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Upgrade CPU or HDD to SSD?

H

HeyJoe

Junior Member
Hello All,

With my tax return, I plan on buying my first laptop. I have a laptop through work, and have bought "cheaper" laptops for the wife and kids, but I have never owned a personal laptop. This will be a replacement for my aging desktop.

I'm looking at a Dell XPS 17 and have been going through their configuration tool. For about the same price, I can either upgrade the following (have to pick only one):

  1. HDD to a smaller size SSD (not worried about the smaller space).
  2. CPU Upgrade from i7 2670QM 2.2GHZ to a i7 2860QM 2.5GHZ.
Based on my searches through the forum, I'm guessing the SSD would be the better choice?

My main uses are:

  • Surfing Internet
  • Watching videos and home photos.
  • Some video/photo editing - not extensive or professional.
  • Work - running multiple spreadsheets, docs, web pages, and PDFs at the same time.
Any insight would be greatly appreciated!!
 
Hands down...choose the biggest SSD that your budget allows.

The real world difference between those two processors won't be noticable...but the lack of HDD bottleneck will be VERY noticable.

I would suggest Intel for reliability...or Crucial M4 for speed...

Good luck 😉
 
Playing devil's advocate here:

The SSD is the obvious go-to recommendation, but the CPU will be hard + pricier to upgrade down the road if you're looking at holding onto it for some time.

Keep in mind that SSD prices are dropping (more "gliding" than "dropping" but I digress) and typically is in a place where it is a lot more accessible as well.

But coming back to the OP; if you're not really looking to upgrade during its lifetime, I'd say get the SSD as the CPU upgrade won't yield a noticeable difference in most applications anyway.
 
I'd have to say SSD as well. You're comparing 2 pretty darn good processors IMO, vs (performance wise) a terrible storage solution and a great one.
 
Another vote for an upgrade to SSD. The first SSD I purchased was for an older Core 2 laptop and it brought that laptop to life.
 
Schadenfreude said:
Playing devil's advocate here:

The SSD is the obvious go-to recommendation, but the CPU will be hard + pricier to upgrade down the road if you're looking at holding onto it for some time.

Keep in mind that SSD prices are dropping (more "gliding" than "dropping" but I digress) and typically is in a place where it is a lot more accessible as well.

But coming back to the OP; if you're not really looking to upgrade during its lifetime, I'd say get the SSD as the CPU upgrade won't yield a noticeable difference in most applications anyway.
Click to expand...

Once the 2670 is out of date, so will the other CPU.

SSD will be much more impact over the life of the laptop.
 
I don't plan on upgrading this laptop. I'll be passing it down to one of my kids after a while (years). Although I am having 2nd thoughts about the smaller space on the SSD (Dell offers 256GB SSD). It would be nice if they offered a 2nd drive option to add-on. I don't use that much space now, but it would probably be wise to think down the road.

In doing some more searching, I did notice that HP does offer multiple SSD/HDD combos when configuring their Envy line of laptops. Price is a couple of hundred dollars higher than I want to spend, but I was still able to configure one under $2k. I've found that impossible with the boutique places.

I think my only other option is to wait a little longer than I wanted to just to see how far the SSD prices come down and as more manufacturers offer more SSD options. Of course the major drawback of that is that the wife comes up with something we "need" to buy before I can order my laptop D:
 
what kind/brand of SSD is included?

if you dont mind swapping parts around, I'd say save your $ on the dell, and buy a GOOD SSD and swap it in. Buy a 2.5" USB 3.0/eSATA enclosure for the HDD that you swap out

you can get a reliable (but slower) Intel 320 or ultrafast SATA3 SSD.. with the right deals after coupons/rebates, it'll be cheaper IMO

EDIT: Best info I've seen about Dell's 256GB brand is Samsung PM800 256GB SSD

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Samsung-PM800-256GB-SSD.38444.0.html

I checked the XPS 17. The config I had in cart had 2x1TB or $320 upgrade to 256GB... I can get a decent 256GB for $320...

