Cheapest Laptop with SSD

[djcj]

I'm looking to get a laptop with an SSD hard drive (cheap as possible).

I would prefer to have a laptop with 2 internal drives, 1 ssd and one mechanical for storage. I am thinking the cheapest way would be to buy a laptop with an existing mech hdd and a second hdd bay in which i can simply install my own ssd?

I'm therefore trying to find the cheapest laptop capable of holding 2 hdd's.

Any suggestions? I'd like the general spec to be ok and price preferably <£500

General Questions

1) What is your budget?

Preferably less than £500

2) What size notebook would you prefer?

Either
d. Mainstream; 15" - 16" screen
e. Desktop Replacement; 17"+ screen

3) Where will you buying this notebook? You can select the flag of your country as an indicator.

UK

4) Are there any brands that you prefer or any you really don't like?

Don't care

5) Would you consider laptops that are refurbished/redistributed?

Yep

6) What are the primary tasks will you be performing with this notebook?

General browsing/email. No gaming or heavy tasks will be done

7) Will you be taking the notebook with you to different places, leaving it on your desk or both?

Staying at home

8) Will you be playing games on your notebook? If so, please state which games or types of games?

No

9) How many hours of battery life do you need?

Will mostly be on mains power

10) Would you prefer to see the notebooks you're considering before purchasing it or buying a notebook on-line without seeing it is OK?

Online preferred

11) What OS do you prefer? Windows (XP or Vista or Windows 7), Mac OS, Linux, etc.

Win 7 (pref 64bit)

Screen Specifics

12) From the choices below, what screen resolution(s) would you prefer? Keep in mind screen size in conjunction with resolution will play a large role in overall viewing comfort level. Everyone is different. Some like really small text, while others like their text big and easy to read. If you are unsure of what to purchase, we would highly recommend you check some notebook screens before you buy to see what you like. You may also wish to take a look at the notebook screen guide for more information.

•Netbook resolution: WSVGA
•Actual resolutions: 1024x600 and 1024x576
•Offered on Netbooks 10" and smaller
•Netbook standard resolution. This is the lowest resolution available, and is designed to easily read text and icons on smaller-sized netbook screens. However, this leads to a somewhat “crowded” display that can generally only handle one visible window at a time. Typically not available on larger machines.

•Standard Resolutions: WXGA, HD, 720p
•Actual resolutions: 1280x800 and 1366x768
•Offered on larger Netbooks and Notebooks up to 16"
•Lower resolution screens offer big text and icons that are easy to read. Less stuff fits on the screen, which translates into more scrolling. Multiple windows can be worked with, though they may have to overlap some.

•Midrange Resolutions: WXGA+, HD+, 900p
•Actual resolutions: 1440x900 and 1600x900
•Offered on all Notebooks. Keep in mind text will be very small on a 12" WXGA+ notebook.
•A set of in-between resolution options that are found on some machines. Considered base resolution on 17" inch and higher laptops. Text and icons are smaller than standard resolution screens, and more windows fit onto the screen. These resolutions are very good for working with multiple windows side-by-side, without having to overlap them.

•Maximum Resolutions: WSXGA+, WUXGA, FHD, 1080p
•Actual resolutions: 1680x1050, 1920x1200 and 1920x1080
•Offered on Notebook 15" and larger
•On these screens text and icons will be very small. Text can often be hard to read, though some do like it. A very large number of windows fit on the screen, and there will be little need to overlap any of them. Max resolution screens are good for applications that require high detail (CAD, graphics editing, etc.)

Don't care as long as it's not netbook!

13) Do you want a glossy/reflective screen or a matte/non-glossy screen?

Don't care

Build Quality and Design

14) Are the notebook's looks and stylishness important to you?

No

15) When are you buying this laptop?

Next 2 months or so

16) How long do you want this laptop to last?

Several years
Notebook Components

17) How much hard drive space do you need; 80GB to 640GB? Do you want a SSD drive?

Want ssd + seperate storage drive (can buy and install ssd seperately)

18) Do you need an optical drive? If yes, a CDRW/DVD-ROM, DVD Burner or Blu-Ray drive?

Not really

[Autumn Demon]

18) Do you need an optical drive? If yes, a CDRW/DVD-ROM, DVD Burner or Blu-Ray drive?

Not really

If you don't need an optical drive then you can take it out and put a HDD in its place.

[thundernet]

It seems to me kinda hard to find a notebook under 500 with SSD.At any case I think you should buy a notebook with HDD and buy the SSd separately.

[User Retired 2]

If you don't need an optical drive then you can take it out and put a HDD in its place.

+1. See DIY: Adding SSD or HDD storage using an optical bay caddy for links on cheap caddies to host your HDD. The ebay Fenvi 12.7mm/9.5mm even allowing to swap over the optical faceplate for a perfect appearance. Then just need to find a cheap SSD for the primary HDD bay.

[djcj]

My current laptop is a Sony Vaio VGN-NR21Z, is this possible to do the above? Is the rest of my current laptop's spec compatible with adding an ssd and running win7?

Thanks for all the help so far

Edit: I will gladly buy a newer cheap laptop that has full sata II compatibility to get the best out of an ssd with win7 and then just perform the optical drive for hdd swap on the new laptop and sell my current one. I just want to make sure my current lappie has the required spec to give me full speeds with an ssd to get the most benefit!

[User Retired 2]

My current laptop is a Sony Vaio VGN-NR21Z, is this possible to do the above? Is the rest of my current laptop's spec compatible with adding an ssd and running win7?

Thanks for all the help so far

Your Sony is an ICH8M equipped system so it has SATA-II ports. The optical drive is a PATA unit so you'd require either a 9.5mm or 12.7mm sata-to-pata caddy to host your existing HDD. Measure the height of the optical drive to confirm which height you require.