SSD vs HDD: A Beginner's Guide to SSD Upgrades Discussion

[b.tuned]

This is not true. First of all, remember that you can't group all HDDs and SSDs in one category for power consumption, ie. some 7200RPM drives might consume less power than 5400RPM drives. Similarly, some SSDs consume significantly lower and some higher than your "average" HDD. For example, Samsung, Indilinx, and Toshiba generally have SSDs that will give you a noticeable boost in battery life. While Intel, Sandforce, and Marvell SSDs have been noted to decreased battery life. The reason is simply performance - the more performance, the more power consumed. While the latter three controllers do perform better than the former three, all of these will give markedly noticeable performance benefit over any HDD.

Well im not looking to spend too much on changing my hdd so basically my options right now is the momentus xt or this Newegg.com - OCZ Vertex 2 OCZSSD2-2VTX40G 2.5" 40GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

Im very tempted by the ssd having looked at this thread. My main reason for buying a new drive is becos i would like the performance upgrade but only if it also can guarantee me a battery life upgrade as well.

Will that ocz benefit my overall battery life? Im taking that it will improve my performance for sure.

[Phil]

Well im not looking to spend too much on changing my hdd so basically my options right now is the momentus xt or this Newegg.com - OCZ Vertex 2 OCZSSD2-2VTX40G 2.5" 40GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

Im very tempted by the ssd having looked at this thread. My main reason for buying a new drive is becos i would like the performance upgrade but only if it also can guarantee me a battery life upgrade as well.

For $129 you can get the Force 40
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...7BBTkwCjCECjCE

For $150 you can get C300 64GB or Agility 2 60GB.

Will that ocz benefit my overall battery life? Im taking that it will improve my performance for sure.

What's your current battery life?
During what usage?

Browsing the web is good for SSD because it can spend a lot of time in idle. During more heavy usage the differences between 5400rpm and SSD become smaller, but the SSD will get more work done.

While Intel, Sandforce, and Marvell SSDs have been noted to decreased battery life.

Both C300 and Vertex LE gave more battery life than any traditional HDD in my notebook.

See also here: Today's solid-state drives: The value perspective - The Tech Report - Page 10

[sgogeta4]

As you stated it, Phil, it depends on your usage. But some users in this forum have noted a decrease in their Intel SSD, which is why I wrote things the way I did.

[Phil]

Maybe it would be more accurate to add "while other users noted more".

Both me and Les got very good battery life with Intel 40GB and 160GB.

For some reason my Intel 80GB got less battery life than a 5400.6 Seagate.

[b.tuned]

would combining the intel 40gb with my base 5400rpm on my laptop defy the purpose of having the ssd for better battery life?

When i ask about battery life im meaning running my laptop (see sig specs) on lowest brightness, wifi on, web browsing/ typing.

[Phil]

Yes adding a drive (SSD or HDD) will generally decrease battery life.

A Momentus XT would be a better idea, but don't do it for battery life do it for performance.

PS. in your laptop with 15" screen, I5 520M and GT 335m a change in HDD will not have that much effect. Why? because the power consumption of other components is relatively higher than the HDD (or SSD).

[b.tuned]

Yes adding a drive (SSD or HDD) will generally decrease battery life.

A Momentus XT would be a better idea, but don't do it for battery life do it for performance.

PS. in your laptop with 15" screen, I5 520M and GT 335m a change in HDD will not have that much effect. Why? because the power consumption of other components is relatively higher than the HDD (or SSD).

yeh i figured as much. Im just seeing what the best way of getting the most juice out of my laptop is both performance and battery life wise. Ill be undervolting my cpu and my laptop is always on integrated graphics when i use it on battery.

[Les]

My battery life increased significantly on the Acer 1810T-6188 whereas the advertised life was just over 8 hours but I could stretch it to over 10 with an ssd but could not with a HDD.

[kent1146]

Edit: My personal experience is that the difference in power draw that an SSD uses can only be measured in benchmarks. My experience is that the real-world difference in battery life is going to be as insignificant as a rounding error, because real-world usage patterns vary whenever you use your laptop.

If you watch more or fewer flash videos, your battery life will vary. If you sleep vs. hibernate your machine, your battery life will vary. If you download a 50MB driver one time when you use your machine, your battery life will vary from when you don't download anything. If you use a USB mouse vs. trackpad, your battery life will vary.

I have never found power consumption to be a primary motivating factor in buying an SSD. Your mileage may vary.

[cn_habs]

Quick Q: Is the Hitachi 2.5' 7k500 faster than the conventional drives in this article in everyday use?

Thanks a lot.