Quick question about ssd+hdd laptop

[T_Yamamoto]

If I decided to get a laptop with a 5400rpm hdd, would it be reasonable to buy a ssd as just my boot drive? (32gb).

And how much space would windows+antivirus+Microsoft office take up?

I wouldn't be able to use it as a cache drive for my hdd right? Since its not a z68?

 

[janas19]

No. Bad idea.

Windows 7 takes over 40 GB. Plus would you have room for an additional SSD?

An OEM laptop with a Z68 is going to cost a lot more than you realize.

 

[slightlyhuman]

windows 7 takes over 40gb? um...

 

[T_Yamamoto]

windows 7 takes over 40gb? um...

thats what i thought

edit: maybe

 

[Coup27]

Windows 7 64bit fully updated with an anti-virus suite, office suite, PDF reader and essential programs will be around 20GB. Add your page file and a bit of contingency and it's around 25GB.

Remember that a 32GB drive will only give you around 28GB of formatted capacity.

32GB and 40GB drives will be slower than 64GB and above and I think you will always be too concious of what you can and cannot afford to install. The last thing you want to be doing is installing programs on an external USB drive and pulling them over that.

The cheapest drives on the market are Sandforce based or an OCZ Petrol. Whilst I am not OCZ's biggest fan, I would be more prepared to take and try out their new drives (Octane and Petrol) than existing Sandforce drives.

If you can afford anymore, more tried and trusted models like a Crucial m4 64GB or Samsung 830 64GB are out there.

 

[Charlie98]

How big of an HDD do you need, in addition to the SSD? Why not go straight SSD?

 

[T_Yamamoto]

well im going to get a laptop and i want the everything (laptop+SSD) to be under 550 dollars

Laptop+SSD

choices so far
Intel 320
Crucial

 

[ctk1981]

Disable hibernation, set the pagefile to your hdd or with 8GB of ram just disable it all together and you could keep it under the 28GB. Another one to watch out for is system restore points....you can set it to whatever percentage you want to allow, or disable. Mine at default was using 5GB.

Ultimately might be a pain in the butt though. Im at 40GB usage on my laptop, but I have a 120GB intel SSD in there so Im a bit sloppy with my space management.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

looks like ill be able to fit everything in a 64 gb ssd then

 

[janas19]

thats what i thought

edit: maybe

I have given bad information.

*shamed*

 

[LokutusofBorg]

You're going to be cramped over time on a 64GB SSD. I'd go for the 80GB Intel at the minimum. Saving up for a 128GB SSD is well worth it. Running out of space isn't an issue until it is, and then it's a pain in the arse.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

You're going to be cramped over time on a 64GB SSD. I'd go for the 80GB Intel at the minimum. Saving up for a 128GB SSD is well worth it. Running out of space isn't an issue until it is, and then it's a pain in the arse.

Well the only thing that will be on my ssd is win7 and maybe firefox Microsoft office and if I can fit steam+tf2