SSD 's - Are They Worth It ? ? ?

[Warstud]

It seems like SSD's are all the rage these days . Are they worth the cost and trouble of installing them ?

 

[IveBeenRued]

Yes.

 

[Pew]

100% yes. I've been able to extend the lifespan of our work laptops to over 6 years with them but our CAD folks will get new laptops every 3.

 

[uc50ic4more]

It'll be very, very difficult to put a dollar elsewhere that will pay more dividends in terms of overall performance and reliability.

 

[Bottom_Feeder]

Think of an SSD upgrade as the LS swap of the computer world. So yes, it's worth it.

 

[Shel_B]

I dragged my butt on getting a machine with an SSD, and now that I have used a machine with an SSD I can kick myself for not jumping in sooner. +1 for SSDs

 

[Danno]

SSDs have been the rage for 10 years now.

 

[MRC01]

I concur. I installed my first SSD about 15 years ago and it was the single biggest performance upgrade I have ever seen on a computer. And I've seen a lot, building and using computers since the early 1980s.
Use an SSD big enough to store the operating system and applications, gives 90% of the benefit.
If you have a lot of data storage (multiple terabytes), use cheap conventional hard drives for that.

 

[tyman]

Trouble? If installing an SSD is trouble, maybe computers aren’t your forte.

 

[MRC01]

Trouble? If installing an SSD is trouble, maybe computers aren’t your forte.

The trouble isn't installing it, it's transferring the computer's existing OS, boot partitions, data etc. to the new drive so that the computer can boot to it seamlessly. If it uses secure boot or encrypted partitions, it gets even more tedious.

 

[skyactiv]

Yes. This is the SSD write and read speed on my Mac mini M2 Pro with the 1 TB SSD.

 

[tyman]

The trouble isn't installing it, it's transferring the computer's existing OS, boot partitions, data etc. to the new drive so that the computer can boot to it seamlessly. If it uses secure boot or encrypted partitions, it gets even more tedious.

Installing a SSD includes that. Not the physical act of installing one.

 

[Flatrate]

SSD's are great, been using them for a good few years now. Current rig runs on M.2's they are the current rage.

 

[skyactiv]

Just shut my Mac off and started it up twice and used the stop watch on my iPhone. 12.8 seconds and 13.1 from hitting the switch to the log in screen, so 13 seconds.

 

[Deleted member 89374]

It seems like SSD's are all the rage these days

No, they were all the rage about 14 years ago. These days they're the norm.

Are they worth the cost and trouble of installing them ?

They're relatively cheap and there is no trouble or difficulty in installing them.

 

[skyactiv]

I will caution if you're considering a Mac, the number of Nand chips matters in the SSD speed. The base M2 pro 512 SSD is slower than the 1 TB model. I have no clue how that works with other computers... .

 

[paulri]

Agreed. Up until my current laptop, I've upgraded RAM on every computer I've owned & operated. None have ever given me a speed boost as much as when I bought my first laptop with an SSD.

It'll be very, very difficult to put a dollar elsewhere that will pay more dividends in terms of overall performance and reliability.

 

[Cujet]

Even the worst and slowest SSD's are, in practice, faster than the best spinning hard drives.

The common $150 2tb 980 M.2 Samsung drives are 7000 MB s.
The Gen 5's are at 10,000 MB s.

 

[joegreen]

Very rarely are there things in life where there is so much consensus but an ssd will blow your mind if you have never used one.

 

[Quattro Pete]

It seems like SSD's are all the rage these days . Are they worth the cost and trouble of installing them ?

How old is your computer that it didn't come with an SSD from the factory?