[And1s0ciety]

Hi, I need some advice on choosing a 13.3 inch notebook. It is a Toshiba R700, but there are two differences to this model.

Here is a quick link to the two models in comparison: http://laptops.toshi...1331,R700-S1321

I was thinking about the pricier $1599.00 model, but is it worth it?

It has a better SSD drive compared to HDD. But lacks in gigabytes in terms of 128GB vs. 500 GB for the cheaper HDD model.

Anybody got a opinion on this subject?

Thanks.

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Are you sure that link goes to the two you wanted to compare? According to that page, model 1331 has an i7-620m CPU with the SSD while the S1321 has an i5 520m and a 320Gb HD, not 500Gb.

Anybody got a opinion on this subject?

Yes. I have an opinion for me because I know my computing habits and needs. I don't have an opinion for you because you failed to tell us the intended or primary purpose for this computer.

[Digerati]

Are you sure that link goes to the two you wanted to compare? According to that page, model 1331 has an i7-620m CPU with the SSD while the S1321 has an i5 520m and a 320Gb HD, not 500Gb.

Anybody got a opinion on this subject?

Yes. I have an opinion for me because I know my computing habits and needs. I don't have an opinion for you because you failed to tell us the intended or primary purpose for this computer.

[kingmob121]

Hello And1s0ciety,

Like Digerati said it depends on what you would be using it for. if your going to be on the move alot or planning to upgrade it in the future get the S1321

If you dont plan to upgrade and just going to be in the house i would choose the 1331

Kingmob
(this is a opinion)

[And1s0ciety]

Thanks for the answers!

But to get into a bit more details, I'm trying to figure out if SSD is a better option even though it has 128 GB vs the HDD with 500 GB. From my knowledge, I can tell that HDD contains metal parts like older models, but with SSD, its newer technology so I do not know if it is truly a better blessing in terms of hardware compared to HDD.

[Digerati]

But to get into a bit more details, I'm trying to figure out if SSD is a better option even though it has 128 GB vs the HDD with 500 GB.

Ummm, did you read our comments above?

you failed to tell us the intended or primary purpose for this computer.

Like Digerati said it depends on what you would be using it for.

From my knowledge, I can tell that HDD contains metal parts like older models, but with SSD, its newer technology so I do not know if it is truly a better blessing in terms of hardware compared to HDD.

And we don't know how to answer that because we don't know how you intend to use this computer. SSDs are faster and "promise" to last many years, but faster does not always mean "better" and only time will tell if they last as long as hard drives - many of which are running strong after 5, 6 or even 10 years. And of course, 128Gb is not very big these days.

Edited by Digerati, 04 August 2010 - 02:45 PM.

[And1s0ciety]

My bad, I'll get more in-depth for the uses. I need something that will be for everyday basic computing/ multitasking tasks, while using it for multimedia purposes(via watching videos, online streaming, flash, etc.) . I dont need it at all for gaming, and would want something that runs fairly quick.

[SpywareDr]

Wikipedia: SSD > Quality and Performance
http://en.wikipedia....and_performance

Quality and performance

SSD is a rapidly developing technology. A January 2009 review of the market by technology reviewer Tom's Hardware concluded that comparatively few of the tested devices showed acceptable I/O performance, with several disappointments,[65] and that Intel (who make their own SSD chipset) still produces the best performing SSD as of this time; a view also echoed by Anandtech.[66] In particular, operations that require many small writes, such as log files, are particularly badly affected on some devices, potentially causing the entire host system to freeze for periods of up to one second at a time.[67]

According to Anandtech, this is due to controller chip design issues with a widely used set of components, and at least partly arises because most manufacturers are memory manufacturers only, rather than full microchip design and fabrication businesses — they often rebrand others' products,[68] inadvertently replicating their problems.[69] Of the other manufacturers in the market, Memoright, Mtron, OCZ, Samsung and Soliware were also named positively for at least some areas of testing.

The overall conclusion by Tom's Hardware as of early 2009 was that "none of the [non-Intel] drives were really impressive. They all have significant weaknesses: usually either low I/O performance, poor write throughput or unacceptable power consumption".[65]

Performance of flash SSDs are difficult to benchmark. In a test done by Xssist, using IOmeter, 4 KB RANDOM 70/30 RW, queue depth 4, the IOPS delivered by the Intel X25-E 64 GB G1 started around 10,000 IOPs, and dropped sharply after 8 minutes to 4,000 IOPS, and continued to decrease gradually for the next 42 minutes. IOPS vary between 3,000 to 4,000 from around the 50th minutes onwards for the rest of the 8+ hours test run.[70]

OCZ has recently unveiled OCZ Vertex 2 Pro which is currently the fastest MLC SSD with a SandForce Controller onboard performing more or less as the Intel X25-E series SSDs.[71]

An April 2010 test of seven SSDs by Logan Harbaugh, which appeared in Network World, identified a performance problem with consumer grade SSDs. Dubbed the "write cliff" effect, consumer grade drives showed dramatic variations in response times under sustained write conditions. This dropoff occurred once the drive was filled for the first time and the drive's internal garbage collection and wear-leveling routines kicked in.[72]

This only affected write performance with consumer grade drives. Enterprise grade drives avoid this problem by overprovisioning, and by employing wear-leveling algorithms that only move data around when the drives are not being heavily utilized.[72]

[And1s0ciety]

Alright, I appreicate the time of everyone. Think I got my mind made up to settle for a HDD . Thank you all

[SpywareDr]

No problem.