Lenovo 3000 N500 - SSD compatibility

Hi all,

I have this notebook:

Lenovo 3000 N500 423379G
Product 423379G
Serial L3DMA3X

Bios version 6GET13WW(V1.04)
Bios date 12/01/2008

Northbridge Intel GL40 rev. 07
Southbridge Intel 82801IM (ICH9-M) rev. 03

Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU T6400 @ 2.00GHz


I would like to know if there's any SSD compatible with my notebook, and what would you suggest as a low-cost/budget option? 100gb would be fine.

Thanks

 

Any 2.5" SATA drive should work. I'd recommend Intel or Samsung controller based;

Intel X25-M G1/G2 or 320 series or Samsung PM800/PM810 (470 series) without spending $$$.

 

After using the 320 for a year so far and continuing, it's definitely a nice drive. Might be the cheapest of the options Hime pointed out as well, depending on store.

Another option would be to catch a Crucial M4 SSD when it's on sale.

 

Uhh... how cheap are we talking about for used SSDs that have either no warranty or not much left? I love my X25-M G2 that I bought >2 years ago, new, but I sure as heck wouldn't buy a X25-M G1 since it doesn't support TRIM. Even the G2 is way outclassed in perf by more modern (and seemingly reliable) SSDs.

I recently saw the 128 gig Samsung 830 for $90 and it has a 3 year warranty. Crucial M4s have 3 year warranties. Both these guys can be had for <$110, if you wait a bit for deals. Current Intel have 3+ year warranties, depending on the drive.

As I posted at http://forum.notebookreview.com/sol...g-ssd-my-dell-latitude-e6400.html#post8669067, I steered clear of the 320 as the Bad Context 13x bug apparently hasn't been fully addressed.

 

The G2/320 is still stupid fast compared to a mechanical drive (honestly, I feel no subjective difference between my 320 and 330, the latter of which now acts as my boot drive; SSD "snappiness" comes from access times, not read/write). And it uses an Intel-made controller, something I'd trust far more than Sandforce (and maybe even Marvell?). Samsung, however, does make absolutely everything in-house though, so they're awesome for reliability as well.

 

I've bought 4 X25-M G1 SSD (3 went into Windows XP machines which doesn't support TRIM anyway). G1 has a GC algorithm built into the controller. I tend to find the faster SATA 3 SSDs will be a bugger on battery life, almost as bad as mechanical drives.

I've bought 7 320 series SSDs, 4 before the "8 mb" bug and 3 after, I have yet one to fail on me yet.