For my new to me, (used) laptop. Probably 240 or so. Under $150. Recommendations for the best bang for the buck. Also, which ones to avoid.
TIA
TIA
About to buy a SSD
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Samsung EVO 850 or 850 PRO.
Why would you want a SSD?
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Samsung EVO 850 or 850 PRO.
Is that the one to buy or to avoid 8)
Samsung EVO 850 or 850 PRO.
Is that the one to buy or to avoid 8)
gathermewool
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I purchased a 128gb random name brand for $35. For an old laptop, any will scream! I would only spend more than $60 on a 256 if I was storing vital info and/or didn't have the ability to backup.
Keep an eye on slickdeals.com and dealnews.com for good brands at good prices. This and early new year are good for these deals.
Keep an eye on slickdeals.com and dealnews.com for good brands at good prices. This and early new year are good for these deals.
Samsung 850 pro... I love mine.
Any SSD will be a massive improvement over a platter drive. It is easy to get hung up in benchmarks and minutiae. For me the most important consideration was warranty and durability. That is why I went with the 850 Pro. It also just happened to be the fastest on the market at the time...
Any SSD will be a massive improvement over a platter drive. It is easy to get hung up in benchmarks and minutiae. For me the most important consideration was warranty and durability. That is why I went with the 850 Pro. It also just happened to be the fastest on the market at the time...
JHZR2
Staff member
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Samsung EVO 850 or 850 PRO.
Ive used these extensively as well. Very pleased with the price and performance.
OP, are you sure what interface your new used laptop uses?
Ive even used EIDE adapters to put in small SSDs into very old computers, like my 2004 mac mini, and have been very pleased...
Samsung EVO 850 or 850 PRO.
Ive used these extensively as well. Very pleased with the price and performance.
OP, are you sure what interface your new used laptop uses?
Ive even used EIDE adapters to put in small SSDs into very old computers, like my 2004 mac mini, and have been very pleased...
The 850 is tops but I gave up on all SSD's
I burned every brand I tried up in short order on various business machines.
Never got any life from them and they were all top brands and purchased new.
People disparage these but they are the most durable HD's I have ever used.
Seagate Constellation ES.3 with the 128 MB cache- I have three now in use all over 3 years old.
And they actually are in real life use pretty fast.......
The average SSD life was 6 months to 1 year avg.
I know many earlier ones were junk and the best later ones were killed by bad shipping practices like Amazon throwing OEM ones in a bubble mailer.......
Originally Posted By: FordBroncoVWJeta
Why would you want a SSD?
I burned every brand I tried up in short order on various business machines.
Never got any life from them and they were all top brands and purchased new.
People disparage these but they are the most durable HD's I have ever used.
Seagate Constellation ES.3 with the 128 MB cache- I have three now in use all over 3 years old.
And they actually are in real life use pretty fast.......
The average SSD life was 6 months to 1 year avg.
I know many earlier ones were junk and the best later ones were killed by bad shipping practices like Amazon throwing OEM ones in a bubble mailer.......
Originally Posted By: FordBroncoVWJeta
Why would you want a SSD?
Samsung is king in the flash NAND marketplace. Their MGX controller is the best, their 3D NAND is the best, Their TBW ratings are the best, their warranty is the longest available among SSDs. (Except for Sandisk Extreme Pro's @ 10 years but they are way overpriced)
That said, the best price to performance would be the Crucial MX300, OCZ Trion 150 and Kingston UV400 (with a Marvell controller)
I'm still using my 4 year old Samsung 840 120GB as my boot drive. 97% writes left assuming S.M.A.R.T. is worth a [censored].
That said, the best price to performance would be the Crucial MX300, OCZ Trion 150 and Kingston UV400 (with a Marvell controller)
I'm still using my 4 year old Samsung 840 120GB as my boot drive. 97% writes left assuming S.M.A.R.T. is worth a [censored].
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One thing about SSDs for personal use is that you need to worry less about pure performance and worry most about reliability.
There and a few videos that show this by putting up like a 1st or 2nd generation SSD, versus the latest and greatest. That in practical terms, moving to ANY SSD gets you the massive improvements in User Experience; then after that you're nit picking.
It's similar to CPU or GPU benchmarks where you're stressing over 72FPS versus 70FPS.
If you're running data-center then yes maybe these things do make a difference; but for a personal computer once you get to ANY SSD you've got the lion's share of the benefits.
So that being said, I go with and only have experience with choosing Crucial MX series as it seems to keep the perspective of reliability as the #1 aspect,
but i think samsung probably is fine too.
There and a few videos that show this by putting up like a 1st or 2nd generation SSD, versus the latest and greatest. That in practical terms, moving to ANY SSD gets you the massive improvements in User Experience; then after that you're nit picking.
It's similar to CPU or GPU benchmarks where you're stressing over 72FPS versus 70FPS.
If you're running data-center then yes maybe these things do make a difference; but for a personal computer once you get to ANY SSD you've got the lion's share of the benefits.
So that being said, I go with and only have experience with choosing Crucial MX series as it seems to keep the perspective of reliability as the #1 aspect,
but i think samsung probably is fine too.
You can't go wrong with the Samsung 850 series. The pro is better but more expensive, it will be the longer lasting part. Check her for an excellent comparison tool
http://ssd.userbenchmark.com/
http://ssd.userbenchmark.com/
I've got SSD's in everything and they run very well. The machine I'm typing on is an old Dell with an SSD and it's fine 24/7 for months now.
