What brand of ssd to use or???

[Pghpooh]

HI
I have a 7 year old laptop. Dual core running at 2.3 ghz. 8 gig ram. The unit is a Dell xps 1640. The unit has not given me any problems.
Still running win 7 on it.
I was thinking about replacing the hdd with a ssd. Only requirement is it needs to be around 250 gig or so.
What brand do you suggest.
I just use the laptop for internet, some home financial stuff and other things that do not require speed, etc.

 

[UsandThem]

Depends on what you want to spend.

What model is your laptop and does it only have SATA2 or does it have SATA3?

I had a 2011 Dell XPS that was limited to SATA2, so it would of held back the performance of any SSD I would have put in (ended up putting in a Samsung 850 EVO 250 GB I got at a great price).

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Depends on what you want to spend.

What model is your laptop and does it only have SATA2 or does it have SATA3?

I had a 2011 Dell XPS that was limited to SATA2, so it would of held back the performance of any SSD I would have put in (ended up putting in a Samsung 850 EVO 250 GB I got at a great price).

That's a given, but if Pghpooh checks the specs on 2.5" HDDs for laptops, I'd only bet that they don't top out in throughput at the full SATA-2 spec. I put a Crucial MX100 250GB into a T8300 C2D laptop, and used about 2GB of the 8GB RAM to cache the SSD. It's probably worth it. It might be worth it for battery charge-life. I couldn't say for sure.

I'd think if someone were using their laptop for gaming, they'd have purchased a more recent system. I'm fine with my 9-year-old Gateway.

 

[UsandThem]

That's a given, but if Pghpooh checks the specs on 2.5" HDDs for laptops, I'd only bet that they don't top out in throughput at the full SATA-2 spec. I put a Crucial MX100 250GB into a T8300 C2D laptop, and used about 2GB of the 8GB RAM to cache the SSD. It's probably worth it. It might be worth it for battery charge-life. I couldn't say for sure.

I'd think if someone were using their laptop for gaming, they'd have purchased a more recent system. I'm fine with my 9-year-old Gateway.

I agree it's worth putting in a SSD. He might have not known, or cared that his laptop had SATA2, so I was just letting him know. While some performance is left on the floor because of SATA2, it's still faster than a regular laptop HDD. That's exactly the reason I put a 850 Evo in my old XPS laptop.

I just meant to point out there is no need to buy a high-end SSD like a Samsung 850 Pro or Intel 730. About any current budget SSD will be a good choice for his needs.....Crucial, Sandisk, PNY, Intel 535, Samsung Evo. The only difference is the length of the warranties (Intel and Samsung lead with 5 year).

 

[Pghpooh]

HI
Been looking for specs on the drive and the only thing I can find is sata 3.0gbs. (no idea what that translates into)
Here is the model number of the drive. fujitsu mhz2250bh g2 Found this spec sheet on the drive. http://www.fujitsu.com/downloads/COMP/fcpa/hdd/mhz2xxxbj_datasheet.pdf
Increasing battery life is one goal, less heat generated is another goal. Another goal is the "ego goal" of saying I'm 71 years old and updated to a ssd in my 7 plus year old laptop. LOLOL

 

[UsandThem]

HI
Been looking for specs on the drive and the only thing I can find is sata 3.0gbs. (no idea what that translates into)
Here is the model number of the drive. fujitsu mhz2250bh g2 Found this spec sheet on the drive. http://www.fujitsu.com/downloads/COMP/fcpa/hdd/mhz2xxxbj_datasheet.pdf
Increasing battery life is one goal, less heat generated is another goal. Another goal is the "ego goal" of saying I'm 71 years old and updated to a ssd in my 7 plus year old laptop. LOLOL

That's a regular hard drive, not a SSD. It is a 7200 RPM performance drive as well, so it will generate more heat and reduce battery life.

 

[UsandThem]

You want something like these (just a few choices, there are a lot of different SSDs out there), and the prices could be lower at various retailers. You can use www.pcpartpicker.com to compare prices:

http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-2-5-Inch-Internal-MZ-75E250B-AM/dp/B00OAJ412U

http://www.amazon.com/Intel-Solid-S...UTF8&qid=1464725444&sr=1-1&keywords=intel+535

http://www.amazon.com/PNY-CS2211-24...TF8&qid=1464725515&sr=1-2&keywords=pny+cs2211

http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Ultra...d=1464725549&sr=1-3&keywords=sandisk+ultra+ii

http://www.amazon.com/Crucial-MX200...F8&qid=1464725734&sr=1-3&keywords=crucial+ssd

 

[DigDog]

SSDs are all good these days. you can buy the cheapest SSD in the size you want and it will perform almost identical to any top-tier equivalent.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

