Thinkpads Forum

Dear all,

I'm new here and more of a general computer user, but I've already got familiar myself with the quality of the discussions in this forum, therefore I would rather ask here then elsewhere.

I'm currently upgrading my over 6 years old T61 (8896-W4G 07/08) to 4Gb RAM, T8300, ultrabay caddy and a SSD (Middleton BIOS installed). However I'm a bit stuck on what SSD should I go for and ask for your advice.

I usually have a dual boot Ubuntu/Win and will most probably contiune to do so. I will keep my media files in the HDD in the caddy, but will use music software (DAW). There is an everyday steady read from the media files at approx 10 GB along with Open Office, Firefox and these cause my system to go sluggish. Perhaps is the RAM (3GB currently) and the swap which kick is when RAM is at 75%. I suppose SSD and 1GB more RAM will help. Can't go for 2x4GB DDR2 because of its price. I also run BIONIC related programmes (climateprediction or other) who are usually heavy on CPU, but are prone to errors when writing to the HDD simultaneously with other programmes. So again I hope SSD can help.

However not sure what SSD will suffice my needs. I need it to be reliable, durable (or with high endurance) as I would love to use it for many years to come (later as part of desktop or laptop), not super fast as unless I change my T61 I will not benefit SATA 3 speeds. I think 240-256 GB capacity should be enough, my HDD is 500 GB.

I've came to these options, but any advice will be much appreciated:

Intel 520 or 530 Series,
Crucial M500 or M550,
Samsung 840 EVO or 840 Pro.

Current pricess range from 120 to 190$ and will probably continue to go down so anything above may not worth for my needs.

I hope you can help me make a better choice!

Regards,
Ivo

Welcome to the Forum.
My first choice: Plextor
Second: Crucial
Third:Intel
..
..
Last (or never): Samsung 840 Series are BAD.
Get the one with the most warranty, but make sure to backup regularly.

Instead of dual boot, consider Windows with Ubuntu running in a Virtual Machine when needed, or v.v.

Thanks for welcoming me and for the quick answer.

I may go for the Intel as there are sales for the 530 model and it seems performance wise is a bit better than Plextor and Crucial and has 5 years international warranty.

I usually work under Ubuntu and use Windows rarely, some time ago WINE was not able to provide me with the Windows functionallity I need, hence a went for dual boot. Never tried VM before.

Regards

edit: though both Plextor and Crucial seem to handle better incompressible data due to their Marvell controllers while Intel SSD 530 is limited by its SF. Anandtech benchmarks of M550 however show not very good performance consistency so I'm close to square one....
Crucial M550, Intel 530 or Plextor M5S or M6S??

final edit: I went for the Intel, it was the cheapest from the above and with 5 years warranty. Intel was a bit better than M550 and on par with the Plextor M5S. With only Sata II options in my T61 drops in reads/write of incompressible data IMO seem irrelevant to me.