X200 with SSD concerns/questions

[AlanA3K]

hello all

I run a network with a wide range of Thinkpads, everything from R51's to T500's.
There are a few X series users out there as well, including the CEO.
I am looking to replace her X61S with an X200.
This will be something like her 5th X series so far.
Her biggest problem has always been the hard drive.
She has a gigantic email file (over 10GB) and has several instances of several programs open at once.
This ends up taxing the hard drive a lot throughout the day, and on top of it all she hardly ever restarts, just keeps things open and hibernates.

So I am looking to get her an X200 with the 128GB SSD
From researching the forums here I see a lot of good things said about SSD performance, but Id appreciate a little more input.
My main concern is longeivity of performance.
Shes not going to fill up the drive to 80%.
But when we switch to an Exchange server she will be running an ~4GB .ost and have her old .pst opened, so accessing of large files will still be an issue.

How are peoples experiences with performance over time with their SSDs?
Particularly the stock Samsung MLC. (id love to get a Memoright SLC for it, but an additional $2k is a bit tough to justify)
Id hate to have the X200 start out great for her, and then just slow down over time. (like the others have)
I also dont want to schedule a TRIM for it (if its even possible yet for those drives)
Its near impossible to get ahold of her laptop to do some minor work to it, and the less scheduled tasks on it the better, so im hoping to get at least a solid years worth of performance out of this thing before having to do some cleanup.

So any input on long term experiences with the Samsung MLC would be great, as well as any pitfalls I may have to look out for!

thanks!

[khtse]

I can't say anything about longeivity of SSD since I have been using mine for only less than 1 year. Mine is an Intel X25-M and it works wonderfully, although my X61 is limiting the SSD to Sata 1.5Gb/s speed (this is not a problem for X200, which is capable of Sata 3.0Gb/s I am told).

There are a few articles on Anand Tech (http://www.anandtech.com) on SSD which is very really reading. The bottom line is that, every SSD (and even for traditional hard disk) slowed down when it is filled up, and their tests showed that the Intel SSD in its worst scenario is still faster than most MLC SSDs in their best scenarios. Intel has also recently released a firmware update to address this issue too. You can get the 80GB one for less than $350 now, and the 160GB version is about $650.

[wolssiloa]

Have you considered helping her configure Outlook to create archive pst files so not every email and attachment is in a single large pst? That should help with the speed. If she is using outlook 2007 try updating to SP2 they have improved Outlook pst performance.

[AlanA3K]

oh yeah she has an archive, and even separate .pst files for very old mails.
Switching to Exchange and getting the new X200 I feel should really help her the most.
The X61 is almost 2 years old now, so its time to replace anyway.

I think what I'll do it go ahead with the X200 and get the Intel drive for it, and then just use the Samsung one in another X200 (rotary drive/SATA 150) we have.


Thanks for the input, I cant wait to see how (both) X200's turn out!

[dfumento]

I have the X200s with Intel 80 GB X25-m. I'd get the X200s with the 128 GB Samsung. It turns out Windows takes up a lot of space if you install lots of programs as I have and thus I'd recommend larger than the 75 GB usable of the 25-m. I still have 25 GB free but.....

Use coupons on www.logicbuy.com (you'll see them announced at the top of this forum).

Also, I'd wait until June 26 because I think after that date they're offering the free Windows 7 Upgrade (when it becomes available).

[tartifola]

Hi,
I'm planning to buy an x200s and an intel X25-m 160GB ssd. Just a small issue: do I need to buy any kind of storage converter to substitute the 160GB HHD installed on the X200s with the new SSD device? Is the substitution an easy task?

Thanks in advance

[abcd770]

The Inter X25-M here is about 194 dollars ,it's so cheap now..

Because of the HP Mini 2140..

[raiaken]

Hi,
I'm planning to buy an x200s and an intel X25-m 160GB ssd. Just a small issue: do I need to buy any kind of storage converter to substitute the 160GB HHD installed on the X200s with the new SSD device? Is the substitution an easy task?

Thanks in advance

No converter necessary - it's only five screws. One holding the drive tray into the laptop and four holding the drive to the tray - that's it.

[archer6]

I've tried these three: Intel X25-M 160GB MLC, OCZ Vertex OCZSSD2 250GB MLC, and MemoRight GT 2.5" 128GB SLC.

Of this group, the MemoRight GT is a rocket. I cannot speak to it's long term durability other than I bought it when it was first released and have used it heavily every day since then in my main ThinkPad W500 which is truly stressed everyday as I use some very resource intensive apps in my work. So far it's been stellar, but time will tell.

Next up is the Vertex, which is noticeably faster than the Intel. I put the Vertex in my X200. It makes a great machine even better. All my ThinkPads are maxed out in the memory and processor departments. So the SSD's are the final touch.

Cheers...

[tomh009]

Have you considered helping her configure Outlook to create archive pst files so not every email and attachment is in a single large pst? That should help with the speed. If she is using outlook 2007 try updating to SP2 they have improved Outlook pst performance.

Really doesn't help with speed (Outlook is quite effective in managing PST files), but makes the PST files easier to deal with.

At my last job I had about 40 GB worth of PST archives (one file per year -- very annoying using auto-archive, though, as it's based on modify date rather than received or sent date). Oh yes, I also had multiple applications open all the time, and I hardly ever restart my laptops ...