Any Benefit of Using an Intel SSD With an Intel Chipset

unleashed · 20 Sep 2012 at 08:44

I’ve just bought myself a Latitude E6330 laptop from an Outlet, core i7 machine at a fantastic price (mods remove if I’ve infringed any OcUK posting rules).

Laptop spec is ideal for my needs except for the HDD which I’m going the change to a SDD so I can make use of Intel Smart Connect and Rapid Start features.

I’m thinking along the lines of this http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showp...IN&tool=3&groupid=1657&catid=2101&subcat=2393 (could do with the price coming down a tad) which will give me an all Intel solution i.e. Intel chipset, Intel applications/feature set, Intel SSD.

Are there any benefits in going for an all Intel solution or should I just go whoevers hard drive based on price and reviews?

R088ieS86 · 20 Sep 2012 at 10:53

(would remove the D word but the model is acceptable i think)
There are no secret features AFAIK that intel holds back just for itself. Go for the best you can get, have a read of the sticky

unleashed · 20 Sep 2012 at 17:58

R088ieS86 said:
(would remove the D word but the model is acceptable i think)
There are no secret features AFAIK that intel holds back just for itself. Go for the best you can get, have a read of the sticky

Thanks for your input, much appreciated.

Having read a decent amount of reviews, other articles and looked at the benchmark figures in the sticky, I can’t decide to go whether to go for a Samsung 830 series or Intel 330 series. What I have discounted is the Intel 520 series on the basis it’s too much of a premium to pay what is in essence an extra couple of years’ warranty.

A hard disk failure is pretty much a non-event to me, data loss wise, my WHS 2011 box (soon to be WSE 2012, but that’s another story) backs up our machines nightly. In addition, I guess, in three years’ time SSD storage capacity somewhere near 1TB will be order of the day anyway.

I’m tending to lean towards the Samsung being the best bang for buck at this time for my requirements; can anybody help me decide?

This laptop is mainly used for business so a quick boot is the main requirement.

R088ieS86 · 20 Sep 2012 at 19:26

The Samsung 830 is great. Just upgraded a laptop to use the 256GB version.
With the £20 cash back atm it makes a very good offer.
Have also done the same with an intel 330 and a Vertex 4.
With the exception of benchmarks they all perform similar but at the moment the Samsung wins purely on the price.

unleashed · 21 Sep 2012 at 15:52

R088ieS86 said:
The Samsung 830 is great. Just upgraded a laptop to use the 256GB version.
With the £20 cash back atm it makes a very good offer.
Have also done the same with an intel 330 and a Vertex 4.
With the exception of benchmarks they all perform similar but at the moment the Samsung wins purely on the price.

The Samsung is a decent drive and with the cash back is an attractive buy so I have just ordered one.

Let's see how OcUK delivery holds up bearing in mind they are moving this weekend. :eek:

drakioned · 21 Sep 2012 at 17:19

+1 for the Samsung 830. I have one and just ordered another.

Just avoid OCZ, they have a habit of changing flash chips in their drives and using identical (Vertex 2E) or very similar (Vertex 4 M vs non M) part numbers.

unleashed · 30 Sep 2012 at 11:50

I went with the Samsung 830.....here's the HDD and SSD benchmarks and Windows Index scores:

Windows Experience with 500GB Segate Momentus 7200 RPM HDD

Windows Experience with 256GB Samsung 830 SSD

ATTO Benchmark with 500GB Segate Momentus 7200 RPM HDD

ATTO Benchmark with 256GB Samsung 830 SSD

The above says it all....not too shabby for a business lappy !

I couln't be bothered getting my head around Norton Ghost 15 which came with the drive and used Macrium Reflect.

You can't go wrong using Macrium it's just three clicks:

1) Select clone
2) Select source drive
3) Select Destination drive (any restore volumes etc.)
4) Start

Was that 4 clicks....anyway 50 mins later all done, perfect just works.

Oh forgot to add that Macrium resizes the volumes automatically i.e. no need to shrink the HDD volume using Computer Manager or whatever.

unleashed · 30 Sep 2012 at 12:04

unleashed said:
The Samsung is a decent drive and with the cash back is an attractive buy so I have just ordered one.

Let's see how OcUK delivery holds up bearing in mind they are moving this weekend.

Even with the site relocation and me placing my order late Friday afternoon, Overclockers still delivered 11:00am Monday morning.

Fantastic service as usual

PorkPieCat · 30 Sep 2012 at 13:12

cashback offer is finished though...

unleashed · 30 Sep 2012 at 15:35

PorkPieCat said:
cashback offer is finished though...

Well I guess you have upto midnight to place an order

PorkPieCat · 30 Sep 2012 at 15:37

unleashed said:
Well I guess you have upto midnight to place an order

actually i'd be wary. i'm thinking it's based on the date of the invoice, which doesn't get processed until a working day, no?

Surveyor · 30 Sep 2012 at 15:49

In order for your claim to be successfully validated the proof of purchase must:

a. Be either an invoice, receipt or order notification. Delivery notes are not accepted.
b. Indicate the name of the store that you made the purchase.
c. Indicate the product that you have purchased.
d. If your proof of purchase is deemed not to meet the conditions above you will be notified via email and offered the opportunity to provide the required items within seven (7) days. If the participant still fails to comply with the terms and conditions, the claim for cashback will be marked as invalid.

If you order today presumably you get an automated notification from OcUK so that may be enough.

unleashed · 30 Sep 2012 at 16:13

Surveyor said:
If you order today presumably you get an automated notification from OcUK so that may be enough.

That along with the invoice should be sufficient. Remember you can always cancel an order too.

I sent an email to Samsung cashbask admin, or whatever they are called, a few weeks ago and got an almost imediate response. Well impressed.