Thinkpads Forum

Considering an X200s, and am weighing out SSDs (either the 128GB one that's sold with the X200s, or getting an X25-M aftermarket).

Both X25-M and the OEM Samsung are MLC drives... cost of entry is lower on the Intel, but the Intel has also had a bit of bad press recently. Intel holds more data.

Haven't seen benchmarks on the 128GB Samsung.

Any experiences or benchmarks with either SSD on an X-series Thinkpad?

I'm making the same decision except with the 64GB Samsung and 80GB Intel. I think the Intel one is faster overall, but the thing about short life is a little disturbing. Since both are MLC though, so I'm guessing Samsung's has similar issues.

That´s indeed difficult question. Since both drives are MLC and Intel is bigger, faster and cheaper (together with the machine), I would go for the Intel SSD. Intel SSDs have gained such interest because of their impressive performance. I bet if the Samsung SSDs had so impressive transfer rates (I don´t believe what I´m saying, I have a miserable mechanical drive ), there would have been someone analyzing it so thoroughly too. I would think the Intel SSD isn´t worse than the Samsung one.

Can someone explain what's up with the $175 1.8" Samsung SLC? Stomps on both MLC drives for writes, and price is ridiculously cheap. Any reason _not_ to get this with a mounting bracket? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820147056

That seems a very good deal. I actually spotted a few days ago. It doesn´t offer 250 MB/s reading speeds, but it´s SLC and offer higher writing speeds as you pointed out. IMO, this SSD would be a better choice. I didn´t know you would take a SLC SSD into consideration

escape1 wrote:Can someone explain what's up with the $175 1.8" Samsung SLC? Stomps on both MLC drives for writes, and price is ridiculously cheap. Any reason _not_ to get this with a mounting bracket? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820147056

Pricing error? wasn't that $1000 about a year ago?

perplex wrote:Pricing error? wasn't that $1000 about a year ago?

Looks pretty consistent--try searching "samsung ssd 1.8 SSD SLC" on shopping.google.com


edit: identical thread: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=361316

perplex wrote:Pricing error? wasn't that $1000 about a year ago?

If you worry about the price, try buying one in EU... price starting at 453,13 € I just don´t get it. Why should every piece of electronics be so expensive here

escape1 wrote:Can someone explain what's up with the $175 1.8" Samsung SLC? Stomps on both MLC drives for writes, and price is ridiculously cheap. Any reason _not_ to get this with a mounting bracket? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820147056

Having bought a samsung slc for a multiple price more than a year ago and being absolutely happy about it, I would not hesitate on second buying one - this price is extremely cheap! It is slc which means that in all fields it should excel a mechanic drive. I even think about selling my x301 intel mlc drive and buying this samsung slc.

So is the 64B SSD currently offered by Lenovo SLC or MLC? If it's SLC, then with the 15% discount I think it may be better overall to get the drive through Lenovo (very small price difference when you add in the rather expensive separate 1.8-2.5" converter, 4 week shipping delay, can get accidental damage warranty on it through Lenovo, etc).

escape1 wrote:So is the 64B SSD currently offered by Lenovo SLC or MLC? If it's SLC, then with the 15% discount I think it may be better overall to get the drive through Lenovo (very small price difference when you add in the rather expensive separate 1.8-2.5" converter, 4 week shipping delay, can get accidental damage warranty on it through Lenovo, etc).

Actual thinkpads have mostly mlc ssds. Oder x301 used to have slc ssds. It is not easy to know which kind of ssd is inside which model. At least I did not found out and ordered the intel mlc which is fast at reading.

If you don't need more than 64GB, go with the Samsung SLC for $175. If you can afford $700-$800, I'd go with the Samsung 256GB MLC rather than the Intel 160GB MLC. The Samsung is the new speed king and hasn't had any reports of fragmentation issues like the Intel. The Samsung 128GB MLC is also a good drive. I put one in my wife's X200S and it literally doubled the start up and shut down speeds.

Would the X200s be able to fully utilize the X-25E? Could only find a random German site (http://www.thinkpad-forum.de/forum-comm ... to-bilder/) where someone had tried this. The x200s does have SATA II 3.0Gbps, so shouldn't be a problem right? Even if you buy the HDD, which has 1.5Gbps drive (http://www.lenovo.com/psref/pdf/tabook.pdf)?

It seems like for an extra $100 or so one could get the 32GB X-25E + 32GB SDHC memory instead of the 80GB X-25M and have a much faster, more reliable storage setup.

I believe the X-25E should run just fine in a X200. The only significant differences to the X-25M are that it´s SLC and has much better write speeds (probably because of the SLC platform).

Presumably it doesn't have longevity issues either.

While it could be said that SSD drives are still in their infancy, and surrounded by a wide variety of reports. I believe the SLC to be the most reliable of the two. Having followed them rather closely since inception, its encouraging to see the relatively fast drop in pricing.

I agree with archer6. At this stage of technology, if I was to buy a SSD, I would definitely go for a SLC SSD even at the costs of some storage space (except for those 8 GB SSDs).

You can always get an 32GB SDHC card for extra storage of things that don't need the speed.

I bought an OCZ Vertex 120gb for $450 which is their flagship series for my brand new X200s and the speed is fantastic. Many tests on the internet rated this SSD as the fastest, could be also due to its large cache. Note it's called 120gb but in practise it's same as 128gb. However it is MLC and I don't feel so comfortable with the MLC technology. It seems MLC, which ever model you pick has it's limitations not only lifespan but also reported to become slower with time, whereas I am not sure the SLC drive have the same symptoms. I tried to look for 128gb SSD MLC drive but all I found were Mtron and Super Talent(?!?!?) both of which were in the $1200 region (wow!) but I would also prefer to go with a more well known company like Samsung or Intel.

Marin85 wrote:I believe the X-25E should run just fine in a X200. The only significant differences to the X-25M are that it´s SLC and has much better write speeds (probably because of the SLC platform).

And since the X200s uses the Montevina chipset rather than the Santa Rosa one, you don't need to worry about Lenovo induced transfer caps of 150MB/s right?

Right