Just placed my order for the X220... questions

[jvarszegi]

Here's what I configured for $913. I'm very excited with this order:

Processor: Intel Core i5-2410M Processor (2.3GHz, 3MB L3, 1333MHz FSB)
Operating system: Genuine Windows 7 Professional 64
Windows XP Mode: Microsoft Windows 7 XP Mode - English
Display type: 12.5" Premium HD (1366x768) LED Backlit Display, Mobile Broadband Ready, 3x3 Antenna
Total memory: 4 GB DDR3 - 1333MHz (1 DIMM)
Fingerprint reader: No Fingerprint Reader
Camera: No Camera
Hard drive: 320 GB Hard Disk Drive, 7200rpm
Micro Hard Drive: No Micro Solid State Drive
Battery: ThinkPad Battery 29++ (9 cell)
Power cord: Country Pack North America with Line cord & 65W AC adapter
Integrated WiFi wireless LAN adapters: ThinkPad b/g/n
3Yr Priority Onsite + 3Yr ThinkPad Protection

On to the questions.

1. Would there be a noticeable difference between the processor I chose and the next one up (i5-2520)? I need to keep the budget around or under $1,000. In the old days I always used to splurge on the fastest processors, but these days for my uses (TrueCrypt, office tasks, working in the cloud, some light gaming) I figure it just doesn't make sense to get the top-end processors. We already have an X201 with an i7, and I doubt we've seen any difference from an i5 for our purposes. That said, I can only make this choice once.

2. Is there anything wrong with the Thinkpad b/g/n?

3. I'd like to get a cheap mSATA SSD for the boot disk. I have narrowed it down to these. Would you consider the reliability of the MyDigitalSSD to be good enough, even if not as good as the Intel or Kingston ones? What is the power draw on the MyDigitalSSD drive? (I will probably not choose the Kingston because of the much larger power draw than the Intel.)
$92.88 Intel 310 Series 40GB mSATA mSATA (mini PCIe form factor) MLC Enterprise Solid State Disk SSDMAEMC040G2C1
$74.99 Kingston SSDNow SMS100S2/32G mSATA 32GB SATA II Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
$59.99 MyDigitalSSD 32GB 50mm Bulletproof mSATA (Mini SATA PCI-e) SSD - MDMS-5032

Thanks for your time and help.

[ZaZ]

There's not too much real world difference between the CPUs. I believe the 2520 has better support for VMs. If that sounds like something you need, then perhaps it is worth the cost.

I have the Thinkpad card and I've not had any issues with it or my X220i for that matter.

I wouldn't drop below 40GB for a SSD, especially if you're using Windows 7. As SSDs fill up the performance starts to degrade. My install, which is pretty light, is at 18GB. On 32GB SSD, I'd be right at where the performance starts to degrade. I don't know much about Mydigital, but Intel is obviously the more known quantity. I happened to get lucky and snag the 80GB before they went AWOL.

[ssd_thinkpad]

As you use truecrypt, i2520 is very much faster with truecrypt AES than the i2510 as i2520 supports AES.

[jvarszegi]

Thanks to both of you for the input. I just put in a request to upgrade the CPU for $55; I didn't realize the difference in hardware encryption support. It may not go through, in which case I am sure I'll be happy with the machine anyway. I probably would have actually ordered an X220i if that had been available when I followed the link to a deal from Fatwallet; the only processors available were i5 series, but I was trying to save money.

I stuck with the Intel wireless.

I will probably go with the Intel 40 GB drive, then. It will put the laptop a little over budget, but it will be my main work machine for a few years. Another option is to wait until prices drop more, but I don't want to have the hassle of reinstalling everything later. I know the 80 GB version gives better performance in addition to larger space, but I have a 40 GB X25-V in an X100e that I've been happy enough with. I know the Intel 40 GB is no speed demon in terms of SSDs, but it is still much faster than a spinning hard disk and it has very low power consumption.

