Solid State Drive (SSD) Upgrade

[Sumt007]

Looking to upgrade to a solid state drive (SSD) in my laptop. Found this one from crucial.com when I did a system scan from their site.
- CT3806765 - Crucial M500 240GB 2.5-inch Internal SSD $115

Anyone recommend any other SSD that would be better? Or if anyone is selling one that will work. My laptop has two hard drive slots so I will use the current hard drive for storage.

I'm running on the following laptop;

Asus G73JH.
- Intel? Core? i7 Processor 620M/820QM/720QM : 2.66 GHz - 1.6 GHz, with Turbo
- DDR3 1066/1333 MHz 8GB
- ATI Mobility? Radeon? HD 5870, 1G GDDR5 VRAM

 

[Snipeye]

Quick basic info (from Newgg):
SATA II and SATA III ? SATA connections offer high transfer rates between an SSD and the host device. SATA II cables can reach speeds up to 3Gbps while SATA III can reach speeds up to 6Gbps.

Controller ? The controller manages the transfer of data between an SSD and the host device. It is usually a highly integrated and specialized SoC (System-On-a-Chip) with a single- or dual core-based processor with advanced features built into the device, such as hardware error correction (ECC) and data buffering.

Firmware ? The controller contains a built-in ROM (either mask-programmed or programmable) that contains firmware that controls the drive. Since an SSD is an example of an embedded system, it needs a Real-Time OS (RTOS) for proper operation. Several firmware options, both open source as well as proprietary, are available for SSD controllers.

NAND Flash Memory ? NAND flash acts as the primary data storage element for an SSD. Based on the target application, the flash type may be either Multi-Level Cell (MLC) or Single-Level Cell (SLC). The interface for the NAND flash (SDR or DDR) also becomes a major contributor to the drive's performance.

MLC and SLC ? Multi-level cell (MLC) and Single-level cell (SLC) Flash memory are similar in their design. MLC Flash devices cost less and allow for higher storage density. SLC Flash devices provide faster write performance and greater reliability, even at temperatures above the operating range of MLC Flash devices.

DRAM ? The DRAM chip in an SSD acts as a buffer that speeds up data access and reduces latency. Although DRAM is volatile memory, it is faster than NAND flash memory. SSDs may use DRAM range from 32MB to 1GB, depending upon the required performance. Moreover, the type of DRAM used also determines the performance of an SSD.

With that said, here's a quick (but older) review of the SSD.

Summation: It runs slower than the Samsung 840 its trying to beat, but it also $70 cheaper (though the Samsung is 10GB bigger).

 

[Sumt007]

Summation: It runs slower than the Samsung 840 its trying to beat, but it also $70 cheaper (though the Samsung is 10GB bigger).

So would you recommend the;
- SAMSUNG 840 EVO MZ-7TE250BW 2.5" 250GB SATA 6Gb/s TLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
Sustained Sequential Read: 540MB/s
Sustained Sequential Write: 520MBps
4KB Random Read: Up to 97,000 IOPS
4KB Random Write: Up to 66,000 IOPS

Over the;

- Crucial M500 240GB 2.5-inch Internal SSD
part #:CT3806765
Crucial M500 240GB SATA 6Gbps 2.5" Internal SSD ? 500 MB/s Read / 250 MB/s Write

I found the Crucial for $115, and the Samsung for $138 so not much difference in the price to affect my decision because of the price. Just want to make sure I get the better drive! And to make sure it will work in my "laptop".

 

[Cloakedsphere]

I'd reccommend the Samsun 840 EVO. Crucial makes great drives but Samsung has excellent speeds and (from my experience) great customer service.

 

[Snipeye]

I'd reccommend the Samsun 840 EVO. Crucial makes great drives but Samsung has excellent speeds and (from my experience) great customer service.

Agreed. Go with Samsung. 10GB bigger, faster read and write speeds, for just about $30 more.

 

[Sumt007]

Thanks for the suggestions.. I went ahead and ordered the SAMSUNG 840 EVO MZ-7TE250BW. It will be here tomorrow, so I will post an update on it once I get it installed and fresh OS install. From everything I have read on forums etc. It makes a pretty big difference.

 

[Sumt007]

Update:
So I received and installed the SAMSUNG 840 EVO SSD. What a difference! So glad I made the choice to upgrade, its much better and my laptops performance has improved 100%. My windows experience score, hard drive score changed from 4.8 to a 7.7

Thank you guys for your recommendations on which one to go with!!