2TB Drive or SSD for E-350 build

[note235]

So im making this build for my mom for editing her documents, website, and pretty much doing all simple tasks so im not sure if an ssd would benefit

the current setup is:
E-350
4GB DDR3 1066

was thinking about adding either the kingston 96gb for around $100 after rebate or getting an m4/c300 for that price then I noticed that the 2tb drives are going for $60. Do you think someone like that would notice a performance difference? Overall I'd like the system to be extremely agile for what it is.

 

[Emulex]

5400rpm is far from agile lol.

 

[RaiderJ]

From what I've read (and according to Anand), moving to an SSD is one of the best investments you can make. If the lack of storage isn't an issue, or you have another storage setup, an SSD should really make the E-350 feel like a top of the line setup.

 

[note235]

very cool, thanks i wanted confirmation haha

 

[drizek]

Ya, that Kingston drive is a good deal. Get it.

 

[dma0991]

My vote goes for a SSD for boot and a 1TB Samsung/WD drive for storage would be a better choice. You can reduce the cost for a SSD by getting a 40GB version instead and top up a little bit for a 1TB drive.

I do not recommend getting a 2TB green/power saving drive as a boot drive. If you don't want to spend too much you can settle for a normal 7.2kRPM drive such as the Samsung F3 or WD Blue.

 

[drizek]

No, don't waste money on a 40GB SSD. 96GB is actually big enough for you to be able to use it as a general drive without needing a HDD for data storage.

 

[dma0991]

No, don't waste money on a 40GB SSD. 96GB is actually big enough for you to be able to use it as a general drive without needing a HDD for data storage.

Depends on the user I guess. I can fill up a 2TB drive pretty fast so 96GB is not enough for me but could be enough for OP.

 

[drizek]

It's for the OP's mom.

 

[dma0991]

It's for the OP's mom.

I missed that lol. Then the 96GB SSD would be a better choice than the 2TB HDD.

 

[exdeath]

SSD all the way. Every day use does not involve hoarding lots of data, and is measured in response times doing the most mundane things. If all your mom does is browse Ebay, if she has to wait 6 seconds for the browser to load, or sees an hourglass launching Solitaire or right clicking the desktop waiting for the context menu to come up to change her background, then that 2 TB HDD has failed you.

And it gets worse as time goes on because normal uses never EVER defrag.

I won't TOUCH a f**king mechanical hard drive anymore unless it's a Raptor or Cheetah. In fact I never have since the first generation of Cheetah, followed by the first generation Raptor. Anything else is just slow outdated piece of shit 50+ year old technology; I swear I can read punch cards by hand or load C64 cassette tapes faster than some cheap crap hard drives... ESPECIALLY "green" drives and cheap crap OEM system's 2.5" laptop hard drives which I despise with every gram of my being.

 

[Blain]

A 2TB 5400rpm HD or 96GB SSD...
Why the crazy extremes?

 

[note235]

not crazy but im looking at the prices, either a very large 5400 hdd or a fairly large ssd

well i do have an intel 320 120gb that I scored for $160,
but i think i've settled on an SSD
btw the mobo is capable of Sata 3
so should i go for the kingston, something like a used vertex 2 or something like a c300/m4?

 

[fffblackmage]

I think the Kingston should be more than good enough. It's cheap, and it's already waaaaaaaaaay faster than the green drives you were considering.

 

[note235]

oh somehow ppl were saying its slow haha? i guess not then?

 

[frostedflakes]

Slow compared to better SSDs (although you would probably only notice the difference in benchmarks and not actual usage). Still orders of magnitude faster than a 5400RPM desktop HDD, though.

I'm not sure why you're considering either a slow desktop HDD or an SSD, though. A 7200RPM desktop drive would probably work fine for an E-350 system (where you would probably tend to be more CPU bottlenecked than storage bottlenecked most of the time) and would offer more storage than SSD. Seagate Momentus XT might also be worth considering as well, is available in capacities up to 500GB and offers SSD-like performance in many applications. Both of these options would be a good middle ground between the two extremes you're considering IMO.

 

[Zap]

well i do have an intel 320 120gb that I scored for $160,

Wow, hot! I must have missed that deal.

so should i go for the kingston, something like a used vertex 2 or something like a c300/m4?

Best bang/buck, which would be the Kingston. Most people will notice a difference going from HDD to SSD, but will not notice a difference going from one SSD to another.

 

[Blain]

Best bang/buck, which would be the Kingston.
Most people will notice a difference going from HDD to SSD, but will not notice a difference going from one SSD to another.

But does an E-350 really justify an SSD?

Or is the thought...
It's slow anyway, so I'll give it all the help I can?

 

[drizek]

Yes. An Atom more than justifies an SSD. My netbook is faster than full size laptops with hard drives in many tasks, and iti s using a horribly slow SSD.

The other thing is that the Kingston can be moved to another system in the future.

 

[Emulex]

is she hot?

 

[frostedflakes]

Replacing a 5400RPM laptop HDD with an SSD was a huge upgrade for my E-350 ultraportable. I'd think the difference between a fast 7200RPM desktop HDD would be less, though. I mean the SSD would obviously be an upgrade, just don't know if it would be worth it on an E-350 system, especially for the average user/non-enthusiast. His mom would probably benefit from more storage space than slightly more speed.

 

[Zap]

I would take an SSD on an E-350 any day. Yes, it will benefit.

is she hot?

<-- Social forums are this way. :whiste:

 

[Bacstar]

It was definitely a benefit. I have the lenovo fusion laptop and replaced the 7200rpm HDD with a Samsung SSD. Night and Day difference when it comes to start/shutdown times, as well as to the general snappiness of the system. It also added an extra 45mins to battery life.

Now was it worth the price? It all depends on you. I opted for a 256gb one which pretty much doubled the price of the laptop. I do have an external drive too, but I still don't want to worry about running out of space when installing this or that.

 

[note235]

yeah, she wont need a lot of space, just speed and such