I was wondering why they only offered a 320 GB 7200 RPM drive, until I started reading about the change to 7mm drives. I guess I can upgrade the slow-storage capacity in a couple of years for cheap, as more drives are released and prices go down.

Thanks again! I can't wait for the new machine.

[khtse]

For Intel SSD (and most of the SSD in the market), you get better performance with larger capacity. I would go for at least 80GB even though I don't need more than 40GB for the OS. That way you can also install most of your frequently used programs onto the SSD too.

[SSDuser]

After much research I have found that the MyDigitalSSD Bullet Proof mSATA is the best bang for your buck on the market at this time. In most if not all reviews I have seen the MyDigitalSSD is only marginally slower than its competition in bench marks and users have reported no noticeable difference under real world usage. If you are considering the Intel 40GB I think you should take a look at the 64GB MyDigitalSSD for about the same price but an extra 24GB and it is faster than the Intel 40GB.

As far as reliability there has not been one single report of defective MyDigitalSSD's anywhere while I have seen many for the SF-1200 models.

It came down to Intel V MyDigitalSSD for me and I picked MyDigital because people who have upgraded from the 80GB Intel to the 128GB MyDigitalSSD have reported nothing but pleasure in doing so at a price point that cannot be touched by others.

Hope this helps.

[jvarszegi]

For Intel SSD (and most of the SSD in the market), you get better performance with larger capacity. I would go for at least 80GB even though I don't need more than 40GB for the OS. That way you can also install most of your frequently used programs onto the SSD too.

I appreciate the input. More of a good thing is always better-- but more of a bad thing is worse. I really don't want to spend $200 on an SSD, so that knocks out the Intel 80 GB, although I am sure I'd like it even better.

The 40 GB has these things going for it:
* low power draw, similar to the 80 GB
* good reliability, similar to the 80 GB
* far better than spinning platter drive performance, though not tops for SSDs
* less than half the price of the 80 GB for half the capacity
* big enough for a system drive

The reason I preliminarily narrowed my choice down to those three, again, was price.

I checked, and the current on-disk size of the Windows directory on my x100e after a year of use is 11.4 GB. My program files directory's on-disk size is 4.49 GB. The 40 GB X25-V shows a total useable capacity of 37.1 GB. Thus I think 40 GB would be sufficient for me. This would still allow for a fair number of virtual CD/DVD ISOs on the system drive, which could be moved to the other drive later if necessary.

Again, thanks for your input. I just don't want to spend that much money, and think the drives I'm looking at offer a good middle ground. Ideally I'd have the biggest low-power-consumption SATA drive in the machine, and have maxed out everything in my order. I'm on a budget.

[jvarszegi]

After much research I have found that the MyDigitalSSD Bullet Proof mSATA is the best bang for your buck on the market at this time. In most if not all reviews I have seen the MyDigitalSSD is only marginally slower than its competition in bench marks and users have reported no noticeable difference under real world usage. If you are considering the Intel 40GB I think you should take a look at the 64GB MyDigitalSSD for about the same price but an extra 24GB and it is faster than the Intel 40GB.

As far as reliability there has not been one single report of defective MyDigitalSSD's anywhere while I have seen many for the SF-1200 models.

It came down to Intel V MyDigitalSSD for me and I picked MyDigital because people who have upgraded from the 80GB Intel to the 128GB MyDigitalSSD have reported nothing but pleasure in doing so at a price point that cannot be touched by others.

Hope this helps.

Have you used one on a Thinkpad, and if so, which model and for how long? Also, do you happen to know what the idle and peak power consumption of the MyDigitalSSD drives is? Thanks a lot. It's good to hear that you have had a good experience. I don't care one bit about peak performance differences vs. high-end drives.

This review, among other things, gave me pause:
http://liliputing.com/2011/07/review-my ... a-ssd.html

Those concerns may amount to nothing, but I don't want a drive which needs to be reformatted after a system crash. I've been impressed with the reported reliability of the Intel drives and have never had any problems with my little X25-V. That said, I am not against getting another brand as long as it's reliable and cost-effective, and as long as it offers low power consumption.

