What SSD SATA III drive is the best & most reliable?

I want to start using an SSD SATA III drive in my ASUS K52F laptop to replace the HDD, so everything runs faster/smoother,


I only use my laptop for web browsing (12 Tabs open at once usually on 2 browsers), listening to music itunes) watching youtube videos or movies files, MS WORD/EXCEL, Notepad, and sometimes all open at once

- i dont use my laptop for anything else, i just want it to run and multitask faster as it currently lags / freezes often - so dont play any games or run software other than what ive listed.

- - i have read Intel 330, Crucial M4, Samsung 830 are good. but if they were bought in china, do they come with the 'easy desktop install kit'?
What are the better / top-range ssd's than the 330, M4, 830 ?

also i have a friend on holiday in china (beijin) so m gonna request them to bring a good one back, which should be a lot cheaper, is this wise?

 

Intel 330 or Samsung 830 are good choices. You don't need an 'easy desktop install kit' - I assume this refers to things like a mounting bracket to fit it in a regular 3.5" HDD bay.

If you can get it cheaper in China then why not.

 

thanks

 

ddp is right,what are your laptop specs?did it always lag and freeze?while an ssd is faster it will not cure a pre-existing problem.

 

Its not always freezing, just when im doing lots- listed above, then it lags /goes slow,
but it does only have 3gb ram,
laptop spec = ASUS K52F, i3 M380 @ 2.53 GHZ, 320GB HDD, 3GB RAM, Windows 7 64-bit

about the install/transfer kit you pay extra for when buying a sata drive, how essential is this?
how would you otherwise transfer data from your hdd to the sata correctly?
i have an external hdd i could use to temporarily hold my documents/music/files but am i missing something here that this transfer kit does?

also, as i will still be using windows 7 home premium 64 bit, do i just install it with the CD that came with the laptop?
i dont want all the standard ASUS pre-set programs installed onto the OS, just the very bare minimum so memory/ram isnt wasted
how would i go about doing this?

thanks

 

You are confused. SATA = Serial ATA, not SSD which = Solid State Drive; they are different.

Like I said, the desktop install kits are just mounting brackets which allow a 2.5" SSD to fit in a regular 3.5" HDD bay in a case - it is not essential, nor useful for a laptop.

Using an external HDD to backup your documents while you re-install Windows to your new SSD would be fine.

I would recommend a fresh install, so yes you would use your install CD on a newly formatted SSD (the install CD will do this for you if it is not formatted correctly). As it is the CD that came with your ASUS laptop, it will likely re-install all of the unnecessary software that came with it but you can simply uninstall all of it after you've installed Windows.

 

As Ripper pointed out the "easy desktop install kit" is probably just a mounting bracket. Note it says nothing about transferring your data for you. Since you have a laptop you probably have a 2.5 HDD installed so the 2.5 inch SSD will not need the mounting bracket. This is usually used for desktop cases as most do not have 2.5 inch drive bays.

What size is your current HDD and External HDD? Assuming you have enough space, a utility like Clonezilla can clone the internal HDD to the External HDD. Then, after installing the SSD, you can use clonezilla to restore your computer to the working state it is in now.

As DDP pointed out, more ram is a great idea.

 

ok thanks for the replies,

my internal HDD is 320gb and external portable HDD is 500gb,

I only have 30GB of data i need to transfer = music, videos. documents, files
the only software i use is MS OFFICE & EPSON printer software, the rest can all be downloaded - eg web browser, itunes, vlc player, etc

- i thought the standard laptop hdd was bigger than a ssd, so not 2.5"?
and that it was lighter too?


i know i could re-install windows with the ASUS CD i have, but as that will include the vast number of pre-set asus programs, i want to just install windows 7 64 Bit with None of those ASUS programs,
how would i do that?


- - I just bought 2x 4GB Kingston RAM for the laptop so should be here in a few days,
do you guys think upgrading from 3gb to 8gb would be sufficient to make my laptop run/multitask/operate fast?
or will the SSD take it to a higher level, even with the 8GB RAM?

 

No, generally speaking laptop HDDs are 2.5"

Well essentially what I was saying is that you probably can't - you could use another CD and try to install with your serial but your serial is probably specific to that OEM CD from ASUS.

Provide a link to the RAM you purchased?

An increase from 3GB to 8GB should provide a noticeable difference in performance, yes, and you would still probably notice the difference with an SSD too (in things like Windows boot-up time, opening programs etc).

 

thats strange because ive been reading how ssd'd are great because they weigh less as theres no spinning disk like in hdd


i dont know if they got this exact one, as theyre not back til next week, but this was the same spec i gave them and they just told me 'they bought the ram, its a kingston brand':

http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/-/3321/2...-Unbuffered-SODIMM Laptop-Memory/Product.html

now i will have 8gb RAM (Increased from 3gb), do you still think its wise to replace the hddd with a SATA II 128GB, based on my usage = multitab browsing, itunes music, watching movie files, MS word/excel, notepad?

Im torn between a Samsung 830 and a Intel 330
most seem to favor the samsung 830.
the intel is only £10 mor but has 180GB compared to the samsung 128gb

 

What is strange? I didn't say they weren't lighter, they are typically lighter. Smaller =/= lighter of course. There are no moving parts in a Solid State drive, no.

I think you would appreciate the difference still, but why don't you wait and see if upgrading your RAM is ample for your needs before you spend the money.

For £10 more I would buy the Intel 330.

Oh and the RAM you have bought should be fine - note it is rated at a faster speed (1333MHz) than your laptop currently has installed (1066MHz), but if your motherboard doesn't support 1333MHz RAM then it should downscale it.

 

thanks ripper,
this is the intel 330 i think im gonna get:
http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/180...-s-mlc-flash-read-500mb-s-write-450mb-1365911

i recall reading somewhere about the older SANDFORCE Controller, being buggy and unreliable.
how true is that? as in this 330 it has SandForce SF-2281

 

As far as I know, that controller had issues in less reliable drives like OCZ and Kingston, but has been okay in Intel's and Crucial's M4 drives. If that concerns you, buy a Samsung 830 as they used their own controllers which are supposedly some of the best.

FYI, I would not recommend buying from Scan - I'm in the UK too and I would not. They have a bad reputation. Get one from dabs or Amazon - they usually have good enough deals running.

 

thanks for the 'Scan' warning, i wont buy there,

if i decide to buy a ssd , do the prices normally improve/reduce nearer to xmas?
or maybe i should wait for the boxing day/january sales, if ssd's are normally reduced in price in these sales?

i have 8gb (2x4gb) kingston ram arriving next week, so this may even be sufficient to speed my laptop up vastly! ... not to confident though... the ssd must elp it more

 

SSD would usually be behind RAM on the list of components to upgrade, I wouldn't be so skeptical.

Everything is cheaper in the Christmas/January sales, and SSD prices are coming down every few weeks, so you may as well install your RAM and post back so we can advise you afterwards.

I don't think there is much more to say on the topic til then.

 

good point,
yes i will stop all the questions now, i've been non-stop i know,

thanks for everyone's time