SSD drive in a netbook / Windows 7 Starter

[cam1986]

Guys, my daughter was given a Netbook, HP 210 in mint condition.

Now, as you know it comes with Windows 7 starter. Is is, i believe, entitled to Win 10 upgrade.

Would an SSD be a big improvement? Can it be done easily? Clone existing drive? Ta

[satrow]

Should get a big boost in responsiveness with a netbook + modern SSD on W7.

Not sure that W7 Starter is entitled to the free W7 upgrade, should be but best to check with the latest info from MS + HP (HP should still be honouring the OS they supplied and are responsible for providing Support for).

[KeyboardDemon]

Check on the MS website to see if they offer an upgrade advisor tool, you can use this to check for hardware compatibility, being a netbook it might not meet minimum requirements.

[cam1986]

It does meet requirements. Just wondering if an SSD would speed it up

[satrow]

It does meet requirements. Just wondering if an SSD would speed it up

Yes it will, quite dramatically in some instances. Fit the maximum amount of RAM as well for best performance (could be 1.5 - 2GB on 'true' netbooks, sometimes more on later models referred to as netbooks).

[Chugz]

If it has room for 2 drives: mSATA + SSD, then buy a 120GB+ mSATA drive and use that as the OS drive. If it has 2 2.5" slots (unlikely) then buy a 250GB normal 2.5" SSD and a normal 2.5" HDD. If it only has one, your best bet would be to get a 250GB SSD only, and get an external HDD with it.

[cam1986]

Thanks.

Max 1g ram

Only 1 2.5 drive bay

[satrow]

Max 1g ram

That seems too low, run a Crucial scan on the netbook: http://uk.crucial.com/gbr/en

[Chugz]

It would be best to get a 250GB system drive, which should be plenty large for the OS and anything she might want to install; in addition to downloads. The external drive can be used to store any music or videos she gets too. HUKD has postings on them all the time.

[shaithis]

Pretty sure they are upgradable to 2GB.

The netbooks I have installed SSDs into have shown gains but not as much as desktops and beefier laptops. I am fairly sure you get CPU-bottlenecked during bootup and during certain tasks, causing delays.

Still, I'd rather use one with an SSD, rather than without.

[Chugz]

Another benefit of SSD is the removal of any mechanical parts; in theory it should be whisper quiet (assuming passive cooling) and able to withstand serious Gs, such as being dropped off a kitchen counter.

[satrow]

Some only have one available (1GB) slot, those I've seen like that have had a fixed 512MB chip onboard.

It's the graphics limitations, video playing, that irks me most with netbooks.

Many of them have weak hinge zones, I'd not want to drop one when open.

[Bonebreaker777]

Agree on the SSD side. Feels like it has no benefit, even if you put then into 2C/4T Atom machines. Buy a super cheap second hand SSD and that should do it.

Also, with Windows 8/8.1 I personally feel that 2GB of RAM is less restrictive that with Windows 7. Meaning 2GB is fine. With the right OS.

[satrow]

Crucial M4 128 in a Samsung NC10, 2GB, XP SP3 (no TRIM, fitted Nov. '13):
Sequential Read 122, Write 117; Random 4k Read 15 Write 23.
http://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/311230

Original 160GB HDD from the above NC10 in an i3-3220, 8GB, SATA 2, W7 x64 SP1, connected as a secondary drive:
Sequential Read 58.4, Write 59.2; Random 4k Read 0.45 Write 1.17.
http://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/245905

[cam1986]

Just upgraded ram to 2gig! Had a spare module in the house. Cheers. Daughter happy with the netbook. May change HD next