SSD Recommendations

Basically, I need some advice on where to pick up an SSD from a webshop or a local store in the Washington, D.C. area.

Looking for an SSD for my laptop (Apple MacBook Air)

Probably 120GB, maybe 240GB if I'm lucky. Capacity isn't my main concern since I've got external Hard Drives lying around, but 60GB is definitely too small.

Did some digging and the cheapest ones are all Kingston Technology, but I've heard some pretty bad things about them—apparently they use subpar memory chips.

Posting this under Desktop computer because people here actually talk about components, and as far as I know, SSDs are pretty universal. (Also, I'm assuming I need the 7mm version?)

One more thing... regarding laptop RAM, when it says "Memory Voltage: 1.35; 1.5 V"

Is that fine? Like, if I specifically need 1.35V memory, will that work?

EDIT: These Patriot Blaze drives are also available and pretty cheap. Are they any good?

Thanks in advance!

What kind of budget are we looking at?

A 120 GB Solid State Drive should be around $167.

Look, I just need the cheapest decent SSD out there.

Is this one alright?

http://www.amazon.com/product_info.php?products_id=16593

That Intel drive is a solid choice—honestly, you’re probably not going to find anything better since the selection of mSATA SSDs here in the States is pretty thin and they tend to be overpriced as hell.

I’m not entirely sure if you can actually hook up two separate drives to that laptop—it might just be a single SSD situation. If that’s the case, you really need to be certain you have enough breathing room. A 120 GB SSD effectively gives you about 111 GB of usable space once you account for everything. Plus, it’s pretty smart to leave at least 10% of the total capacity unpartitioned—what we call overprovisioning—because if you don't, the SSD starts slowing down significantly. That already puts you down to roughly 100 GB. Once you factor in Windows, all your basic software, recovery points, and that hibernation file... man, it'll be hard to find more than 50-60 GB of free space left. Is that really going to be enough for your files? Otherwise, you’re basically going to be tethered to external Hard Drives for everything.

So, you've got that Acer with the mSATA slot—if you wanted to go with a standard 2.5" drive instead, you'd basically have to ditch the existing Hard Drives. Personally, I think if we're looking at capacity, a 180GB version for around $525 would be the absolute sweet spot.

I noticed some versions of the Apple MacBook Air come with mSATA slots. Maybe you could just use it as a cache instead of running the OS off it? Better check on that.

If you're looking at standard SSDs, I’d suggest going with Kingston's HyperX Fury or OCZ ARC 100. Avoid the V300, and stay away from the Blaze too.

Same logic applies to the larger capacities.
http://www.nabava.net/search.php?tp=0&q=crucial+250gb
http://www.nabava.net/search.php?tp=...GB+HyperX+FURY
http://www.nabava.net/search.php?tp=0&q=ARC+100+240GB
http://www.nabava.net/search.php?tp=...D+Ignite+240GB

Jeffrey Chavez6 said:I noticed some versions of the Apple MacBook Air come with mSATA slots. Maybe you could just use it as a cache instead of running the OS off it? Better check on that.

If you're looking at standard SSDs, I’d suggest going with Kingston's HyperX Fury or OCZ ARC 100. Avoid the V300, and stay away from the Blaze too.

Same logic applies to the larger capacities.
http://www.nabava.net/search.php?tp=0&q=crucial+250gb
http://www.nabava.net/search.php?tp=...GB+HyperX+FURY
http://www.nabava.net/search.php?tp=0&q=ARC+100+240GB
http://www.nabava.net/search.php?tp=...D+Ignite+240GB

Thanks for the tips!

Regarding that whole thing with one or two drives—it’s about this laptop:
Check this out: http://www.apple.com/macbook-air/specs/nx.m1fsn.004

As far as I know, there’s only room for one drive, so obviously the Hard Drive is getting kicked out. Also, from what I've gathered, all those 7mm SSDs should slide right into a laptop without any issues.
Correct me if I'm wrong.

Anyway, I'm on a tight budget, so I'll probably just... $250 Just buy another 4GB of RAM. Your current 4GB is going to get eaten alive the second you open more than a few tabs or launch a couple of programs.
Got an old 450GB SSHD 450 sitting in a laptop. Thinking about tossing it into a 2.5" enclosure. I've already got another one from a Toshiba drive in an external bay.

Not to go off topic here, but can we all agree that the Intel stuff, those OCZ drives, and the Kingston HyperX are all solid and compatible?

edit:
Just realized what all the fuss was about. This Intel drive is actually mSATA.
I think my laptop might be missing an mSATA slot, but I'll double-check.

Man, I’ve been kicking myself thinking about picking up an SSD for like, a year and a half now... but you know how it goes, life happens and money just disappears into random bills... so I still haven't pulled the trigger...

....but then I was reading some tech news about a month ago—apparently Intel developed this crazy SSD technology that plugs directly into the PCI-E slot .... absolutely wild!

Honestly, I'm just sitting here waiting for a motherboard that comes with an integrated SSD already built-in... 😁 though I guess that's not even a stretch of the imagination when you look at all the tablets and smartphones out there, right?...

EDIT: Everyone seems to be raving about the Samsung EVO
- they've got two versions... one is basically the 'Grand Prix' winner, while the more budget-friendly version sits at #2 on that 'GP' list, but it's hands down the #1 best buy... so you really gotta weigh your options.

Off topic:

Motherboards with an M.2 slot for an M.2 Solid State Drive have been around forever, but this one actually features two M.2 connectors—one for the Solid State Drive and another for a Wi-Fi card:

http://www.gigabyte.com/products/pro...px?pid=5128#ov

http://www.newegg.com/p/product_info.php?c...ducts_id=14858

And those PCIe SSDs have finally started showing up in US stores lately:

http://www.newegg.com/p/product_info.php?c...ducts_id=16695

On topic:

Regarding Samsung, maybe this helps:

"First, make sure the 840 Pro is 256 GB, not 250 GB. The Pro uses a different type of NAND. The Pro's MLC NAND is older but faster. The regular 840 and the Evo use TLC, which is newer and cheaper to manufacture. Also, the Pro's MLC NAND is supposed to last way longer. One article estimates that MLC's expected lifespan is 60 years versus 19 years for TLC. Honestly, if you aren't planning on using the SSD for more than a decade, it's trivial. Depending on how close the prices are, the Pro is the better move. If the Evo 840 is significantly cheaper, it’s still a solid choice; I own a regular 250 GB 840 and it's very fast. If you can find a regular 830, grab that—it also uses MLC. The difference between The evo and regular is that The evo only uses 2 "bits per cell" while the regular uses 3 bpc. This makes The evo faster."

How much are you planning to drop? You can't go wrong with the evo 850, but let's be real—it's definitely pricier than your average drive. There are plenty of cheaper, solid SSDs out there too; they might be a bit weaker on paper, but you probably won't even notice the difference.

Looking for 120GB, maybe up to $500 if I can find it. Or eventually maybe $800 for 240GB.

Starting at 120GB:
OCZ ARC 100
HyperX Fury

For the 240GB/250GB range:
Crucial BX100
OCZ ARC 100
Patriot Ignite
Kingston HyperX Fury

I’ve listed these based on my own personal preference, but honestly, there isn't a massive difference between them. You can't really go wrong with any of these options.

thanks!