EDIT2: Kingston HyperX 240GB for $365 after rebate which has pretty good performance, though its sandforce 🙁
 
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+1 for the SSD.

I threw an Intel G2 SSD into my desktop (E8400 C2D) and it was a night and day difference from a WD Black 640gb HDD.
 
The only benefit to buying the SSD from Dell is the warranty coverage.

The downsides are: older SSD, huge price markup

I would get the smallest HDD you can for the system and swap in your own SSD...use cloning software (Acronis TI 2012) so you don't have to reinstall anything...
 
A coworker has an XPS with the new sb i7. It is fast as hell but he an awful sound driver problem that I couldn't fix. They won't fix it either, not under the warranty. The are going to charge like $200 to fix a 6 month old computer. I could not recommend a dell to anyone. Not unless you get full warranty coverage that actually covers problems with their crappy drivers.
 
paperwastage said:
what kind/brand of SSD is included?

if you dont mind swapping parts around, I'd say save your $ on the dell, and buy a GOOD SSD and swap it in. Buy a 2.5" USB 3.0/eSATA enclosure for the HDD that you swap out

you can get a reliable (but slower) Intel 320 or ultrafast SATA3 SSD.. with the right deals after coupons/rebates, it'll be cheaper IMO

EDIT: Best info I've seen about Dell's 256GB brand is Samsung PM800 256GB SSD

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Samsung-PM800-256GB-SSD.38444.0.html

I checked the XPS 17. The config I had in cart had 2x1TB or $320 upgrade to 256GB... I can get a decent 256GB for $320...

EDIT2: Kingston HyperX 240GB for $365 after rebate which has pretty good performance, though its sandforce 🙁
Click to expand...

I have the HyperX SSD running just fine on my iMac stable thus far no problems. I'd look at the crucial M4 as well if stability is a concern.
 
I stuck a 40GB Intel 320 SSD into a 3 year old IBM Thinkpad, a T61, with a C2D cpu (7300, running at 2.0GHz.) After putting it in, it was like the laptop was a new machine, comparatively speaking. Speed difference was remarkable and extended the life of that laptop by years.
 
HeyJoe said:
I don't plan on upgrading this laptop. I'll be passing it down to one of my kids after a while (years). Although I am having 2nd thoughts about the smaller space on the SSD (Dell offers 256GB SSD). It would be nice if they offered a 2nd drive option to add-on. I don't use that much space now, but it would probably be wise to think down the road.

In doing some more searching, I did notice that HP does offer multiple SSD/HDD combos when configuring their Envy line of laptops. Price is a couple of hundred dollars higher than I want to spend, but I was still able to configure one under $2k. I've found that impossible with the boutique places.

I think my only other option is to wait a little longer than I wanted to just to see how far the SSD prices come down and as more manufacturers offer more SSD options. Of course the major drawback of that is that the wife comes up with something we "need" to buy before I can order my laptop D:
Click to expand...

The hp equivalent to your dell is dv7t quad edition. I bought one of those for my wife a couple of months ago, and she has been very, um, "grateful". I just bought the base 2670 CPU and spent an extra $10 for the 750 gb 7200 rpm hdd, then I spent a little bit of time and a couple hundred bucks extra to move the hdd to the 2nd caddy and install an intel 320 series 160 gb ssd as her promary/OS drive.
 
HeyJoe said:
Although I am having 2nd thoughts about the smaller space on the SSD (Dell offers 256GB SSD). It would be nice if they offered a 2nd drive option to add-on.
Click to expand...

The XPS 17 service manual notes that it has two drive bays. The only "gotcha" I can think of is if they don't include the mounting hardware (bracket+screws) if you don't get a second drive with the system.

My recommendation would be to get the base $1099 model, and add the SSD yourself and use the included 750GB HDD as your secondary storage drive.

EDIT: Looking at the documentation, even if Dell doesn't include the HDD bracket + screws, looks as if all it does is to secure it in there. You can probably wedge something in there to hold it in place just fine with the cover on.
 
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