In your opinion, are SSD worth the extra money?

Hey everybody, I'm looking at getting a SXPS(still trying to decide between the 16 and 13) and just wanted to get your opinions on whether or not you think the solid state drives are worth the extra money.

 

Depends on usage. For me, no. I use my SXPS 16 for games, movies, videos, homework, and browsing. I guess when it really matters is when you're doing stuff that is speed critical, something I cannot think of an example for. And if you have deep pockets.

 

right now, i think the price point is good enough to get a SSD... you could wait a few more months for SSD prices to drop (think my friend got a 64GB for $150... 500GB 2.5 can be found for $100), maybe a year or two for SSD price point and capacity to reach HDD levels so that HDDs would die in 5 years.... good riddance, considering that the technology in HDDs is really old

 

For me, I use my XPS for Visual Studio, Microsoft SQL Server, Dreamweaver, FlashFXP, Photoshop, Firefox, MSN Messenger, some 'Go' playing (its an anicent chinese game), and that's pretty much my work as a programmer daily routine at the cafe' (i develope independently) - the 7200 gives instant response pretty much, i'm happy with it i don't think i need the SSD's at the moment, and i think its better to wait for the technology to develop some more.

 

As others have said, it may be worth it if:

1. You are using this for a time-critical piece where maybe a gain of 1-2 minutes saved a day due to less waiting...

2. You are very sensitive to heat or very concerned with overheating, the SSD will not generate any heat and therefore keep your overall laptop running cooler (it will act almost as a heat sink, since it'll absorb radiant heat from nearby sources).

3. You want the latest and greatest technology packed in there and you don't mind paying for it.

Personally, I think a 320-500gb 7200rpm HDD is going to be pretty darn fast....and SSDs will probably grow in the usual fashion: 2x as much storage for 1/2 as much per year.

(in other words 2x as much storage for the same price as that storage would cost today, in one year from now)

In 3 years, we'll probably be seeing stable 500gb SSDs for mobile platforms for $150 or less. Until then, a nice 500gb 7200 rpm HDD is a good choice.

IMHO

 

Yes...yes...yes...yes...see my links below...

 

That was a shameless plug I am looking forward to being a New SSD owner this week . Good luck on your bike ride Les

 

I've read some SSD articles before, but after reading your links I actually am thinking about trying to find an SSD on the dell outlet for the 1640. There's a few of them out there.

For the heat and battery life, it might be worth it to me. And the quiet. And the speed.

It' sjust a big jump in price in a new system and quite hard to find in the outlet.

 

It really depends on what you expect from your notebook.

If you are doing harddrive intensive tasks or you are a hardcore gamer, then by all means YES, IT'S WORTH IT. Loading times are blazing fast and it can make all difference in online games, mainly stuff like World of Warcraft, when you are about to get ganked in front of a portal while still waiting for your loading screen. Also if you are a gamer, you are probably running a hot CPU and even hotter GPU, so cutting down on heat from your drive might be of some benefit.

If you browse internet, play Minesweeper and chat on MSN, then no, you won't notice much of an improvement apart from faster booting time, unless you want to maximize your batter life. And even then, it's not worth the premium price.

 

I upgraded to the SSD for:

- shock resistance (not that i am rough, but, its good to have)
- zero vibrations.. i dont think i can stand the constant buzzing of HDDs right under my palm
- heat, read/write performance, etc

The Dell upgrade price to 256SSD makes it worth it, but, the retail prices are still too high to upgrade on your own.

 

Hell yes, quiet fast and cool, what's not to like?

 

The price?

 

thanks for all the replies. I don't think I'll be doing enough to require that expensive of an upgrade.

 

Why not buy it then if you don't like it sell it on ebay $300 for a 256 gig SSD drive is a steal

 

They're so fast. You can't not love ssd.

 

I think they are compared to the prices elsewhere.. I would do it!

Go for it! (I'm so bad when I'm not spending my own money)

Cin...

 

Exactly the reasons why you should upgrade to a SSD if you have the money. Though cost is the big factor, (good) SSDs are superior to even the best HDDs in pretty much every possible way (if you want the same capacity as a HDD though, you're gonna be paying quite a bit more though...)

Actually, the Dell retail price is one of the cheapest SSDs per GB. They sell it for $480 no coupon on their site, which works out to be less than $2/GB. Compared to say Intels, which sell easily for $3/GB, it's a steal (though their 2nd generation SSDs might shake things up!). Then again it's still a $500 upgrade

 

Damn I was set on the HDD because of the price, but now I am starting to change my mind

 

Check page 1 of the 4670 sxps thread

compares thier SSD to 500gb 7200rpm

the 7200 is actually in my laptop. Both of the ones compared mine and the other guys have exact same ram + cpu... really good comprison.

 

Newbie here. And my answer is a resounding hell yeah!

Absolutely, without a doubt, the best $120 investment ever for my old Inspiron 700m. Boot times down 50% to 30 sec, apps open up instantly (iTunes in 2 seconds compared to 10 seconds with 160GB WD 5400 drive), and overall just a lot snappier. This notebook is even faster in boot time and the same apps than my overclocked C2D gaming desktop!

And all this because of a 32GB PATA SSD!? Not to mention the quiet operation, increased battery life, less heat, etc, etc.

I'm certainly going to do the same to my XPS M1210. If you don't need a lot of hard drive space (loaded XP Pro on the 700m plus various apps and 12GB of music and pics and still have over 10GB left on the SSD) then it's virtually a no-brainer.

However, only time will tell if this holds true six months from now, but after 4 weeks it's been fantastic.

Do your research before buying one. There's lots of good info out there as to which ones to buy and to avoid.

 

Well, needs and wants are very subjective. I don't make money with my Photography or graphic design in Photoshop, so I don't need my RGB LED, but it makes life better. That said, in addition to speed SSDs in theory are less prone to random breakdowns (no moving parts), don't break when dropped and draw a bit less power.

 

I think certain SSD's are worth the money

for example my older cheap 32gb patriot warp - was not worth the money, performance is mediocre, and jmicron controller causes lag issues sometimes with small writes.

however then i got a 64gb gskil falcon, the indilinx controller it uses with the 64mb cache is very fast; and a huge performance boost to my system.

In my desktop I'm using 2x 120gb OCZ vertex ssd's in RAID0 ; just excellent

so.. if your going to get an SSD; spend a little more and get something with fast performance