32 GB Flash Drive For 1330

Anyone configure their 1330 with the solid state flash memory? If so, what differences do you notice in the way it performs compared to a standard HDD?

 

... it will give you lower latency, less heat/noise, more battery life ... but it doesn't have the bandwidth like a normal HD

 

I've got 16gb compactflash, I wish there were adapters for it Like there are external HDD adapter, I want compactflash-to-SATA adapter The card itself is fast, min 20mb/s sustained throughput (Sandisk Extreme III), but using it through usb adapter severely cripples it's capabilities

 

what do you mean it doesn't have the bandwidth? how will it hinder performance?

In a few years I think I'll get one with a 64MB SSHD and then use one of those portable harddrives for everything else

 

Flamenko got the SSD on his M1330, but hasn't actually received it yet (no one has...). There's no hard numbers on the version that Dell's using as far as I know, but yeah, in general, you're looking at significantly lower access times, lower power consumption, and heat dissipation.

Depending on the version of SSD, it may be slower or faster than 2.5" drives. (there are 25MB/s, 45MB/s, and 67MB/s read versions out there)

 

It's interesting that Dell has not sent review units with SSD to any reviewers. My guess is that performance gains will not be big yet. Space needs for Vista might actually be stunting performance similar to Intel's Turbo memory. Startup speed and spot reads will be fast but so far reviews suggest that sequential reads (ie. transferring large files) is not fast enough yet on SSD drives that have been reviewed (Don't think this includes the Sandisk drive that Dell uses, I haven't seen reviews of it).

 

I couldn't tell.

 

Yes yes yes...I seem to be the only solid state guy in the group. Its kinda nice actually that a few others have pm'd asking for a review in comparison to the two systems as i have two on the way, the other with a 160 7400 gg HD.

I have heard the Samsung, not Scandisk is being used but cant confirm until I actually get it.

I will admit that, for me, watching my system start in 11 sec will have me smiling for that simple fact...

Ill be sure to get back to all as Im curious as to what kind of battery efficiency it will really have as disk access can be a huge drain presently which would not be the case at all here (.8w under load vice 2.5)

Waiting...waiting...waiting.

 

I'm kind of worried about SSD lifespan. Flash memory can handle only so many rewrites and since all software are designed for hard-drive, they don't take any precaution to reduce the effort puts on SSD.

 

Most SSD makers are incorporating smart algorithms that avoid writing on the same sector over and over, instead spreading out the writes evenly across the memory.

SSDs are coming with around 1 million MTBF ratings, which means somewhere around 10 years of normal operation or 5 years under a 100% power on state and a 90% active use state.

 

Wow. Technology is seriously amazing not at just what it can do, but also in how fast it's advancing. I am hoping for SSD's in 1 year lol.

Got myself a 16GB Corsair Flash Voyager (hi speed flash drive) and love flash > magnetic media.

 

You will be smiling, an SSD makes a huge difference! I'm using one right now, so I know.

 

The jump in please and tell us all that we are dying to know...

Is the silence of no turning HDD that obvious?
Is the startup that quicker?
Is there less fan usage because of the lower heat?
And... is there a significant power consumption difference because of all the disk access that is eliminated??

And further...is there a 32g express card available that will make up for the hdd size that I can slide and leave in??

 

I'd like to see a solid state drive that has a better graphics card option to go with it...maybe in the higher-end XPs they might add that?

It's definitely the future though as more PC makers will begin to use it and prices come down some.

 

Im not sure if your relating to the hard drive or system in total...but

We seem to be asking for miracles and for the most part, technology is pulling it off. Dell just created their lightest consumer oriented system and the graphics card (8400m) is superior to the last (7400). On top of that, they increased their screen size, processor power, type of hard disk that can be used and so on...

Sure we would like to see the higher end card somehow get integrated into this system...but at what price? Will it now lose something or get bigger???

At under 4lbs, I dont really think we can confidently ask for more since Dell not only threw in the Santa Rosa processor, the LED and the SSD for those who wanted it, but they also came out with what just might one of the thinnest systems, integrated DVDrw and diff colours so you can choose...

I really dont know how much more we could have asked for here... Sales in the first few days alone have shown its a hit!!!

 

I want blueray recorder in 1330

 

Then you'd need a more powerful GPU than the 8400.

 

The 8400M is more than capable of decoding 1080p content. PureVideo HD offloads the processing to the GPU.

 

I'd still opt for a more powerful GPU for HD viewing.

 

Why? What is your reasoning behind that? It wouldn't help with respect to HD decoding.

 

If you watch HD a lot, you might as well assume you deal with video a lot, and a strong GPU is therefore vital.

 

Decoding video streams does not require a strong GPU.

 

Here's something interesting for you to chew on...the 8400m is selectable for Blu Ray in a 15 inch. However, in the 17 inch, the 8600m is the one that must be selected...

Now could part of that be that the 8600m is needed to display the HD movie on a 1900by1200 monitor...something the 8400m can't handle but wouldn't need to on a 15 inch screen?

I'm no expert, but this is what I observed and it's either the reason I just gave or it's completely random on Dell's part unless i misread things.

Regardless, there is no reason why they couldn't offer the SSD in the models that have an 8600m card, the larger models like the 15 and 17 inch Inspiron.

I agree the price might get outrageous though. You got $650 for Blu Ray, another $600 for SSD. You need a good CPU for Blu Ray anyway, so that would be another couple hundred extra. In the end, the system cost is going to spike quite high, even with only 2 gbs of RAM.


And I won't even get into the extreme inconsistencies of Dell pricing. Compare a 15 inch and 17 inch Vostro...it'll drive you mad. Why does the Vostro allow 4 gbs of RAM for $500 less than the Inspiron? Why does the 17 inch not have the same graphic card option as the 15 inch Vostro?

 

Start by taking a look at this review of PureVideoHD

http://anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2977&p=4

PureVideoHD allows the shaders to be used for processing video - it is mostly based on shader power. As you can see though, there's little difference between the 8600GT and 8600GTS in almost all cases, which means the shaders are not bottlenecking performance..

The 8400M GS will suffice for decoding even 1080p content. Albeit, it may put slightly more load on the CPU, but power consumption should even out between slightly more load on the CPU versus more power draw by a more powerful GPU.

 

This is a great read from tom's hardware that will answer all the questions asked here in depth. Keep in mind that if you simply jump to the numbers in the comparison given, that the drive has been matched up to a top notch desktop hard drive that is incomparable to most notebook hard drives used. Plus, it is interesting to note that samsung recently released a 64gb SSD that has increased the write times by 20% and read times by 60%... or was it the other way around? Anyways, the speed of these drives are being significantly improved with each revision, but it is doubtful that the price of the drives will decrease as dramatically until the drives are purchased more widely. Thanks for that flamenko .

In terms of when I think these drives will become standard, I think that these drives will become widespread in high end notebooks when the next stream of graphic cards get released as that is usually when new models are released. However, I don't see the drives being the standard in notebooks and especially desktops until a large amount of the drives are sold and companies can mass produce them. I really hope that happens sooner rather than later, as solid state drives are the best thing to happen to computers since graphics cards were released - except this upgrade's a long time coming.

 

Yeah, I know what you mean. The upgrade from the free 2GB to 4GB on the Federal EPP site was $1000 the day I ordered (actually ended up ordering on the home side due to coupons but that's another story...) vs I think $400 on the home/home office site.