T41 - SDD upgrade or not?

[hiver]

Hello all,

I have a T41, that I am happy with, but interested in reducing heat (Runs very hot) and reducing power consumption as well.

Will the SDD drive help do this ? or is it primarily for performance/speed one would upgrade?

Also, I have a chance of getting a Transcend 64 GB for not much more than the price of a 32 GB
However, the small one (32) has the following specs, 66/47 (Read/Write Mbytes/sec) - model TS32GSSD25-M , while the 64 GB is listed as 21/55 (Mbytes/sec) - model number TS64GSSD25-M

Could this really be, that the smaller one reads so much faster?

Finally, if I should stay clear of Transcend - any specific disc recommendations? (Price more important than performance)

Thanks, Mads

[hiver]

Sorry, followup question:

Can anyone point me to an explanation of why I should choose a 'S' over a 'M' SSD drive from Transcend? All their SSD drives end with one of the two letters

Thanks, Mads

[sktn77a]

Can't help you with the SSD question, but your T41 should not be runnung particularly hot. Have you opened it up and looked to see if the fan and cooling area are thick with dust and dirt?

[Johan]

Welcome to the forum, Mads!

- always nice to see a fellow countryman signing in here...

About installing/using SSD's in T4x Thinkpad's this issue has been discussed on this forum from time to time, and I therefore suggest you review the following threads, which may shed some light on your questions; see SSD PATA 44-Pin for T4x and Replacement of hard drive with SSD and SSD on T42p and Hello! thinking about buying a used T4x -novice SSD question and Replacement of hard drive with SSD and T41 + 8GB CF-IDE (Solid State) and SSD T41 not possible

As to your question:

Can anyone point me to an explanation of why I should choose a 'S' over a 'M' SSD drive from Transcend? All their SSD drives end with one of the two letters

... I believe that "M" designate a MLC (Multi Level Cell) SSD while the "S" designate a "SLC" (Single Layer Cell) SSD.. details in the threads above. In short, older MLC SSD's have been reported being unsuitable for NTFS-filesystems, such as Windows XP, while SLC SSD's will run much faster under NTFS usage. Newer MLC SSD's however have been significantly improved, but since you will need a IDE/ATA-6/PATA drive (and not a SATA SDD/HDD!), you will have fewer options. By the way, try see the user-feedback for various IDE/ATA-6/PATA SSD's at Newegg's site - very useful information there! But, beware of the usage... if you want to use the SSD under XP, pay attention to user reports; is the drive only used as external storage, then the picture may be different from the case where the drive shall also hold a NTFS operating system (such as e.g. XP). A long list of SSD models/manufacturers is found at the storagesearch.com site.

I agree with Keith (sktn77) that your T41 should certainly not run hot - at all, unless you run intensive games or the like. By the way, which exact component in your ThinkPad is it that runs hot; the hardrive, the GPU or the CPU? If you need a tool to monitor all these temperatures, I highly recommend the free program Notebook Hardware Control (NHC) - see the thread NHC 2 is out! and more specifically from this post and on. You may use NHC to undervolt your CPU and/or downclock your GPU, both of this will reduce your temperatures and extend the battery time (and reduce heat dissipation, hence also reduce the fan "on"-time). See the very fine guide by visionviper in the thread GUIDE: How to max out your battery life *56K warning - Pics*. Check user feedback (in Danish!) for a transcend MLC-SSD at EDBpriser --> here.

If you want to open up your ThinkPad (to e.g. check if the thermal paste between the fan assembly and the CPU and GPU has perhaps become dry), then get the Hardware Maintenance Manual - ThinkPad T40, T40p, T41, T41p, T42, T42p. If this kind of thing is too delicate for you to work with (technical surgery!), then you may find help e.g. at BrugteComputere.dk. or Computer112. or from forum-member jjames55 (Jesper James) who live in Borup, near Ringsted (you can get there very easy by train using only one "graat klip" on the HT-tickets. See Jesper's advertisement here --> here. Personally I'd highly recommend Jesper with no hestiation (he may perhaps even pick up your ThinkPad in Copenhagen; ask?).

Johan

[dsvochak]

In addition to the links posted by Johan, there is this discussion of this issue, with various benchmarks, in the X2/3/4 forum:
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... 1&start=30

[Johan]

In addition to the links posted by Johan, there is this discussion of this issue, with various benchmarks, in the X2/3/4 forum: http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... 1&start=30

Thanks very much for sharing - very, very interesting thread. In particular, I noted the following comment:

It's a 2.5 inch IDE drive. This is the model I am using in my T42: http://www.transcendstore.com/ts32gssd25-m.html

Be careful that the older generation of Transcend MLC SSD gave very poor performance - there were plenty of negative reviews at newegg. The one above is the newer generation. They didn't change the model number which makes things confusing.

Very confusing, indeed...! Anyway, this seems to indicate that certain PATA MLC SSD's (which are typically a great deal cheaper than PATA SLC SSD's) are indeed useful for e.g. T42's running XP! Checking the feedback for this particular PATA MLC SSD at Newegg, it has received very good feedback --> here. I'm really tempted to get one; here in Denmark they are available for 'round 700-850 DKK e.g. here or here or here. In comparison, a likewise 32 GB PATA SSD, but SLC, would cost around 2100 DKK!

Johan

[dsvochak]

I’ve been following that thread for awhile, and you’re right it is interesting.

