the base 160GB 5200 drive, then wait for the SSD prices to drop a little and maybe upgrade in 6 months.

 

here is the info my Intel 160GB just spit out, so the numbers for Seq and 512KB are pretty much the same, but 4KB is much quicker on the intel.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
CrystalDiskMark 3.0 x64 (C) 2007-2010 hiyohiyo
Crystal Dew World : Crystal Dew World
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
* MB/s = 1,000,000 byte/s [SATA/300 = 300,000,000 byte/s]

Sequential Read : 243.289 MB/s
Sequential Write : 111.145 MB/s
Random Read 512KB : 166.135 MB/s
Random Write 512KB : 109.990 MB/s
Random Read 4KB (QD=1) : 25.152 MB/s [ 6140.6 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=1) : 76.410 MB/s [ 18654.7 IOPS]
Random Read 4KB (QD=32) : 28.152 MB/s [ 6873.1 IOPS]
Random Write 4KB (QD=32) : 81.108 MB/s [ 19801.7 IOPS]

Test : 100 MB [C: 45.7% (68.1/149.0 GB)] (x5)
Date : 2010/06/11 8:16:51
OS : Windows 7 Home Premium Edition [6.1 Build 7600] (x64)

 

Thats what i would do too, atleast then you would know aht you are buying.

 

I don't know, 6 months is an awful long time to be stuck with 160gb. At least pay,w hat $25 more or whatever to upgrade to 256gb if you want to go the waiting route.

Dell does offer a very competitive price for the 256gb (I spent a few hours the other day researching), especially if you can get any sort of discount from them, so I don't know if waiting 6 months will really help too much there.

 

Actually its $50 to go to the 250GB, which is pathetic because you can go to newegg and buy a 250GB 7200 laptop HD for $45, LOL

I think going with the 160GB will be a good test to see if I can get by with a 160GB hard drive, if I can, then I will just throw a intel in there for around $400...

Also speaking of stupid prices on upgrades, I think all companies do it, but they try to figure out what it will cost you to do the upgrade on your own and maybe price it just under that, but for the most part its like 80% profit for them. Take the cpu upgrade for example. I think the i5 cost $50 less than the i7 does (for them from Intel) yet they charge us $150 for the upgrade! They could make that $100, still be making a 100% margin and sell a ton more, but I guess thats why all computer manufactures are hurting, they don't understand supply and demand...