You want something like these (just a few choices, there are a lot of different SSDs out there), and the prices could be lower at various retailers. You can use www.pcpartpicker.com to compare prices:

http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-2-5-Inch-Internal-MZ-75E250B-AM/dp/B00OAJ412U

http://www.amazon.com/Intel-Solid-S...UTF8&qid=1464725444&sr=1-1&keywords=intel+535

http://www.amazon.com/PNY-CS2211-24...TF8&qid=1464725515&sr=1-2&keywords=pny+cs2211

http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Ultra...d=1464725549&sr=1-3&keywords=sandisk+ultra+ii

http://www.amazon.com/Crucial-MX200...F8&qid=1464725734&sr=1-3&keywords=crucial+ssd

I bought the Crucial MX200 250GB and used it to replace Moms' ol' Intel Elm Crest 510 120GB also on an SATA-2 controller. I'm pretty sure that's what it is, because it's an LGA-775 last-issued Wolfdale C2D from 2010 on a $90 Gigabyte mATX board. If only the Elm Crest were bigger, I could replace the MX100 500GB I have in the 9-year-old Gateway laptop.

SSDs have really changed our eagerness for Intel gen-upgrades.

 

[UsandThem]

SSDs have really changed our eagerness for Intel gen-upgrades.

After using systems with SSDs, I would never willingly use one with a traditional drive anymore. I think my next build in 3-5 years will feature a PCIe drive like the 950 Pro or Intel 750, or whatever is 'new and improved' at that time.

 

[VirtualLarry]

If you search ebay for "300GB Intel SSD", you should find some Intel 320 Series 300GB SATAII (3.0Gbit/sec) drives. One vendor was selling "new pull" / "zero POH" drives for like $94-something.

I myself bought two 300GB "used" units from "cheaperthanchina", for around $70, they run great. Intel SSDs of that era had quite the endurance, they should run for years.

 

[pitz]

Practically any 240gb SSD will do just fine. On a machine that old, subtle performance differences aren't all that likely to even be noticed between the fastest SATA models, and slightly less fast ones.

Crucial MX200, Samsung 850 Pro or Evo, etc., are some fairly popular models.

If you search ebay for "300GB Intel SSD", you should find some Intel 320 Series 300GB SATAII (3.0Gbit/sec) drives. One vendor was selling "new pull" / "zero POH" drives for like $94-something.

For $94, you could buy the equivalent in space in a brand-new SSD (okay, ~$75-$80 for a 250gb model...). I don't see the point in going with the old stuff.

 

[Puffnstuff]

I've got an old laptop myself with sata 2 and the addition of a ssd really sped things up especially the boot process which took forever with the stock hd. I'd buy a new drive with a factory warranty rather than a used unit and amazon and newegg have them fairly cheap these days.

 

[Pghpooh]

HI
Thanks for the info and suggestions.
At this point I will start with looking for a 250 gb and then check the warranty. Then go for price.
A lot of good ideas and suggestions were posted and once again,,, THANKS!

 

[VirtualLarry]

On a machine that old, subtle performance differences aren't all that likely to even be noticed between the fastest SATA models, and slightly less fast ones.

For $94, you could buy the equivalent in space in a brand-new SSD (okay, ~$75-$80 for a 250gb model...). I don't see the point in going with the old stuff.

True, but... those older Intel drives were made with bigger nm NAND, so they have better endurance than modern SSDs do. Plus, if his laptop is only SATAII, then the speed of a modern SATA6G drive will be wasted on it. Not to mention, I personally would MUCH rather have a mildly-"used" Intel 320 Series SSD, for a machine that old, rather than one of the new-fangled TLC drives. Call me old-fashioned, I guess.

If you do decide to go for a modern modern SATA6G SSD, may I suggest a drive with an SMI 2246EN controller, and MLC NAND?

Such as the BX100 (NOT the BX200, that one has TLC NAND and is vastly inferior), or the PNY CS1100 or CS1211 (available at BestBuy and Newegg's ebay stores, if you look, they're usually on sale.). The Mushkin Reactor SSD uses those parts too. Another good one, with a Marvell controller, is the Crucial M500. You can get refurbs of those right now at Newegg and their ebay store. Those have power back-up caps, so a power glitch won't trash your SSD. (Happened to a friend of mine, with an OCZ Vertex Plus R2.)

AVOID ANYTHING THAT SAYS "TLC" IN IT! (Edit: That's not "V-NAND". Samsung's 3D V-NAND TLC is generally OK. It's the standard "Planar TLC" that you want to avoid, it's fairly unreliable.)

 

[tweakboy]

Sammy all the way!