Quick question: ssd vs hdd price worth it?

[mikteafool]

I'm looking at buying a dell XPS Studio 16 for $800 with a 500GB (7200) HDD or the 128 SSD for + $159.00..
OR<<!! should i just get the 500GB and wait for a deal in the next year and get a laptop SSD on newegg when they eventually go on sale...or will that be about 2 years?
Use: games+school stuff (last year in college)

specs:

SYSTEM COLOR Obsidian Black High Gloss Finish

PROCESSOR NEW 2010 Intel® Core™ i5-460M 2.53GHz (2.8GHz Turbo Mode, 3M cache)

OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium

MEMORY 6GB Shared Dual Channel DDR3

HARD DRIVE 128GB Solid State Drive

INTERNAL OPTICAL DRIVE Slot Load DVD+/-RW (DVD/CD read/write)

WIRELESS CARDS Intel© Centrino© Advanced-N 6200

HD DISPLAY Edge-to-Edge HD+ Widescreen 15.6 inch WLED LCD (1600x900) W/2.0 MP

SOUND OPTIONS High Definition Audio 2.0 with SRS Premium Sound

 

[WR2]

There are 'good' SSDs and 'average/below par' SSDs.
Do you know the make and model of SSDs Dell is using? You can usually find out in the Dell forums.
My guess is that for $159 128GB SSD it's one of the 'average/below par' SSDs.
I think you'd be a LOT better off getting a system without the SSD and adding one yourself later. You can put that $159 to better use by getting a SSD in the 'good'
category.

I noticed your list didnt include a video card. IMO the same thing applies there. You get a much better 'bang for your buck' buying the video card yourself without paying Dell for a huge markup in options.

 

[WR2]

You get a much better 'bang for your buck' buying the video card yourself without paying Dell for a huge markup in options.

The down side here is that the Dell PSU will limit what video cards you can safely add into the system.

 

[mikteafool]

There are 'good' SSDs and 'average/below par' SSDs.
Do you know the make and model of SSDs Dell is using? You can usually find out in the Dell forums.
My guess is that for $159 128GB SSD it's one of the 'average/below par' SSDs.
I think you'd be a LOT better off getting a system without the SSD and adding one yourself later. You can put that $159 to better use by getting a SSD in the 'good'
category.

I noticed your list didnt include a video card. IMO the same thing applies there. You get a much better 'bang for your buck' buying the video card yourself without paying Dell for a huge markup in options.

Sorry, didnt realize it wasnt in Dell's Checkout area when i copied-pasted;

Dell Studio XPS 16 Laptop with 2010 Intel Core i5-460M CPU, 6GB DDR3 & 1GB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5730 starting at $1,239.99 - $540 off = $699.99 with FREE shipping.

Bang for buck, i agree, going with the 500GB for now and upgrade later on depending on prices; i'd really like to wait for a 256 SSD with great performance. I really would like to move away from hearing the start-up disc-spin of mechanical harddrives...

 

[WR2]

I'm sure you're aware the Mobility Radeon HD 5730 isn't anything like the desktop class HD 5770/5750 video cards.
It's a beefed up Mobility Radeon HD 5650. Comparison of Laptop Graphics Cards

For comparison - Passmark GPU scores:
Mobility Radeon HD 5650 = 611
Mobility Radeon HD 5730 = 660

Radeon HD 5670 = 1193
Radeon HD 5750 = 1440

 

[mikteafool]

I'm sure you're aware the Mobility Radeon HD 5730 isn't anything like the desktop class HD 5770/5750 video cards.
It's a beefed up Mobility Radeon HD 5650. Comparison of Laptop Graphics Cards

For comparison - Passmark GPU scores:
Mobility Radeon HD 5650 = 611
Mobility Radeon HD 5730 = 660

Radeon HD 5670 = 1193
Radeon HD 5750 = 1440

Yeah; looking at PassMark results as well; 57xx seems to run laps around the 42xx's but do you know if it runs cooler or hotter--i have a serious desktop in an HAF932 case,8gb ram, 2 4870's in crossfire for games n such.. My current laptop by hp is 5 years old now; the new laptops with dedicated graphics --such as this, do they turn off or under-clock while not actively using 3d environments like games? hoping to get about 3-4 hrs of batter life for a while..and something that runs cool on idle...(just want something to last 4 years--i do clean fans and use a cooling pad anyway..)

Mobility Radeon HD 4200 104 598
Mobility Radeon HD 4225 90 631
Mobility Radeon HD 4250 150 474
Mobility Radeon HD 4330 232 368
Mobility Radeon HD 4350 227 371
Mobility Radeon HD 4530 259 338
MOBILITY HD 4530 / 4570 330 260
Mobility Radeon HD 4550 327 262
Mobility Radeon HD 4570 284 309
Mobility Radeon HD 4650 523 186
....
Mobility Radeon HD 5730 660 136

 

[WR2]

The laptop graphics card do run cooler - not as cool as integrated GPUs, but with extra power does come some extra heat.
Most of the discrete GPU laptops do not have power saving options to switch off the discrete GPU and use an integrated GPU.

Got a link to your Dell XPS Studio 16? The Dell US site is only showing 14, 15 and 17 models and they've stopped using the XPS + Studio together.

Notebookcheck has some general and gaming benchmarks with the HD 5730.

 

[mikteafool]

Best answer selected by mikteafool.

 

[mikteafool]

Thanks for all the help and info. I certainly like the feel and design of the dell, but the Deal i was looking at got grabbed up by someone else since the code is not working anymore. I will be looking into a laptop with the 5850 Mobility + gddr 5....maybe i'll get lucky with Christmas & New years around the corner i can get one around $700~

Thanks again~

 

[Maziar]

This topic has been closed by Maziar