best route for hdd upgrade?

my new laptop has a 160gb sata 5400 hdd wich is adequate but id really like some more speed as its the slowest link in my system.

im considering an 8-16gb solid state drive mainly the 8gb due to price,and using it only for windows vista install and moving my current drive to a usb encloser and put everything else on it.
will the usb drive lag the system further?

will i just be better off putting in a 7200rpm 160gb drive in and forget it?

i dont mind using an external drive as i dont take my laptop many places and its used more of a desktop replacement.

wich route would you go?
of course i can also sell the 2.5" 160gb drive,put the 8gb solid state drive in and use a usb or firewire encloser with a large raptor.
i dont need too much space as 60gb is about the most ive ever used or need.

drives im considering useing:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148249
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820609241

I would wait a year (or at least six months) before getting one of the SSD drives. The performance is damn nice, but the price IMHO still isn't worth it. Just get the 7200 RPM drive.

$270 isnt bad,but if i waited it will get better.
it may be best to just get the 7200 now and later add the ssd when the price drops more and teh speeds on the writes improves.

deathstar13 said:

$270 isnt bad,but if i waited it will get better.
it may be best to just get the 7200 now and later add the ssd when the price drops more and teh speeds on the writes improves.

Click to expand...

I went with a Hitachi 7k200 200Gb/16MB cache:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822145160

Pros: FAST, low power consumption (couldn't see any decrease in battery life), 3 years warranty

Cons: a little noisier than the average notebook HDD

C.

Yup got the Hitachi myself. Nice drive, I don't find it noisy at all. I think ZZF is a bit cheaper, by like 20 bucks or so and free shipping.

I think SSDs are awesome, but their prices are way too high. I think having only 8gb of internal storage space is a huge mistake. If you like to take your laptop anywhere, then having an external drive hanging out all the time would suck.
I would also get the Hitachi as well, since they are a fast drive with lots of space. You may be able to get one cheap by going to best buy and looking at the external hard drives by hitachi. If you see the 200gb one and the serial number starts with DTG then this one is a 7200rpm drive. I did this and ended up with a 7200rpm drive for $135 after tax with a 10% off coupon. The only issue with this is you don't get the warranty, but I haven't had any issues with it.

custom90gt said:

I think SSDs are awesome, but their prices are way too high. I think having only 8gb of internal storage space is a huge mistake. If you like to take your laptop anywhere, then having an external drive hanging out all the time would suck.

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Ya about both points. right about now the only things the SSDs are good for are benchmarking and in-car computers and things where there are alot of constant vibrations (or desktop systems where you can easily add a second drive for storage). Plus with an external drive you use up a usb slot, not good considering most laptops have only 2 or 3 (and a hubs just antoher thing to carry).

Which laptop do you have? I know mine has places for 2 HDDs and some companies make them for the optical drive slots (but then can you live without an optical drive?)

will the 7k200 work in a 1520 ?

Yes. As long as the interface is the same, any HDD will work.

thanks