[SSDuser]

Values in mA Idle 50, Write 230, Read 170.

Not sure how that measures up to others.

As far as the chance of s system crash it is far and few between theoretically you would have to do multiple manual shut downs by cutting power until it cripples your system. But, I am not even sure if this will hurt your system since this drive has a Sudden Power Off Recovery feature.

I am using it in a Y460

[erik]

It came down to Intel V MyDigitalSSD for me and I picked MyDigital because people who have upgraded from the 80GB Intel to the 128GB MyDigitalSSD have reported nothing but pleasure in doing so at a price point that cannot be touched by others.

you should give full disclosure that you work for the company and are justifiably biased toward the product you're selling.   it's not only fair for forum members but required by this forum under our advertising rules surrounding commercial sales.

welcome to the forum, btw.

[SSDuser]

I can do that. My Name is Matt Dawson I sell tons of SSD via MyDigitalDiscount.com.

Does not change the fact that I do have that computer and I did pick the MyDigitalSSD over all others and I have access to all of the current options on the market.

As a general rule I will not post any links or prices of any products that I offer to avoid being seen as a Marketer and not really caring about what I sell or who I sell it to.

That being said, I am here to help you guys with any questions you may have about any mSATA SSD product.

Matt

[erik]

matt - thank you and welcome (again) to the forum!

[jvarszegi]

I picked the Intel 40 GB drive instead of the 64 GB MyDigitalSSD drive. My reasons:

* I was a bit put out to find that what seemed to be just a user review of a MyDigitalSSD drive was posted by someone selling that same product.

* I'm still worried about reliability of the MyDigitalSSD drives compared to the Intel ones, based for example on that Liliputing review and the fact that the MyDigitalSSD drives seem to be fairly new (I could be wrong about that). The Sudden Power Off Recovery feature actually makes me leery, as the Liliputing review reminds me of problems Thinkpad and other users have reported when using the Seagate hybrid drives. I'm going to use my laptop for work, and reliability is highly important to me. The Intel drives are known to be reliable, and the MyDigitalSSD drives are a bit of an unknown quantity.

* The additional speed of the MyDigitalSSD drives is tempting, but not enough to override my concerns over potential reliability problems. In addition I imagine that the read speed will be more important than the write speed for my uses.

* The price per gigabyte difference vs. the 40 GB Intel 310 is not big enough to sway me, especially since I don't need the extra size for a boot drive. It's $92 for 40 GB vs. $124 for 64 GB, or vs. $64 for 32 GB (where I might start worrying about small size). The 40 GB Intel is also still a fair bit cheaper than the 64 GB MyDigitalSSD, and money is a factor.

* The power consumption of the Intel 310 is 75 mW idle, 150 mW peak. The power consumption of the MyDigitalSSD drives, listed at the MyDigitalDiscount.com website, is 500 mW idle, 900 mW peak. Not terrible but not nearly as good either; that's a 6X power consumption difference if the numbers are all accurate.

[SSDuser]

Sorry I put you of but just so you know we have sold right around 1000pcs of the MyDigitalSSD since May and have had 0 defective drives and no returns other than a few returns from people ordering them for the Dell Mini 9 when they need a PATA 50mm SSD.

We have also had no reports of anyone losing any data. In fact we have not had a single complaint about the drive other than it should include screws and those are on the way.

I can tell you right now the defect rate of any other supplier we deal with. Runcore, Renice, A-Data, OCZ, and even Intel has much higher defect rates (from 1-5%) than the MyDigitalSSD at 0%.

Also the mA is as I said above. I got it straight from the DATA Sheet.

I was being perfectly honest with my recommendation.

Matt

[SSDuser]

I would also like to add that I have been dealing with SSD since 2007, Owned 18% of Runcore, have been close with the development of numerous SSD product lines, and have used and own just about every SSD released since then.

I can be a good asset to the forum.

