• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

What's the most reliable laptop drive around $50 or so?

alkemyst

alkemyst

No Lifer
I have an 11 year old that ends up dropping his laptop at times. I have ran both a Scorpio Blue and Seagate Momentus and both died after one of the drops. In all fairness both survived a few times I have witnessed it falling off his lap or off the couch when he bumps it.

It's just an old IBM T60, but it runs all the things he wants to play and do really well.

I know some of the entry SSD's hit this price point almost, but I am not sure what his default footprint was (Windows 7 Pro 32 bit, Open Office with just "Word", "Powerpoint" installed fully, some games most important MineCraft). He mostly plays minecraft and watches YouTube videos and DVDs on it.

I think 64gb would work, but I can't pull his total disk space since it's dead.
 
I've got a 64GB SSD (Agility3) in my HTPC with W7 64-bit and some other programs, including FS'04 (but not any Office components) and it's in the low 30GB's... I don't see why that wouldn't work, and I would think it would be able to handle shock better than a spinner.

Adata...
 
I'm surprised that falling off his lap that the screen isn't broken yet. It could be next.

'He mostly plays minecraft and watches YouTube videos and DVDs on it.'

If that is the primary usage for the 11 year old, then it is time for a tablet. He obviously can't watch DVDs (without ripping) on the tablet. But at least you won't be continuing buying HDDs and he can jump on the laptop when he needs to use it for other things.

I suggest the Nook HD+ when you can find it in the low $100. Great screen + latest version of android is easily installable.
 
Def. get an SSD, pronto!

I don't necessarily "drop" my laptops (netbooks, really), but I do toss them around a bit, and one fell off my bed the other night. I prefer to upgrade them, not just for speed, but for drop-resistance as well. One good drop generally kills most HDDs, especially if they are spinning, but SSDs keep right on ticking.
 
Sandisk Ultra Plus can be had for $65, plus actual shipping and/or sales tax.
The Sandisk Ultra Plus 128GB can be had for $79 with free shipping and/or tax, and the same for the Crucial M500 120GB. A bit more than $50, but they'll be immune the those mechanical failures, so your kid will have to work harder to break it.

razel said:
I'm surprised that falling off his lap that the screen isn't broken yet. It could be next.
Click to expand...
Maybe, but the screen would need to be torqued when it fell, like falling "face down" and landing on one corner long before another. The heft of the base will tend to prevent that. Thinkpads and Latitudes from that era, just before our current race to the bottom, were tanks. Screens tend to die from being stepped on, or accidentally closing the lid with something on the keyboard or palm rest, more often than drops from a few feet.
 
Kingston is running some killer deals on the v300 right now due to all the controversy surround them because of speed issues. If this is an older laptop running SATA1.5 or 2 you might want to take a look at them. You can pick one up super cheap and it might work out great for this application.

EDIT:Here's a thread in the Hot Deals section. Amazon has the 120gig for $65. Not bad IMO. http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2369559
 
Last edited:
razel said:
I'm surprised that falling off his lap that the screen isn't broken yet. It could be next.

'He mostly plays minecraft and watches YouTube videos and DVDs on it.'

If that is the primary usage for the 11 year old, then it is time for a tablet. He obviously can't watch DVDs (without ripping) on the tablet. But at least you won't be continuing buying HDDs and he can jump on the laptop when he needs to use it for other things.

I suggest the Nook HD+ when you can find it in the low $100. Great screen + latest version of android is easily installable.
Click to expand...

He has a tablet and an iPhone.
 
It's Not Lupus said:
does he also drop these?
Click to expand...

I am sure he has dropped his phone, it's in an Otterbox though.

The laptop he uses on the couch, it falls off the edge sometimes and we have Mexican tile flooring.

It's looking like he's using 260GB so a SSD will probably not be cost effective. I am going to pick up a Scorpio Black 750GB this afternoon and swap out my fiancee's stock Dell 500GB in her 15z with him.
 
razel said:
The definition of insanity is dong the same thing over and over.
Click to expand...

He will probably have a new laptop in a year. His drives are lasting about that long.

I can buy 5 basic 500GB laptop drives for less than the cost of a 480GB SSD. He's using over 250GB of storage space.

I figured I could have gotten by with a 250GB drive.
 
razel said:
I'm surprised that falling off his lap that the screen isn't broken yet. It could be next.

'He mostly plays minecraft and watches YouTube videos and DVDs on it.'

If that is the primary usage for the 11 year old, then it is time for a tablet. He obviously can't watch DVDs (without ripping) on the tablet. But at least you won't be continuing buying HDDs and he can jump on the laptop when he needs to use it for other things.

