Question on hard drive format for Dell XPS 15/17

Hi,

I am about to order a Dell XPS 17 and was wondering whether they're using 2.5" hard drives? Was thinking of purchasing a SSD HD separately to upgrade the notebook.

Thanks!

 

Yes they are 2.5", and you are much better off getting the ssd separate, as you can get a much better performing drive for cheaper, and use the existing drive as a data drive.
Check out the review on anandtech.com, he mentions this.

 

you can substitute a ssd hard drive to any SATA 2.5" opening/replacement . and you can get better quality/quantity typically by purchasing it afterwards (later than if you want you can sell the HD that came with it or keep it)

 

Thanks guys,

Will probably proceed with the Intel X25-V 40GB, can't afford any better.

Got a call from Dell today that my XPS 17 didn't pass QC and that they might have to delay a certain part (the lady refused to tell me what was wrong with it)

 

Actually, I'm thinking of doing exactly as you, so I'm glad that this thread came up.

My question actually involves whether the SSD should be used as the Data drive as opposed to the OS drive and keep the HDD for the OS and programs ?

My reasoning is that much of my data, is in large files (eg. Contact Manager using SQL, large email PST, etc.) and always seems to bog things down. Of course it's great to have your PC boot really quickly, but once it's booted it seems that these are the programs that slow things down.

Honestly, it's hard for me to know if this will continue to be a problem anyway, - since my very old Toshiba which is struggling with minimal memory (1Gb) and docile T2250 CPU (@1.73GHz) and a so so drive-, once I get the Dell.

Anyway, what opinions are out there on this? Thanks.

 

your o/s will benefit from the ssd the most. programs 2nd, 3rd pictures or whatever else

I would suggest trying to get a 128gb ssd so that you can put both your o/s and programs on it.

 

Great thanks. I'm looking at the Intel X-25 as well.

Seems to get good reviews.

Are there any drives that you would recommend?

 

Does swapping the HDD's and SSD's invalidate the warranty? Perhaps it might be best to keep hold of the original HDD and swap it back before returning it to Dell?

 

try the mushkin drives, they offer great performance for the money.

 

...nope...

 

I would recommend: Corsair Force (I am using this and the performance is outstanding...i got a score of 7.4 on WEI), OCZ vertex 2, Intel X-25, G.Skill Phoenix Pro, or Patriot Inferno would do. You can get any of these on newegg.com . Also, the intel X-25 is great but a bit pricey comparing to the other ones I listed above.

No it does not void your warranty. However, during the swapping process, if you break anything inside then it will void your warranty and you are held responsible for it.

 

I received the OCZ Vertex 2 128GB (196 euros in Holland) yesterday. It has +200MB/sec write and read speeds and it got some great reviews (just Google it). Today hopefully i will receive my XPS 17 which comes with 2x 500gb drives so i am kinda bogged where to place the SSD.

 

This link does a good job explaining price/performance (scroll past the hard drive part at the top unless you feel like reading it)

Best Hard Drive Best SSD | Hardware Revolution

Basically you're going to want a drive with TRIM support, >200 write speed and most of the best drives out there are using the sandforce controller (i believe the x-25 does)

not unless your problems are harddrive related (however i am always cautious and keep my "spare" parts in case a situation arises and the computer has to go back to dell)