I can’t eliminate enough data/software to use a 32 gb drive, so I’d have to go to the 64 gb drive, which increases the cost. The reports/reviews I’ve read don’t have me convinced, in my situation, there is enough of a performance increase to justify the cost. Also, it appears any real-life reduction in power consumption may be questionable. So, for the time being, I’ll stay with a regular HD.

[archer6]

The reports/reviews I’ve read don’t have me convinced, in my situation, there is enough of a performance increase to justify the cost. Also, it appears any real-life reduction in power consumption may be questionable. So, for the time being, I’ll stay with a regular HD.

I concur. After testing five different SSD's myself I've come to the conclusion the technology is too new, the drives do not make enough difference in real world use to justify the price, and size limitations. At the current pace of development, the time to implement one of these may be as soon as six months from now. Once prices drop, sales go up, and competiton drives improvements, then I believe we will see widespread use of these.

[Johan]

... The reports/reviews I’ve read don’t have me convinced, in my situation...

Would you be able to provide links to these reviews, if relevant for T4x users? Thaks in advance!

...After testing five different SSD's myself I've come to the conclusion the technology is too new, the drives do not make enough difference in real world use to justify the price, and size limitations. At the current pace of development, the time to implement one of these may be as soon as six months from now. Once prices drop, sales go up, and competition drives improvements, then I believe we will see widespread use of these.

Again, I would be interested to hear about your actual user-experience with SSD's, particularly in T4x ThinkPad's (hence IDE/PATA SSD's, be it MLC or SLC). For the future SSD-development (and the anticipated price decrease), I have the impression that new development within laptop SSD's mainly takes place within SATA drives, and far less within PATA... so I am less convinced that we will see dramatic price decrease within PATA SSD's.

One benefit from SSD's over mechanical HDD's (a benefit which is of major importance for my speculations about getting a SSD to replace my present mechanical HDD) is that the SSD is dead silent. This feature may of course be of more or less value for various users. Personally, however, I find a SSD very attractive, even while being quite expensive and even while perhaps not giving any big performance advantage (in terms of speed and lower power consumption etc.), simply just because a SSD is completely silent! I am willing to pay quite a bit for that... I love silence!

Johan

[archer6]

Again, I would be interested to hear about your actual user-experience with SSD's, particularly in T4x ThinkPad's (hence IDE/PATA SSD's, be it MLC or SLC). For the future SSD-development (and the anticipated price decrease), I have the impression that new development within laptop SSD's mainly takes place within SATA drives, and far less within PATA... so I am less convinced that we will see dramatic price decrease within PATA SSD's.

One benefit from SSD's over mechanical HDD's (a benefit which is of major importance for my speculations about getting a SSD to replace my present mechanical HDD) is that the SSD is dead silent. This feature may of course be of more or less value for various users. Personally, however, I find a SSD very attractive, even while being quite expensive and even while perhaps not giving any big performance advantage (in terms of speed and lower power consumption etc.), simply just because a SSD is completely silent!

Thus far I have only tested SATA SSD's, and although I have many PATA ThinkPads I have no plans to use an SSD in those. I am very picky when it comes to most everything about my machines. So needless to say, heat, noise, and performance are all important to me. Thus the reason I've spent significant amounts of time & money testing the best SSD's available at time of purchase, over the last 60 days. I've done countless hrs of research, approached them with a plan and executed accordingly. I've tried all three current OCz models, the 80GB Intel, and the Samsung. All tested in the same X60s machine as a baseline example. Results while varied, do share certain characteristics. Silent, cool, less than stellar performance compared to the claims. Thus if price is no object, I find the Intel the best compromise. However that said, there is a drive for $4,000 that I have not, nor do I plan to test as I've already made up my mind that I will wait at least six months to see how the technology matures. The latest 7200rpm drives I have, such as the 320GB WD Scorpio Black are amazing performers, very quiet & cool in their own right.
.
Cheers,
posted via BlackBerry Bold

[underclocker]

I am using a 32GB Transcend TS32GSSD25-M in a T41 with an R51 Intel GPU mobo and a 1.7GHz Dothan CPU and I can tell you for sure that 1) the entire machine is silent - the fan hasn't come on for weeks - except during powering on the machine, 2) it runs cooler than a 5400 rpm drive, 3) the battery life is improved by about 15-20%, a lot, and 4) it is fast, noticeably faster without any delays or pauses at all.

I've been using it for about two months, no issues at all.

For under $100, it seems worth it.

P.S. Don't forget to uninstall the APS hard drive sensor software, you don't need it with an SSD. With an SSD, you can use the machine while jogging!!!

[dsvochak]

Would you be able to provide links to these reviews

The articles I found most useful were these from Tom’s Hardware:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/fla ... ,2000.html
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ssd ... ,1955.html
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ssd ... ,1968.html

and these from Anandtech:
http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/in ... i=3403&p=1
http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.aspx?i=3531
The last link is an article published March 18, 2009. It’s long but well worth reading. The topic is:

Delay after delay kept me from writing this article, but I believe it’s for the best. What went in to what you’re about to read is nearly six months of research, testing and plain old work with SSDs.

[underclocker]

The last link is a great article. Bottom line, while these are only the first to second generation of SSD's, he feels SSD's are the best performance upgrade for a machine. Even though performance degrades to some degree over time (and then levels off), the better drives are still faster than even the fastest mechanical hard drive sold.

No review of the PATA Transcend drive, but I can tell you from experience (2 months), that I've never seen one delay or hiccup or pause. Applications really snap open.

[hiver]

Gents,

Thank you for your thorough replies. Will do a bit of more research and reading based on your responses.

Oh, and thank you for the warm welcome! Excellent forum

Thanks, Mads