Laptops and SSD's

I have been thinking about getting an SSD for my laptop, 128gb variant as well. Only thing that has stopped me is the money.

I plan to get a 128gb SSD and keep all my frequently played games on that. Then in my travel bag I will include a 7200rpm 500gb HDD in an E-Sata enclosure with the rest the games I play, as well as any files I might want.

SSD + HDD. If you have an mSATA slot, then you can have it all, SSD, HDD, and optical drive. The way I see it.. SSD+HDD $100 for a 128GB SSD, and you already have an HDD, + $25 for an optical bay HDD caddy. Another $35 if you want a slim external DVD-burner.

Now, that said, depending on cost of the 3 aforementioned parts vs. a 256GB SSD, it might be just as practical to go with a large SSD - if you really don't need more than 256GB of storage, and its not much more expensive, go for it.

Personally, I rarely need a DVD burner. A majority of people need/want more storage space instead.

I say no to Momentus XT - yes, it's fast-ish, but it's not silent, and it uses more power than an SSD. With an SSD + HDD, the premise is to fit all your programs, whichever files/folders you work with (modifying the files- ex. computer programming, Photoshop pictures, video editing projects and so on), and maybe some of your most played music/videos etc. This way you can easily run SSD only on battery power, if you choose. The HDD powers off if it's not being used.

large SSD: $200 for 256GB - downside, less storage, might need to bring an external HDD with you, if your storage needs increase.

Now, perhaps you can get away with a single 128GB SSD. Personally, I'd recommend adding a 16-32GB SDHC card to your laptop for downloads, music, videos, etc. Why? Cut down on SSD usage, and it'll take longer to hit the <25% free space threshold for your SSD. You don't need 25% free space, but having much less will slow down the drive and possibly cause premature failure.

If you do not need to install big games/programs, and do not use the laptop HDD as storage for multimedia (especially videos) you can get away with a single 120-128 GB SSD. I did, and i have 30 GB free on my laptop's SSD, and i have a few games installed, along with basic programs.

I have a Sony Vaio SA Premium from last year. I use it mostly for school, but occasional gaming during study halls/breaks. ;]

I bought it with the following specs:

Intel Sandy Bridge i5, 2.4GHz. (dual core, four threads.)
4GB DDR3 1333 RAM.
500GB 7,200 RPM Drive
Screen is 13.3", 1600 x 900
CD/DVD Drive
Radeon 6630m graphics.

It cost me around $1080, after shipping and handling.

I then purchased the following upgrades:
$20 for an extra 4GB of compatible RAM.
$150 for a Corsair Force GT 120GB SSD
$40 for a 2.5 HDD/SSD adapter for the CD Drive.

So, in my laptop, the main drive is a 120GB S-ATA III SSD. With a secondary 500GB, 7,200 RPM drive. It's pretty awesome, I must say. The HDD uses a little less power than the CD drive does. And the HDD shuts off automatically after 5 minutes on battery.

When you tell your nerd buddies you've got a SSD AND HDD in a 13.3" laptop, they go "huh o.O?"

If you NEED more storage, I'd say go for it. I only opted for it as I do A LOT of photography and video work. I usually only leave one or two games installed at a time on the SSD, and usually only fill it to about 50-60GB. The HDD currently has around 150GB of data on it. But I opted for this as I wanted the speed, and needed the storage space.

If you don't need that much speed, I'd suggest just sticking with an HDD. If you DO want speed, and don't need space... Just get a 250ish SSD. If you want both, get both! But I'd shy away from the Momentus XT. I've heard some bad reviews about it, and the SSD storage on it isn't very much. If you do go with the 2.5" adapter (referred to as "caddy's") I'd say buy from the site I did. Shipped fast, work nicely, and fit the form factor and color of my laptop perfectly. The only issue I has was the brightness of the LED, which I just disabled internally.

I bought mine from newmodeus.com
If you have any more questions, feel free to ask, friend.

EDIT:
Examples of items on my SSD--
*Photoshop
*Web Broswer
*Adobe Lightroom
*Battlefield 3
*Guild Wars
*Deus Ex: Human Revolution
*Text documents, they don't take up much space, even in bulk.

Examples of items on my secondary, HDD in the ODD caddy--
*Assassin's Creed: Revelations
*Tom Clancy's HAWX
*Burnout Paradise.
*Music
*Powerpoint projects
*Picture Files
Edited by Sazexa - 8/21/12 at 3:33pm

Nooooooooooo! But seriously, don't put games on an SD card, AFAIK a Class 10 32GB SDHC would have slower load times than a 7200rpm HDD. Edit- and install times would be pretty slow. One example, I'm not sure how relevant it is, but I can extract a zip file with tons of small files waaaay faster (talking seconds vs. minutes) with the zip on my SSD compared to on my 16GB Transcend Class 6. I'd imagine installing would be similar, in that there's a ton of small files that get installed.

Basically, you might get 30 MB/s read from a typical SHDC. Any fast SSD can do about 500 MB/s (slower SSD like Intel 300 series, about 270 MB/s)
Edited by jrbroad77 - 8/22/12 at 3:06pm

I'd say toss up between 128GB SSD + Optical or 128GB SSD + standard HDD in Optical if you feel up to the task.
I personally don't throw much on my lapotop after Adobe Suite, MS Office and Auotdesk Mata and can get away with a 128GB once I invest in one, even a 64GB really.

It depends on your usage patterns. I see you've got a rig, so in all likelihood you'll store the bulk of your media there and use the laptop on the go. If that is the case... 256gb ssd should tie you over on the laptop. I don't know if you consider that big/expensive, but ihe prices are pretty reasonable these days. I often use my laptop as a portable dvd player on the go, so I like the idea of keeping the optical but thats just me.

120GB SSD seems perfect for me.

Most of the office suite is on cloud now, my music is on cloud, almost all of my files are on cloud.

External storage is my preferred storage for mobile now that USB 3.0 speeds are more than satisfactory.