Buying a x220 and installing RAM and SSD

alright i'm looking to buy a system and was just wondering if this set up is ideal.
Win 7 Pro
i5 (2.3 GHz)
Premium HD (ips)
Bluetooth
320 (standard HD drive)
webcam 720
2gb ram

And the rest are just standard. I'm comtemplating whether to upgrade to 4gb ram on my own, or just add it though lenovo. I saw the video disassembly guide in the lenovo website and it seems pretty straight forward. Would you guys reccommend it for someone that never done this before? (although i have a good history with assembling/disassembing PSPs back in my middle school years )

And if so would these msata ssd and 4gb ram be good enough?
4GB, 204-pin SODIMM, DDR3 PC3-10600 upgrades for Lenovo Thinkpad X220 Laptop/Notebook, CT1913280 from Crucial.com

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sol.../579322-mydigitalssd-msata-ssd-64gb-x220.html

What tools would i need? can anyone provide me with a specific link from amazon or something of what ill need to do this.

But all in all im interested in doing this because if i end up successful...i would have a 6gb ram and 64 msata ssd for <1100. Way better then macbook pros imho

 

also i know i need to buy an external disc drive to reinstall windows on the ssd. is the a specific type i need to buy. I know ill need to buy one eventually but if it doesn't really matter, id just go with the cheapest i could find.

 

Changing your memory is very easy. I'm sure the crucial will work

I don't know much about MyDigitalSSD. I suppose if you want a more known quantity, Intel is the way to go. To install the drive you only need a small screwdriver. If you want to watch a video of how to do it, hit the training and support site. There's a link in the sticky. The mSATA drive isn't in there, but it's the same as the WWAN card.

 

oh okay thank you! just a simple precision screwdriver? and as for an external disc drive for reinstalling windows?

 

I'd just pick one up on eBay.

 

thanks for the punctual response! much appreciated

 

I have a MyDigitalSSD. Seems to work ok, although I haven't done any major benchmarking.

Installing RAM takes removing two screws. It's as easy as any computer part replacement is ever likely to be. If you've disassembled a PSP, you'll be able to do it in your sleep.

As for if your specs are 'ideal': Ideal for what? What you need depends on what you are doing. (Although I'd either go for the i3, or upgrade to one of the other i5's. At the base i5 you aren't getting anything more than an i3 with a slightly higher clock speed.)

 

did you notice a huge difference from the 7200rpm drive to the MyDigitalSSD drive? ideal for college engineering major i suppose. I plan to keep this for at least 4 or most likely 5 years ill be at college. Doesn't this i5 have turbo boost?

 

FYI, you don't need an external optical drive to reinstall windows. I created my recovery "discs" on a 16gb USB flash drive and it worked fine. I also used an 8gb USB flash drive to do a clean windows install.

You may have those sitting around already but if not, a 16gb USB drive is cheaper, lighter and faster than an optical drive. If you're only using it for this one thing, the choice is simple IMO.

Regarding the speed difference between the 7200RPM drive and the SSD (I have the Intel 310 80gb), the SSD is ~50x faster on the 4k benchmark. YES, it's quite noticeable.