I've decided to hold on to my current laptop for a bit longer. To breathe some life into it, I've decided to increase the RAM from 6GB to 16GB (not sure if it's overkill, but I've experienced some "systems slowing to a crawl" thrashing at time, and it's not that expensive), and, more importantly finally make that jump to SSD. I've narrowed down to the three drives after reading around.
Given that my 640GB is pretty full right now, I am looking for a 960GB/1TB drive. Yes I may be able to clear enough space for a 480GB/512GB drive in the short term, but it's just going to be a hassle trying to keep the capacity within those limit.
The Samsung 850 Evo seems to be the best performing drive. In Japan though, it has never dropped below around £260. I note that prices are swinging quite a bit in the UK, but sometime dropping towards £200. Since I'll be back in the UK for 2-3 weeks in August, so I am thinking off till then.
The Sandisk X400 is a pretty new drive and seemingly the fastest planar TLC, though quite a bit behind Samsung. The TBW is over double Samsung's, but I wonder how important that is. It's £215 in Japan, so I think a bit cheaper than what I've seen in the UK, but more than what I've seen the 850 Evo cost (I am a bit worried that the pound will result in price inching back up though).
The Crucial MX200 is the only MLC drive in this list. And the only reason it's here really. Performance wise, it's a bit of a toss up compared to the X400, and behind the 850 Evo. Warranty is the shortest at 3 years. In Japan, it's about £230, so again, might be a bit cheaper here.
Any thought? If I was to order today, I'd probably go for the X400, but I must say that the Evo looks much faster in the reviews, though I wonder if the difference outside benchmarks. It would also kind of suck if by the time I am back to the UK, prices shoot up to £275 or something (though with the 4TB drive out recently, I'd expect prices on lower capacity to gradually drop).
Also, can I simply clone the content of my current HD to the new drive and do a straight swap?
Thanks.