SSD vs HDD
Decided to start a series of some IT related articles that will be based on new tendencies and what’s new should be noticed in the market. Main focus will be on laptops probably and everything what may be connected to them.
SSD is acronym that stands for “solid state drive”. Comparing SSD vs HDD is comparing what is inside. Externally it may be conducted as the same stuff. This is good news meaning that SSD you may easily install to your laptop instead of existing HDD. Is it worth of replacement and … what SSD is?
The best thing is to watch a video bellow to understand what I’m trying to tuch here.
If you have watched the video above you should know quite a lot about it – don’t you! It’s not so hot news actually so you may find quite a lot similar videos at youtube.com.
I’m adding one more. This is good just for seeing seconds in real time as promo above shows just a numbers but you cannot feel the real time feeling.
There are lot of similar videos to the above one and I won’t put any more here.
So it’s clear that SSD is based on flash memory technology, uses NANO technology and it is much more durable then HDD. This is the most important point that cannot be beaten – durability as data is expensive thing.
Other advantages are also quite significant especially using it in laptops: read/write speed (OS like vista/windows loads much faster, shorter time to load an application, file and shutdown as well), weight and power consumption.
I think it’s enough of those 4 advantages to be listed (life, speed, weight and power) to be convinced – this is something really good.
It’s important to notice that the newest Apple and Dell laptops already have SSD as an option for data storage. It’s optional as externally SSD completely compatible with HDD.
SSD forms/sizes/connectivity – SATA 2.5” (the most common), SATA 1.8” (super slim) and Express Card.
The first thing that may be disappointing is the capacity. It may be in 128Gb (most common for Apple, Dell, Samsung and other brand new laptops), 64Gb and 32Gb. This is not so bad – my Dell Latitude that I’m typing now has 80Gb HDD (it’s not enough for me indeed). For business users this more than enough, but home users should consider to have external data storage then.
You should be aware that SSD speed may vary depending of disk capacity and technology is used by manufacturer. SATA HDD speeds vary as well.
Now about the price – it’s the second thing that may be qualified as disadvantage. Durability is calculated into price as data safety is really precious thing.
I’m not sure is that so worthy to make upgrades of existing laptops that we already own, but should be seriously considered when choosing new one. I noticed that SSD looks cheaper buying it bundled with the laptop instead of taking it separately. It probably only looks so as I don’t look to the full SSD price but how much I should add choosing it instead of HDD.
Go to dell USA site and try customize a laptop. Scroll to the Primary storage options. Here you will see how much you will add or subtract depending on the choice.
This is it. The technology should go further and SSD capacity should go higher and prices down 
If you are looking for the new laptop that should be good in portability (lightweight and slim), durability, long battery life, performance, and everything else best – suggest to look at Samsung X360. Just look and take it into your consideration – something really good in this. Yes it comes with SSD 128Gb.
Samsung has already announced SATA II SDD having 256Gb and ultra fast read/write characteristics. Will see how market meets it.
January 29th, 2010 at 10:13 am
Wow, thanks a bunch m8