is a SSd worth it?

[MrBojangles]

Hi Everybody!! just recently picked up a very nice 17" laptop via a trade(Actually traded the system in my sig for it sans the monitor and my very nice logitech wave keyboard and mouse.Plan on rebuilding me a smaller htpc/gaming box).It's a gateway P-7915u FX the limited edition one they sold at best buy with the c2d p8700 2.5ghz cpu,4gb ram,gtx 260m gpu,9-Cell Lithium Ion (7800 mAh) battery (i can actually get over 4hours with the right settings.Despite the lavished cpu/gpu.) and a unique finish.Not to be confused with there current build with a much slower gtx 9800m gpu and 2ghz cpu and smaller battery.

soon after getting this i did what any good enthusiast does.I started immediately removing all the panels to see about future upgrade ability.To my extreme pleasure i found that this particular laptop supports dual hard drives.For potential raid setups or more importantly a potential ssd next to a nice 500gb+ storage drive.Which brings me to my question.Are the ssd really worth it?I mean i've read all the reviews and i know on paper and benchmarks the ssd's are way faster than your average drive.what i'm looking for is if this is actually noticeable in gaming and day to day use.Does anyone have personal experiences with an ssd upgrade and if so did it really make a noticeable difference.One big enough to justify the price?Just wanted to get some input on this before i decided whether or not to invest in one.I don't have as much disposable income as your average enthusiast so 1-200 for a hd is a pretty big chunk of change to me.especially if it's not really worth it.Also any recommendations for particularly good sdd drives (ie price to performance to size)would be appreciated as well.
http://www.gateway.com/product_spec.php ... =529668355

[potatochobit]

I just installed a SSD and honestly, not that much of a difference in windows boot time
sure, once windows is loaded, all the services are almost instantly started
of course, I still wait a minute to see if the computer is still thinking, but it never is, lol

I bought my SSD to help get rid of some load times in certain games
looking at your computer specs, though, it would be better to use the money to buy a new laptop next year

hard drive space in a laptop is very precious
so if you must have over 60GB 200$ is not a budget to consider getting one at this time

[SNM]

I got SSDs for my laptop and desktop in April or so and they were some of the best upgrades I've ever had. Others don't seem to like them so much, though, so you should go find somebody with an SSD and see what you think using their computer. I just like not ever having to wait when I try and look through my user folder or open the start menu or whatever.

[WarBastard]

Oh hell yeah! If you can get into the BIOS, change to AHCI before you install Windows ( if that's your flavour). You may even save some battery life as well as heat. I have one on my Desktop P.C and want more.

[MadManOriginal]

Yes.

[computron9000]

if your current drive is 7200 rpm i wouldn't bother.

if it's a 500GB 5400 rpm (i suspect it is), either going to 7200rpm or SSD would be a nice boost in performance.

[MrBojangles]

if your current drive is 7200 rpm i wouldn't bother.if it's a 500GB 5400 rpm (i suspect it is), either going to 7200rpm or SSD would be a nice boost in performance.

Yeah the drive currently in it is a 320gb 5400rpm Hitachi.I was thinking of just getting a nice 320gb Scorpio black and using the Hitachi as a back up drive.That's of course if i decide against getting a ssd.

looking at your computer specs, though, it would be better to use the money to buy a new laptop next year

Just out of curiosity why would i need a new one next year?I mean i know the specs aren't the latest and greatest but i still got 4gb of ddr3 ram, the p8700 which is among the fastest of the c2d mobile line just under the extreme editions(and from the few reviews i could fine is actually faster than the mobile i3's and just a bit behind the i5's).The gtx 260m is a bit outdated as far as high end mobile gpu's go but it still games like a mobile beast.At the laptops 1440x900 res i was running borderlands with max settings at 40-50+ fps (hell even ran it on my main monitor at 1920x1080 at 35-45+fps),Crysis warhead was running on gamer settings at smooth playable frame rates.I mean i think it should still be decent for at least a few years.From what i can find it's the performance equivalent of a desktop 9800gtx.I was also really impressed by the 4+ hour battery life(not while gaming of course) since most laptops with these specs seem to get around the 1-2 hour range.

[MadManOriginal]

You could also use the SSD in your next laptop so I don't see the problem there. With the flash process shrink and expected price drops yu may want to wait a bit and see how prices work out, of course that's always a factor in buying computer gear. Personally I don't expect to see a straight 50% street price drop especially since there are sales and deals now to clear inventory. If you can wait, great, if not don't feel bad buying now...there's always the time factor of getting use out of something in the meantime. Just be sure to get a capacity that will work for you and remember that pretty much any recent SSD will blow away a HD.