Is the Intel 530 SSD worth buying for a two and half year old laptop?

[jonnyhillow]

I keep reading it's mediocre in performance compared to many others and i can't afford the 700 series, right now i just have a 5400 rpm hard drive that came with the laptop.

I know Samsung is popular as well , is it superior to the Intel?

Thanks folks

 

[paulpicks21]

Any SSD will be a massive improvement over the HDD. You won't notice much difference in performance if you buy a top of the range model or a cheap one other than benchmarks.

The Samsung Evo's seem to be the hot drive at the moment that won't break the bank. I recently got a 250GB one myself and know many other people that are very happy with them.

Paul.

 

[jonnyhillow]

Thanks , but i don't understand what you mean by " i won't notice much of a difference other than benchmarks " .

Aren't benchmarks what measure performance ?

 

[paulpicks21]

They measure performance yes, but in real world use the speed/performance difference between most modern SSD's is not something that would be noticed by the user.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Thanks , but i don't understand what you mean by " i won't notice much of a difference other than benchmarks " .

Aren't benchmarks what measure performance ?

He means that if you did not know what SSD you owned, it's not likely you could tell by using the PC.

SSDs are "fast" because of their access times. The access times of any of them are much much faster than an HDD. Particularly a 5400 rpm laptop drive.

Some folks can't past the benchmark idea for the same reason some folks will always buy a "200 watt" stereo system rather than a 100 watt system. Or a 800 watt power supply rather than a 500 watt power supply.

Intel drive are highly reliable and come with a good management toolbox. It's up to you to decide if that compensates for any shortcomings you find in benchmarks. If all you care about is benchmarks, you won't buy Intel. If your sole gauge of "superiority" is benchmarks, you won't buy Intel.

Crucial's are another good brand to look at--the MX100.

You should understand that SSDs are not a cure-all. If your laptop is "slow", it will remain slow in many respects, even with the SSD. Some people expect night and day differences and are then disappointed. But the disappointment would still be there regardless of what SSD they bought.

 

[paulpicks21]

Thanks , but i don't understand what you mean by " i won't notice much of a difference other than benchmarks " .

Aren't benchmarks what measure performance ?

He means that if you did not know what SSD you owned, it's not likely you could tell by using the PC.

SSDs are "fast" because of their access times. The access times of any of them are much much faster than an HDD.

Some folks can't past the benchmark idea for the same reason some folks will always buy a "200 watt" stereo system rather than a 100 watt system. Or a 800 watt power supply rather than a 500 watt power supply.

Intel drive are highly reliable and come with a good management toolbox. It's up to you to decide if that compensates for any shortcomings you find in benchmarks. If all you care about is benchmarks, you won't buy Intel. If your sole gauge of "superiority" is benchmarks, you won't buy Intel.

Crucial's are another good brand to look at--the MX100.

Yeah MX100 looks like a good buy, I nearly got one but saw the Samsung Evo for 8GBP more and figured it was worth it based on how highly people rated them. I must admit the software it came with to transfer the OS was awesome. I clicked a couple of buttons and my OS was transferred in no time. Obviously this would only work if the data on the original drive was smaller than the new drive and this was the case for me.

 

[jonnyhillow]

Well i got the Intel 240 GB 530 for a little over $100.00 and i literally have nothing on my 5400 drive that the laptop came with and it seems fast as it is .

Since nearly everybody raves about SSD's and the performance gains i decided to give one a try , i have yet to read any reviews anywhere even on slow systems that the person didn't say their machine wasn't transformed so i don't get what you mean by "if the laptop is slow it will remain slow comment" .


Seems the exact opposite actually.