Thinkpads Forum

Just wanted to check which model SSD (160GB) is offered by Lenovo in a custom T420 build? I presume it's the Intel series 320 or is it still the older X25? (or is it the 510?!)

Also wanted to check that if I decide to stick with an HDD and upgrade to an SSD later, I can simply buy a 9.5mm Intel unit of the shelf and install without weird OEM/whitelist issues. I was thinking of this model:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/7 ... eries.html

I don't know whether or not they've certified the Intel 320 model- if they haven't it's the X25-M G2.

But I'd buy it from somewhere else other than configured with the system because this 120 GB drive (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820167042) and this 120 GB drive (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820233181) is twice the performance of the 320/X25-M for less than what they want for it.

If you must have Intel I'd get the 510 (it's slower but a bit more reliable on that end- I wouldn't bother with the 320) but if you want to go a bit faster I'd get the Corsair Force 3 (they did have a recall on this drive- new ones shouldn't be affected) or the OCZ Solid 3 from that same site.

It's rather unfortunate that they don't have in-between sizes right now for the faster SSDs- since they're only making 60 (64) GB, 120 (128) GB, and 250 (256) GB drives.

Also, there are no whitelist issues concerning drives.

Q-Ball wrote:But I'd buy it from somewhere else other than configured with the system because this 120 GB drive .... is twice the performance of the 320/X25-M for less than what they want for it.

There is a lot gaming of benchmarks going on amongst the SSD vendors at present.

The bottom line is that for most non-benchmark purposes, the actual usage performance of the recent generations of TRIM-able SSDs is pretty much the same.

Intel has the lowest reported failure rates and a 5 year warranty on retail drives, so that needs to be considered as well.

Cheers,

Bill B.

yeah, I opted to buy an SSD aftermarket. To be honest, Intel is the only supplier I'm considering due to the reliability factor (assuming they can sort out the series 320 8MB bug). OCZ drives seem to have far more failure feedback out there, but I'm not really very familiar with any of the other brands. For now, 160GB is as big as I can afford ($300-ish budget) and will probably be plenty of space for me for a year or two.

Now, however, I have to figure out whether I need an SSD for a 7mm or 9.5mm drive bay... this for a T420 (non-S) with a 500GB HDD drive

pipspeak wrote:Now, however, I have to figure out whether I need an SSD for a 7mm or 9.5mm drive bay... this for a T420 (non-S) with a 500GB HDD drive

I've now bought three Intel 320 160GB drives, one for my X220, one for my T400 and another for my Desktop i7 system. I ordered the same retail package for each, and just kitted them as appropriate for the system concerned.

• Took the spacer off for the X220
  
  Left the spacer on for the T400
  
  Left the spacer on and used the supplied 3.5" drive bay adapter for the desktop system

Cheers,

Bill B.