Thinkpads Forum

Hi folks

I'm getting an x200s and buying a SSD separately elsewhere (maybe ebay). May I know whether certain brands/types of SSD would not fit into the HDD case?

I also read somewhere that 1.8" is not better than 2.5" as there is less flash firmware (so lower lifespan?). Does anyone know? I thought 1.8" should be better as it's smaller, lighter...

Cheers...

The X200s uses a 2.5" inch hard drive - so without an adapter a 1.8" SSD will not fit.

There is really no difference between a 2.5" SSD and a 1.8" in terms of lifespan. Here's where the design matters: Is the SSD MLC or SLC. SLC will have longer life and better performance* but it costs more.

I would buy a 2.5" SLC SSD (if you can spend the extra money - do) with upgradable firmware. How do you know you can flash the firmware? Check the manufacturer's website. If they offer firmware downloads then you're good.

*Are all MLC drives bad? No. The Intel X25-M uses MLC and it's a very good drive - but Intel also did some great design work and because of that and because it's from Intel it is expensive. I'd rather get a SLC SSD.

If you would like more information about SSD architecture and the differences between SLC and MLC take a look at this Anandtech article. It is well written and informative.

thanks viper for your advice!

visionviper wrote:The X200s uses a 2.5" inch hard drive - so without an adapter a 1.8" SSD will not fit.

There is really no difference between a 2.5" SSD and a 1.8" in terms of lifespan. Here's where the design matters: Is the SSD MLC or SLC. SLC will have longer life and better performance* but it costs more.

I would buy a 2.5" SLC SSD (if you can spend the extra money - do) with upgradable firmware. How do you know you can flash the firmware? Check the manufacturer's website. If they offer firmware downloads then you're good.

*Are all MLC drives bad? No. The Intel X25-M uses MLC and it's a very good drive - but Intel also did some great design work and because of that and because it's from Intel it is expensive. I'd rather get a SLC SSD.

If you would like more information about SSD architecture and the differences between SLC and MLC take a look at this Anandtech article. It is well written and informative.

Do you know who makes the 64GB and 128GB SSD drives that one can order for the X200S? I'm pretty sure it's Samsung, but what are the part numbers? Are they SLC or MLC, and overall how to they compare to the high speed Intel SSD, and a conventional 160GB 7200RPM notebook laptop?

Thanks very much!

I have the fast MLC 80GB Intel SSD, and the ultrafast SLC 128GB MemoRight SSD. These two fall into the "you get what you pay for category". While the Intel beats a 7200rpm hard drive easily, the MemoRight is a sheer rocket! That said, its _very_ expensive. Reminds me of the saying in auto racing "speed costs money"....heh!
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Cheers...

alins wrote:Do you know who makes the 64GB and 128GB SSD drives that one can order for the X200S? I'm pretty sure it's Samsung, but what are the part numbers? Are they SLC or MLC, and overall how to they compare to the high speed Intel SSD, and a conventional 160GB 7200RPM notebook laptop?

Thanks very much!

read the article above. Also the ssd's that come w/ the lenovo systems are samsung MLC. I do believe they did get rid of the JMicron controllers.