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SATA 2 vs SATA 3 on Zacate netbook

T

Towermax

Senior member
I've got an Asus 1215B with an SATA 3 controller. It's a Zacate netbook with dual-core AMD processor running at 1.6GHz and 8GB of RAM. I'm going to buy an 128GB SSD for it to replace the existing 320GB Seagate 5400rpm spinner.

I'll be buying an Intel, Crucial, or Samsung SSD. I've looked at the benchmarks for SATA2 and SATA 3 and obviously SATA 3 is considerably faster. But SATA 2 is cheaper--I just saw a Samsung 470 for $169 at Newegg.

For a high-performance desktop, I'd definitely get an SATA 3. But on this netbook, will I really see a significant difference between an SATA 2 or SATA 3?
 
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You probably wouldn't notice any difference between SATA2 and SATA3 on a netbook, so I would go with the cheaper SSD.

Also the Samsung 470 is very reliable.
 
You only really notice the performance difference between SATA2 and SATA3 on large sequential reads, which I doubt you use much on that laptop. Don't rule out the M4 because it is SATA3 as it will still work at SATA2 speeds which will only effect the top end of sequential read. The 470 is quite an old drive now and has been replaced with the 830. Anand has also questioned its ability to maintain its speed over time.

Personally, considering the notebook its going into, I would get the cheapest 128GB you can from either the Intel 320, Crucial M4 or Samsung 830. If you can get the 470 at a significantly cheaper price, then I would probably go for that.
 
Just FYI it is called SATA 6Gbps (or SATA 6G). SATA II is also known as SATA 3G, so that's why the new SATA is not called SATA3 to avoid confusion.

Of course everyone is confused about this.
 
OK, thanks for the advice. I decided to go with the SATA 6G (OK, Zap!) for two reasons:

- The Samsung 470 was no longer on sale, so there was little price difference.
- I use the netbook so little that the SSD will probably outlast it. So, SATA 6G provides a bit of future-proofing.

I found a Crucial M4 128GB at MacConnection for $188 shipped and pulled the trigger.
 
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