Matt

[jvarszegi]

Sorry I put you of but just so you know we have sold right around 1000pcs of the MyDigitalSSD since May and have had 0 defective drives and no returns other than a few returns from people ordering them for the Dell Mini 9 when they need a PATA 50mm SSD.

We have also had no reports of anyone losing any data. In fact we have not had a single complaint about the drive other than it should include screws and those are on the way.

I can tell you right now the defect rate of any other supplier we deal with. Runcore, Renice, A-Data, OCZ, and even Intel has much higher defect rates (from 1-5%) than the MyDigitalSSD at 0%.

Also the mA is as I said above. I got it straight from the DATA Sheet.

I was being perfectly honest with my recommendation.

Matt

You created an account named "SSDUser" (not "SSDSeller", "MyDigitalSSD", etc.) and posted a user review without mentioning that you sell the drive you were recommending. Thus it was not an impartial review from a non-salesperson user, and I thought it was. I am just taking your comments with half a grain of salt due to the bias and the fact that I initially had no idea (and could have had none) that you were a salesperson, and now I do.

Additionally, while I'm not calling you a liar about the stats you're posting, the fact is that the MyDigitalSSD drives haven't been nearly as extensively tested in the marketplace as the really big makers like Intel. (You also lump all of the big makers in together, so it may appear that Intel has a 1-5% defect rate. I'm not sure that that's accurate, although it may be.) You've sold 1,000 drives, starting in May, and think that you have extensive information on real-world failure rates your users may experience over time? In addition one of the few reviews I can find on the new MyDigitalSSD products shows that the reviewer believed that there were possible data corruption problems with the reviewed drive. So while you might not have seen a lot of returns so far on your fairly recently designed products, an independent review hinting at problems can give a potential buyer like me cause for concern.

Another factor in my decision is that some user reviews stated that they received their drives just packed in bubble wrap. It made me feel, rightly or wrongly, that the products might be a little less robust, when the maker doesn't take time to design and print a box. This might be sheer foolishness on my part, especially as I've bought white-box products in the past, and I don't know whether MyDigitalSSD drives are packaged differently today. I probably won't find out as I am probably not going to buy one at this juncture.

I just don't get as much of a good, solid feel about buying a MyDigitalSSD drive to make my machine as dependable as it needs to be. No offense, and I hope you can understand.

I see the power consumption for most drives listed in mW, and went searching for figures in watts/milliwatts so I could compare to the Intel and a few other drives. I posted the figures for the 64 GB drive, 500 mW - 900 mW, listed here: http://www.mydigitaldiscount.com/mydigi ... msata-ssd/

ETA: I appreciate your input and think you do have a lot to contribute to the forum. I think this thread has been useful to everyone. Now you know about that Liliputing review and can follow up with the reviewer, and also have some hopefully useful feedback from me about why someone might not buy your products right now. Thanks to your upfront, honest feedback on your product's progress so far, later readers can find out that you have a low return rate though your products are fairly new at this time.

For the record, I will definitely consider buying a MyDigitalSSD drive in the future. I am just a nervous nelly when it comes to compatibility and reliability. I was eager to buy a Seagate hybrid SSD/platter drive and almost bought one, until I luckily found out about lots of user problems, and found out that they may have special compatibility issues with Thinkpads. I definitely wouldn't call myself an average consumer; a vast number of SSD buyers seem to value high performance over percentage points of reliability, and I value reliability and low power consumption pretty highly. The MyDigitalSSD drives are very impressive IMHO in terms of cost vs. size+performance. (And again, I don't think that the MyDigitalSSD drives are unreliable, I just think the jury's out on that at the moment. A year from now, not so much.)

[jvarszegi]

It's not a bump if my thread's at the top of the list, right?

At the last minute I decided to order the 80 GB Intel drive. (The order's in at Newegg. Now to deal with the wife.) The extra storage will definitely let me put all programs, disk images etc. on the faster drive, and just put my music, pictures and other big stuff on the bigger slower drive, and not worry about how big my Windows 7 installation may get to be over time. Putting my most commonly-used files on the SSD should help a little with battery life. The extra performance of the 80 GB won't be bad either.

