optimum size of SSD?

[mrklaw]

Hi

I'm looking at buying either the 15.6" optimus III, or perhaps the Vortex III LE. Can't decide between the 650m and 660m, but its a couple of hundred pounds difference for the same specs so it'll probably end up being the optimus.

anyway, a question about SSDs

I'm undecided between a 120GB or 240GB intel 330 SSD as the boot drive, and a 750GB WD Scorpio blue HDD as second drive.

Can people give me advice on what they've gone with and their thoughts? eg have you regretted going with a smaller SSD and keep running out of space? Or have you put in a large SSD and not really needed it?

Its about £100 difference so its something I want to get right. Rest of spec that I'm looking at is:

Chassis & Display
Optimus Series: 15.6" Glossy Full HD LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-3610QM (2.30GHz) 6MB
Memory (RAM)
8GB SAMSUNG 1333MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (2 x 4GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 650M - 1.0GB DDR5 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
Memory - Hard Disk
120GB INTEL® 330 SERIES SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 500MB/sR | 450MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk
750GB WD SCORPIO BLUE WD7500BPVT, SATA 3 Gb/s, 8MB CACHE (5400 rpm)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
SONY BC-5550H 4x BLURAY COMBO DRIVE & CYBERLINK SOFTWARE (£49)
Memory Card Reader
Internal 9 in 1 Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/SD: Mini, XC & HC/MS: Pro & Duo)
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® N135 802.11N (150Mbps) + BLUETOOTH
USB Options
2 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT AS STANDARD
Battery
Optimus/Voyager Series 6 Cell Lithium-ION Battery (48.84WH)
Power Lead & Adaptor
1 x UK Power Lead & 120W AC Adaptor
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence
Office Software
FREE Microsoft® Office Starter 2010 (Limited functionality Word & Excel)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Keyboard Language
INTEGRATED UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD
Notebook Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 2.0 MEGAPIXEL WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Insurance
1 Month Free Laptop Insurance inc. Accidental Damage & Theft
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)

 

[Jay5]

With the SSD issue, it really depends on what you want to store on it.
Most people would recommend installing the OS on it. (PCS will do this for you) That is a fair amount, having a guess.. i'd say about 30GB for windows 7 home premium.
I've opted for an 180gb SSD, seems like a decent size for me. But really it depends what you want to store on the SSD.
And for the sake of £11 i'd upgrade from the scorpio blue 750GB into the scorpio black 750GB which runs at 7200 rather then 5400.
Hope this helps.

Jay

 

[M3zxu]

There is also another point to note about SSD:s - the speed changes depending on the size. 256GB drive is faster than 128GB, and by quite a significant marking in most occasions although real word performance differences may not be as visible. Just look up some tests online.

for reference: http://www.anandtech.com/show/6074/ocz-vertex-4-review-128gb/6

 

[Buzz]

There is also another point to note about SSD:s - the speed changes depending on the size. 256GB drive is faster than 128GB, and by quite a significant marking in most occasions although real word performance differences may not be as visible. Just look up some tests online.

for reference: http://www.anandtech.com/show/6074/ocz-vertex-4-review-128gb/6

As far as I remember the 330 series are all the same regardless of capacity.

Max Sequential Read: Up to 500 MB/s
Max Sequential Write: Up to 450 MB/s
Random Read: Up to 22,500 IOPS
Random Write: Up to 33,000 IOPS
3 years limited warranty

I have a 120GB SSD and have operating system, programs, and a game or 2 installed and I have 80GB free still.

 

[Dexterous]

I read up on your first problem the gt 650m vs gtx 660m, I found out the gt 650m is the exact same as the gtx 660m with a 100mhz less on the clock speeds, which can be easily made up for by overclocking or nvidia gpu boost should take care of it, even without the over clocking the max difference you will see is about 3fps.

As for the SSD that is your personal choice.