Of course I back up occasionally so all is not lost if one goes.
As far as failures, almost all will be heat related. Keep it in a moving air stream and you are good, or so I believe
But the one in my main machine is a Samsung Pro
Of course I back up occasionally so all is not lost if one goes.
As far as failures, almost all will be heat related. Keep it in a moving air stream and you are good, or so I believe
But the one in my main machine is a Samsung Pro
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I have the 512GB Samsung 850 pro in my ancient machine here at home.
I store my data on the spinning drives and the OS and most applications are on the SSD.
It's been a great drive for me for nearly a year now, IIRC.
I store my data on the spinning drives and the OS and most applications are on the SSD.
It's been a great drive for me for nearly a year now, IIRC.
The Samsung 850 is pretty much the leader in SSD's but that doesn't make all other SSD's junk. You will notice a big difference even with a cheap model. I bought a 250gb PNY from Best Buy several months back I paid $65-75 for it and I love the thing.
You don't need the best of the best per say. They are better but it's not miles better.
Also depending on the age of the laptop you may not want to buy a SSD. Sata 3 benifits from a SSD but with Sata 2 you most likely will not see any improvement as Sata 2 does not support high data transfer speeds.
You don't need the best of the best per say. They are better but it's not miles better.
Also depending on the age of the laptop you may not want to buy a SSD. Sata 3 benifits from a SSD but with Sata 2 you most likely will not see any improvement as Sata 2 does not support high data transfer speeds.
At work we use the samsungs, they have done well.
At home, I bought a "refurbished" enterprise grade OCZ 512gb drive sometime last year for $75.
Works excellent in my desktop computer.
I have a SATA 2 bus, and the difference between that and a spinning drive is night and day.
I was considering getting a motherboard with a SATA 3 bus, but will probably just build a new computer instead of messing with that.
At home, I bought a "refurbished" enterprise grade OCZ 512gb drive sometime last year for $75.
Works excellent in my desktop computer.
I have a SATA 2 bus, and the difference between that and a spinning drive is night and day.
I was considering getting a motherboard with a SATA 3 bus, but will probably just build a new computer instead of messing with that.
JHZR2
Staff member
Originally Posted By: 3800Series
Also depending on the age of the laptop you may not want to buy a SSD. Sata 3 benifits from a SSD but with Sata 2 you most likely will not see any improvement as Sata 2 does not support high data transfer speeds.
I disagree. I still run a 2004ish G4 Mac mini. Always fearing HDDs, I got an uATA to SATA SSD on a chip converter
Yes, the ATA interface limits bandwidth. However, boot time and smoothness are much better, and performance overall is better. I suspect it can just always use all the bandwidth capability, instead of being limited by the capabilities of a 2.5" 5400 (or less) spinning drive. Certainly not ground breaking speeds like using an ssd on a modern interface, but still impressively beneficial...
Also depending on the age of the laptop you may not want to buy a SSD. Sata 3 benifits from a SSD but with Sata 2 you most likely will not see any improvement as Sata 2 does not support high data transfer speeds.
I disagree. I still run a 2004ish G4 Mac mini. Always fearing HDDs, I got an uATA to SATA SSD on a chip converter
Yes, the ATA interface limits bandwidth. However, boot time and smoothness are much better, and performance overall is better. I suspect it can just always use all the bandwidth capability, instead of being limited by the capabilities of a 2.5" 5400 (or less) spinning drive. Certainly not ground breaking speeds like using an ssd on a modern interface, but still impressively beneficial...
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Originally Posted By: 3800Series
Also depending on the age of the laptop you may not want to buy a SSD. Sata 3 benifits from a SSD but with Sata 2 you most likely will not see any improvement as Sata 2 does not support high data transfer speeds.
I disagree. I still run a 2004ish G4 Mac mini. Always fearing HDDs, I got an uATA to SATA SSD on a chip converter
Yes, the ATA interface limits bandwidth. However, boot time and smoothness are much better, and performance overall is better. I suspect it can just always use all the bandwidth capability, instead of being limited by the capabilities of a 2.5" 5400 (or less) spinning drive. Certainly not ground breaking speeds like using an ssd on a modern interface, but still impressively beneficial...
You are correct, it's been a while since I've dealt with sata 2 and was thinking it had a maximum read/write of 200. I know a 7200rpm WD Blue is rated for 140-150 read. I just looked into it tho and it appears it's a transfer limit of 300. That's about twice as fast as a HD I was thinking at best it would only be a 25% boost in speed.
Originally Posted By: 3800Series
Also depending on the age of the laptop you may not want to buy a SSD. Sata 3 benifits from a SSD but with Sata 2 you most likely will not see any improvement as Sata 2 does not support high data transfer speeds.
I disagree. I still run a 2004ish G4 Mac mini. Always fearing HDDs, I got an uATA to SATA SSD on a chip converter
Yes, the ATA interface limits bandwidth. However, boot time and smoothness are much better, and performance overall is better. I suspect it can just always use all the bandwidth capability, instead of being limited by the capabilities of a 2.5" 5400 (or less) spinning drive. Certainly not ground breaking speeds like using an ssd on a modern interface, but still impressively beneficial...
You are correct, it's been a while since I've dealt with sata 2 and was thinking it had a maximum read/write of 200. I know a 7200rpm WD Blue is rated for 140-150 read. I just looked into it tho and it appears it's a transfer limit of 300. That's about twice as fast as a HD I was thinking at best it would only be a 25% boost in speed.
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