Any idea on whether putting a TrueCrypt volume on an SSD is a bad idea?

Still no word on whether the processor upgrade went through. I toyed with the idea of cancelling the order and resubmitting, but I think I will definitely just deal with whatever they build and ship me.

[SSDuser]

jvarszegi, I cannot control what people have to say about our products in reviews. All I can do is tell people what I have seen. I have seen many post regarding defective mSATA drives but not one about the MyDigitalSSD. At this point even if there was 5-10 I would be satisfied with the drive. As I said I have been dealing with SSD since 2007 and have never seen anything near this low of a defect rate from any supplier.

I will email the reviewer and see what he can do but sometime once something is written it cannot be unwritten.

Also, I got the descriptions on MyDigitalDiscount fixed with the real power consumption #'s. Thanks for heads up on that.

Your computer is going to rock BTW.

[ThinkRob]

No mass-produced product has a 0% defect rate.

Anyone who claims otherwise has a limited sample size, flexible ethics, or a miracle.

[iamdmc]

@ThinkRob

agreed

[SSDuser]

I also agree that is why I said 5-10 would be no problem at this stage but we have zippo out of around 1Kpcs.

Also got a reply from the reviewer.

"I think they misunderstand, the review was a positive one, maybe they only skimmed the article since they apparently missed parts like part I attributed the only issues I had when I first got the drive with the fact the drive I tested had been run through tests by others before I got it.

In other words it was already used and been put through extensive usage tests. While I also pointed out that the problems cleared completely after doing a complete drive format instead of a quick format. So was only corruption of the drive and not a hardware issue.

So unless they're selling used drives as new then they have nothing to worry about! Though shipping it loose in a box with nothing but bubble wrap and packaging foam protecting it from a box with the laptop and another small box with the Runcore mSATA may or may not have contributed to the issue I had but that wouldn't be the normal shipping method anyway either.

Mind that data corruption from sudden power loss is a problem for all devices using NAND memory and not a drive specific issue. Like it's why it's recommended to unmount a USB drive before disconnecting it for example and why there is even a remove device utility in Windows to do just that and should be common knowledge by now.

People who abuse SSDs run into this problem given time. After all, it's called abuse for a reason... I just pointed out the reason why I likely had a problem to begin with, which again was likely because the drive had already gone through some abuse that a new drive would never have been subjected to before getting to the end customer, and the fact the drive controller is actually designed to minimize that problem, which is a good thing! Most controllers don't have a sudden power loss recovery feature. So it's actually good to point it out as something it has to set it apart from other SSDs that makes it more reliable over time.

It's like telling people a car has 4 wheel drive for better handling of rough terrain, when most cars don't have that feature. It doesn't mean they'll never get a flat tire but it'll handle better than similar products without that feature.

Hope that clears things up..."

[ThinkRob]

Any idea on whether putting a TrueCrypt volume on an SSD is a bad idea?

If you use a SandForce drive, you'll notice a performance drop when using FDE, as SandForce controllers rely on cheap compression tricks to boost their speed. Intel, Samsung, and other controllers won't have this problem.

In the sense of "is it a bad idea for reliability purposes?", the answer is no: it's fine.

[jvarszegi]

Thank you for the information. I did Google, but was a bit confused about what I read in one article.

I wound up cancelling and resubmitting my order. I was able to get a T420i with i5-2410, 1600 X 900 screen, 3 years of onsite support, and otherwise same specs to my X220 order for $820 shipped, which leaves room for the mSATA drive and still lets me come in at around $1000.

In the end I love our X201 and would have loved the X220, but felt bad about going over budget. I also think I will make good use of the extra screen resolution; I'm sad to lose the X220's IPS option, but if the T420i's LED screen is as good as or better than the one in our x100e and/or X201, I'll be happy. The machine will slide into my big briefcase, where the extra weight might be noticeable but not so much the extra width.

Thanks again to all.