I suggest the Nook HD+ when you can find it in the low $100. Great screen + latest version of android is easily installable.
Click to expand...

He has a tablet.

He has homework he does also on his laptop.
 
I am debating ordering a 480GB M500...I didn't know they fell in price (~$260).

Any caveats to them? They seem like one of the best.
 
They get slower than several others (such as the Seagate 600, Corsair Neutrons, and Sandisk Extreme II) if filled all the way up. On the plus side, they don't get much more from added OP than TRIM, so maintaining however much free space you can keeps them nice and fast, in Windows 7+. Their internal RAID-5-a-like feature is done in the CPU, rather than fixed hardware, like SF drives, so read and write latencies are a bit higher than others, and more variable.

Edit: also, there are lower-power SSDs, for systems too old to support DIPM. OTOH, at worst that should make it comparable an HDD, and still maybe lower power, in the end.

OTOH, they make up for the light workloads with high performance under heavy loads, and while slower than some others, they're still pretty consistent performers, and stay in the low thousands of IOPS even when bogged down, like you're probably never going to end up.

I've got the 480GB M500, 512GB Toshiba Q, and 128GB Sandisk Ultra Plus, at home, and 512GB 840 Pro at work, and I can't tell a difference between them, w/o benchmarking them.
 
Last edited:
I picked up two 750GB scorpio's today. The 15 year old's laptop and my fiancee's both have 500GB Scorpio Blues in them from Dell.

I am upgrading them and then I have one to use for the 11 year old. Plus two spares once I RMA the 500GB Momentus that died (born on date 2/2013).

What I found out though is the two laptops getting the Scorpio's support mSATA and Intel IRT (I think it's IRT). I am only planning on caching, what is the best size?

What sucks is the 15z requires a ton of work to get to the HDD (like a 10-15 min process with risk of damage to clips) compared to my IBM T60 which is one screw.

In all the drops the little one has done, I have only had to replace the screen bezel which in defense of it when I installed the wireless N I didn't get one clip down since the new antenna was in the way and I didn't notice that (it fell under the LCD panel).
 
Hate to play devil's advocate here, but maybe if he had to do without it for a while when he broke it, he'd stop dropping the laptop and learn to respect an expensive piece of equipment?
 
CA19100 said:
Hate to play devil's advocate here, but maybe if he had to do without it for a while when he broke it, he'd stop dropping the laptop and learn to respect an expensive piece of equipment?
Click to expand...

He has a small room to deal with right now so his sleeping arrangement is not ideal. We are using a bigger room for some storage...it's more complicated than I want to get into here.

He is doing his homework and doing well in school. That is enough for me. He was very upset it broke. His tablet is more manageable but he can't do his homework on it.

His otterbox looks like new.

The T60 he is using is way old school. It's heavy and bulky, but built like a tank.

He is disciplined. He is doing extra work now helping his mom in the kitchen and around the house for this neglect. He also has to go to bed a bit earlier for a week due to falling asleep with his laptop after his bedtime was already set.
 
As an adult who's dropped his R60 a few times (not from my hands, but negligence in setting it down), come on. First, the T60 probably cost less than either his phone or tablet (no doubt, if their names start with "i" or "Galaxy", and the T60 was a recent purchase). Second, it is an ideal kids' laptop, being tough, cheap and easy to service, not quite powerful enough for modern games, and allowing the young user to acquire a taste for matte displays and decent keyboards 🙂. It's also going to be heavy enough they probably won't want to carry it with them everywhere.

You can get them on eBay with upgraded RAM and Win 7 for <=$250, and <$100 for ones with busted batteries or broken DC jacks, and no upgrades (my preference).
 
alkemyst said:
He has a small room to deal with right now so his sleeping arrangement is not ideal. We are using a bigger room for some storage...it's more complicated than I want to get into here.

He is doing his homework and doing well in school. That is enough for me. He was very upset it broke. His tablet is more manageable but he can't do his homework on it.
Click to expand...

Ah, gotcha. It just struck a memory with me of my niece and nephew, who were completely oblivious to taking care of their stuff. For example, the boy would leave his laptop on the floor and walk away, and his sister would walk in and accidentally step on it, cracking the screen. Neither of them were the least bit concerned, and my brother would just replace it. It got expensive in a hurry.

They've more or less grown out of that (they're 18 and 20 now), but I think every LCD I ever saw them use had a crack in it.

Sounds like you have a good kid on your hands. 🙂
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top