The new SSD Thread (Benchmarks, Brands, News and Advice)

[angelicvoices]

Originally Posted by chunglau

I guess you missed the post pointing to the Dell 256GB SSD...

Dell does not make their own SSDs. Only thing I've heard about the Samsung drives in Dells is that they are much better than the Scandisk that Dell was previously providing. Overall faster with no slow downs or lockups. What are you talking about?

[davepermen]

Originally Posted by angelicvoices

Vertex drives have some lockup issues that the Samsung do not. Far as real world consistent performance, my understanding is that Samsung is on top. The Summit might be worth a look at too though. It uses a Samsung controller. It's slightly slower than the Vertex but does not seem to suffer any lockup issues.

lockup issues? not the vertex. those where on the old ocz, yes.

then again, if it's really a 1:2 in price, the samsungs are worth it. i wouldn't chose one personally anymore.

[makaveli72]

Originally Posted by davepermen

lockup issues? not the vertex. those where on the old ocz, yes.

I too am clueless Dave...never experienced any lockups with my drive.

[Mr. Wonderful]

Some stuff I wrote up for some other forums on the Intel 2nd Gen:

Some general impressions:

It's a lot lighter than a traditional hard drive, and also runs much cooler. Though I've never noticed heat coming from my old HDD while in my Unibody Macbook, which I can't understand because I have no idea how Apple is cooling it. I'm guessing/pretty sure my battery life has increased with it. I'm sure the 34nm process helped with all of this.

As far as actual performance gains go, once the computer has booted to the desktop, it's immediately completely usable. Resumption from sleep is likewise a little faster as well. This really brings to attention how long the computer takes to connect to the router, as the computer is ready and rearing to go while the airport is still deciding what to do. Snow Leopard will really help with this.

Otherwise, I haven't done anything intensive yet to test the performance, but altogether, it is as if a lag that I didn't even know was there has been removed from the computer, and it's like I can't believe we've been living with this laggy performance in our computers for all these years. Is it lightening fast OMG amazing!! ? No, I wouldn't really say that it reaches the hype and fabled performance gains that people tout when they're talking about SSDs. A lot better, yes, but like most hardware upgrades to an existing system, in most cases, it's like, "Is this it?" Though I would have to say that out of any hardware upgrade that I've ever done, the SSD has made the biggest noticeable improvement.

But like I said, all I've done is booted my Macbook and launched a bunch of Apps. I haven't really done anything too intensive yet.

Probably old news for you guys, but hopefully it's somewhat insightful.

[jminiman]

It only took 750 forum pages or so of reading to get to this point, but I received my X25-M G2 80 GB from Buy.com yesterday, backed up my 7200 ThinkPad HDD and restored to the Intel. Took all of 45 minutes. Rebooted as if nothing had happened, except the system is amazingly quick to startup and Outlook *finally* behaves like a polished, late-generation product. No more waiting for search to complete. The $240 investment here will save me thousands in the long run (if I add up the time waited with the HDD!).

I look forward to seeing the 320 GB with a SATA6 controller next year from Intel. Thanks for everyone's help on this board!

[angelicvoices]

I just punched the clock on the 160gb Intel with a 500GB and 1TB Samsungs for backups. So much for paying bills with my Sager sale profits.. there's still some left.. until I get the NEC LCD. I need a second job..

.. Newegg just pulled both the new Intel SSDs off their site. Not out of stock.. but just plain gone.

[Mormegil83]

Originally Posted by angelicvoices

I just punched the clock on the 160gb Intel with a 500GB and 1TB Samsungs for backups. So much for paying bills with my Sager sale profits.. there's still some left.. until I get the NEC LCD. I need a second job..

.. Newegg just pulled both the new Intel SSDs off their site. Not out of stock.. but just plain gone.

HAHAHa i think you made the right choice with the intel. You need multiple heads/brains/more appendages to need more than 160gb at one time

[angelicvoices]

I didn't get it. It was in my shopping cart and I was going through check out and all of a sudden it disappeared.. Maybe Newegg was afraid they'd be left with old stock..

[QuadAllegory]

Do you guys think there is a new Samsung 256GB and 128GB SSD around the corner? Dell just pulled their SSD's from the SXPS line. Maybe something new is coming?

[angelicvoices]

Maybe Dell is planning on using the new Intel drives.