SSD worth buying just for windows?

[Saracen]

It's all a bit academic now as the OP has already said they are going to get one.

Academic to the OP, yes, certainly. But the thread is there for others to read and search engines to index. So it may well benefit others with a similar question to have the issue bounced back and forth.

[Jonj1611]

Removed my comment due to not having enough coffee

[Saracen]

Its not really bouncing back and forth more going tit for tat

Hardly a novel situation on an internet forum. Besides, one man's tit is another's bouncing.

Erm, that didn't come out right.

[Jonj1611]

I think it did lol

[mikeo01]

Basically is your HDD too slow or do you just want "quickness". Because remember in a few years time our current SSDs are going to feel like how hard drives are now for us all; technology changes and performance always increases.

[Bonebreaker777]

Basically is your HDD too slow or do you just want "quickness". Because remember in a few years time our current SSDs are going to feel like how hard drives are now for us all; technology changes and performance always increases.

I really doubt that any new form of swift storage will have the same hand-on effect as the transition from HDD to SSD. Maybe SSD made with different chips or PCIe SSDs...

[paul3281]

Yes it certainly is. I thinks its the most cost effective upgrade most people can do with their PC. The whole system seems so much quicker with a SSD.

[AraS]

yes , even if you dont have much to spend you can pick up cheap 64 gig or 120 gig and stick os in there

[Turkle]

I use Win8 and have a Samsung 830 256gb SSD. The pc boots in about in about 15 seconds. I am actually going to time it tomorrow, it might be faster! Programs and games install and load noticeably faster as you would expect. So, yeah defo worth it.

[aik6980]

I did ask our IT experts (at my company) an exact same question.
And yeah, SSD is one of best upgrade you could have nowadays

[Saracen]

The flash of speed you get will mean you can never go back.

Maybe you can't. I can, and have.

[ik9000]

Maybe you can't. I can, and have.

Saracen, I get you. To keep with the car analogy...

I once hired a car. Ford Focus 1.6 or equivalent it said. I got there to be handed the keys to a Subaru Impreza. Man that thing was amazing. grip, torque, speed, it rocked. Economy was a bit lacking but not horrendous (33mpg). I loved it. It was simply much more enjoyable, and faster, than driving cars which I can afford. There is no way I could have done 60mph on country lanes covered in frost in my normal car. It would spin out. That car though had 4wd and hugged the road like it was glued there. Even when that deer stepped out into the road it stopped on a 6-pence. I could never justify buying and insuring one myself given my current needs and resources, but if I had the funds I totally would. And I can see why others have them.

[Saracen]

Saracen, I get you. To keep with the car analogy...

I once hired a car. Ford Focus 1.6 or equivalent it said. I got there to be handed the keys to a Subaru Impreza. Man that thing was amazing. grip, torque, speed, it rocked. Economy was a bit lacking but not horrendous (33mpg). I loved it. It was simply much more enjoyable, and faster, than driving cars which I can afford. There is no way I could have done 60mph on country lanes covered in frost in my normal car. It would spin out. That car though had 4wd and hugged the road like it was glued there. Even when that deer stepped out into the road it stopped on a 6-pence. I could never justify buying and insuring one myself given my current needs and resources, but if I had the funds I totally would. And I can see why others have them.

I take your point, and I too can see why many people have, and love, SSDs.

A closer analogy, though, would be if you bought that Imprezza, but then, left it on the drive and used your own Focus 1.6 because you couldn't detect enough difference in your daily usage to be worried about it.

Oh, and I'm speaking as someone that went to my BMW dealer intending to buy a 323i, but saw an M3 on the forecourt, so stupidly, I said to the salesman, "before I place the order, can I just try that?". Guess what I bought? Yup, new M3. So I know where you're coming from with the Imprezza, though that particular car wouldn't be my choice, but that's because it's a bit ..... brash .... for me. But that's personal choice.

As for SSDs, my point is that performance gains come in two areas. Boot time, and general 'snappiness' of performance. And oersonally, boot time doesn't bother me, because I'm not sitting watching it do it. As for general snappiness, well, a typical mirning for me on the computer might be :-

- boot, while making coffee
- load Word, settle in to write
- spend three hours, maybe typing but maybe dictating, mostly though, thinking about what I'm going to write.
- go for lunch.

The wife does much the same, except "load Word" is replaced by "load accounts software", and she spends most of her time on the phone, with the computer providing necessary accounting data, and logging the results of the calls.

I don't dispure that SSDs are fast. It's that with what both the wife and I do, the bulk of the time, it doesn't matter. If Word does a background save in 0.001sec instead of 0.1sec, I don't notice, let alone care.

Will many people, especially on a forum like this, live SSDs? Yup. But it is ALWAYS a good way to spend money? No, not for everyone.

So should a random individual want one in their machine? Very possibly, but it depends what they do with the machine. My objection is to blanket "everyone should get one", or "just get one, you won't regret it" assertions, because it simply is not true for everyone.

[ik9000]

I take your point, and I too can see why many people have, and love, SSDs.

A closer analogy, though, would be if you bought that Imprezza, but then, left it on the drive and used your own Focus 1.6 because you couldn't detect enough difference in your daily usage to be worried about it.

Yeah ok, that'll be where that analogy breaks down then. Though if I had both 1) I'd be sooo happy and 2) i probably would use the Focus for town driving just for the sake of petrol consumption! And the bigger boot. But I'd want the Subaru for long distance schleps and trips to Scotland in winter. Much like the way I run SSD and HDD for different tasks.

I don't dispure that SSDs are fast. It's that with what both the wife and I do, the bulk of the time, it doesn't matter. If Word does a background save in 0.001sec instead of 0.1sec, I don't notice, let alone care.

I entirely understand your viewpoint. Each to their own. Btw do you know your PM inbox is full?

[Saracen]

... Btw do you know your PM inbox is full?

It shouldn't be. I cleared a few entries a couple of days ago, and a couple of dozen more this morning. If it's still saying that, something's going on.

[peterb]

I posted in the other SSD thread - but I wonder if SSDs are being used to treat symptoms of system problems, rather than address underlying issues. Where people report a reduction in boot times from several minutes to maybe one or two, I'd suggest that some basic housekeeping and fault investigation would reveal boot errors. Logs are a good place to start.

Fixing those before thinking about SSDa might be a good idea. By all means go for an SSD after that - but don't use an SSD to mask an underlying problem.