Anyone tried replacing a harddrive in a Dell m1330 with an SSD?

Hi there, my first post here, although I've been wasting far too much time reading about notebooks on this website lately

Basically I have been looking for an ultraportable for the last 6 months, and until 2 weeks ago I was opting for the Sony TZ. My three main requirements are LED screen (for better colour gamut), SSD drive and weight - the laptop is to be used for photo editing whilst travelling around. The only contender to the TZ is the Toshiba R500, but looks like the screen is not that good.

Recently I've discovered the Dell m1330, and it had opened new possibilities. I'm not so happy with the weight (>2kg for decent battery life with 9 cell battery), but the Santa Rosa (much better performance, up to 4Gb of RAM, wirless N, etc) platform is tempting. In the US there are some very good deals on the m1330...such as the possibility of a 64Gb Samsung SSD, a free Creative XFi sound card, and good prices for accidental damage. As usual, prices in UK suck, and now they even withdrew the option of a 32Gb SSD! Perhaps they are going to introduce the option of a 64Gb SSD, but I'm so sure that it will be such a rip-off!

My question is...how difficult is it to open the m1330 and replace the harddrive yourself? From what I get it's a 2.5" SATA, so if I buy a cheapo 120GB HD, and then after say 6 months replace it with a Samsung 64GB SSD myself...I believe by that time there will be 128GB around, and the price would have gone down!

I know there is info how to replace the hd on a Sony TZ, but that's with a less convenient 1.8" form factor and with a weird connector (ZIF?)...guess the SATA in the Dell would be much more replacement friendly!!

Anywone willing to delve deep inside Jenna Jameson...I mean...the Dell m1330? Or perhaps someone saw some 'technician' replacing a HD for one of the many reported faults on the delivered units?

 

it should fit right in there as long as you get a 2.5" sata SSD drive. many people are doing this to save money cause dell charges a premium on a few internal hardware upgrades.

 

You really believe that? I've got the feeling the prices are going to be ridiculously pointless (unless you're loaded that is) for quite some time. I dunno, I'd love to upgrade to SSDs mid-08, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

Oh, and btw, Jenna Jameson is fugly now.

 

Replacing the hard drive is easy, any 2.5" SATA will fit. If you had looked at the book that came with your Dell, you would have known how to do this.

If you want to install the OS from scratch, no problem. But if you want to reproduce your current drive, including your current C: and the MediaDirect and utility and recovery partitions, well, this can also be done but it is far from trivial. Dell has made it very hard.

 

You mean there is a special compartment (with a couple of screws) for the harddrive? I got the impression that you have disassamble quite a few parts to get to the harddrive (I haven't seen any decent pictures of unassabled m1330s yet).

Regarding the installation...isn't the utility and recovery partitions created by Vista? btw does Dell ship the Vista cds with the m1330? As for the MediaDirect, it would be nice to keep the functionality, but I was predicting some problems with that.

As for Jenna...I admit my media library is getting old now

 

I just did the review below on my m1330. You simply unscrew the 4 HD retaining screws, pull out the SSD, switch over the cover that screws into the SSD/HD and put in the HD.

Thats it!!

All disks come with Vista.

No, the utility and recovery partitions are not part of Vista. They will be deleted on reinstall of Vista or MD 3.3, as in the case of a clean install below.

They are pointless in any case.

 

Thanks Flamenko...useful info!

 

Normally, HDs have a carriage that they fit into. With the SSD, the carriage is built right into the laptop.

 

SSD write transfer rate so low?

 

Please use verbs when writing...

 

HAHAHAHA. i second this.

 

"Write" is a verb where I come from. He omitted "how" or "why" neither of which is a verb.

 

Hi,
I realize your post's focus is primarily on SSD info but I thought that I'd point out:

I was thinking the same thing as I'm shopping for a wide-gamut LCD monitor but the led back-lighting found on these Notebook panels (eg 1330, SZ, etc.) do not increase the gamut, only brightness and this, while lowering energy usage. The LED tech used for monitors like this Sammy are different (but I don't know why, exactly).

Btw, I just caught a glimpse of Sony's SZ6 series which (finally) makes use of the Santa Rosa platform...

 

In "write transfer rate", "write" is not used as a verb, but as part of a noun. It's called context.

 

Should I change the name of this thread to "English Grammar Lessons"?

 

You say this because of your own personal judgement, or because you saw some technical comparisons? From the TrustedReviews website (referring to Sony TZ screen):
"The other big plus for an LED backlight LCD screen, is that it gives you a far wider colour gamut than a traditional LCD, which is why NEC's mega-high-end SpectraView Referance 21 monitor uses similar technology. Although the wide colour gamut isn't as important on an 11.1in notebook screen, there is no denying that the colours on this display look better than on any other notebook I've reviewed. In fact not a single member of the TR team failed to comment on just how great this screen looks!"

Yes I'm keeping an eye on the Sony SZ and the Asus U3. The former disappoints because they're not offering wireless with Draft N, and don't have a HDMI connector (but weight+ battery wise they win over the m1330); the Asus has a eSATA connector, but weight-wise doesn't seem promising. Unfortunately both these options are not offerred with SSD.

 

Going back to the scope of the thread, seems like of all the Thin and Lights with the Santa Rosa platform, only the Dell m1330 offers easy access to the harddrive (from what Flamenko said, and after seeing detailed pictures of the bottom) I can confirm that there is no need to open the notebook to replace the harddrive. I guess this helps because opening the notebook might invalidate the warranty.

 

In my tests below, I have switched my ssd with the hard drive no less than 10 times this week. I dont even replace the screws anymore.

I just turn the system off, pull one out, replace the plastic endpiece and shove the other in...and turn it on.

 

Yeah, on the m1330 its super easy....