Recommended upgrades?

Cotsy

Hi All,

I have a Toshiba Qosmio X300-11s.
(Specs)
It's over three years old now and has survived well until recently I ran into some hard drive problems. I was getting an constant error and with the use of some scanners like CrystalDisk discovered the HDD is failing in the reallocated sectors count. I'm not going to pretend that I know what that means but I do know it's time to get rid of the HDD.

I backed up all my data. And I have bought Windows 7 (not installed yet, still on Vista)
It looks like my laptop has space for two hard disks, one on top of the other, so I'm thinking one SSD to run Win7, maybe 128GB, and another HDD for Music, films, photos etc.

I've been reading up on SSDs, but I want to be sure that whatever one I buy will be compatible with my laptop and will make a performance improvement.

I was looking at something like this crucial as it has good reviews. But I see it's SATA III, ans I'm unsure that my laptop can work with this.

I tried reading up on this and read that I should check my chipset (Intel PM45) but I'm none the wiser really. I think that means I'm SATA II? Can anyone offer any input? I think SATA is backward compatable but would I be better off getting a SATA II SDD?

What would I have to do to be able to use SATA III? Replace a whole lot of stuff inside?

Torqay

Cotsy wrote: »

What would I have to do to be able to use SATA III? Replace a whole lot of stuff inside?

Nothing, they're backwards compatible with SATA II.

ED E

1. Bad link

2. As above, once its SATA it will work

3. You're talking about spending upwards of €250 on upgrades(and youve already spent a chunk on 7 too) but it not necessarily the best option. Laptops are consumables. At three years the batts not gonna have long left, HDD is failing as expected and its not unlikely that other issues will crop up. In most cases its a better option to buy new. With say 300 that wont get much of a laptop but spending same on upgrades only to have to spend the same again next year to keep going would be silly. So I'd look at a desktop(you can use that 7 licence) or if that wont do you, increasing the budget. Oh yeah, another thing, now is NOT the time to buy a HDD. The factories flooded last year and prices are more than double what they would be. While this makes SSDs a nice option, it also makes them a nice option for everyone

Hope this helps.

fionny

Id be with ED_E on this one, upgrading a laptop is just plain not practical really. If you really need a laptop then save up and buy a new one. But if you do not need the mobility a desktop is going to give you way more bang for the buck and is easily upgradeable for a time.

Torqay

What makes you guys think a 17" Laptop with a Core 2 Duo prozessor and 4 GB RAM is not worth upgrading? Did I miss something, is the Celtic Tiger back?

Although, to keep the costs at bay, I'd use a 60 GB SSD (e.g. the OCZ Agility 3, 80 Euro), an investment sure worth considering. I did just that with a similar specced 15" Inspiron recently.

fionny

Torqay wrote: »

What makes you guys think a 17" Laptop with a Core 2 Duo prozessor and 4 GB RAM is not worth upgrading? Did I miss something, is the Celtic Tiger back?

Although, to keep the costs at bay, I'd use a 60 GB SSD (e.g. the OCZ Agility 3, 80 Euro) and put the original 320 GB HDD into a 2.5" enclosure, that would amount to ~ 100 Euro, an investment sure worth considering. I did just that with a similar specced 15" Inspiron recently.

The old HD is banjaxed so the OP has to change it and be realistic 60gb is not enough to be going with. Half of that at least will be gone on OS install.

The fact of the matter is things are starting to go in it and laptops are not cheaply fixed.

Torqay

That is your opinion to which you are perfectlt entitled, but unless you have to carry around you video collection, 60 GB is still plenty disk space. And TBH, before I ditch a 17" laptop with the above specs, I'd happily spend the 80 Euro (or even 130 for the 120 GB variant) for a solid state disk. However, I would not buy a top benchmarking product as the performance benefits are marginal at best (even more so on a SATA II controller) and yet they'll make you pay a hefty premium for every mbps.

Whether you're surfing the web, doing some office work or watching a movie, the C2D still does the job every bit as good as any Ci3 and mind you, even a dirt cheap 17" replacement laptop will set you back 500 yoyos if not more.

Torqay

fionny wrote: »

Half of that at least will be gone on OS install.

What are you talking about? A fully fledged Windows 7 installation requires ~15 GB, much less if you knock off hibernation and paging.

fionny wrote: »

The fact of the matter is things are starting to go in it and laptops are not cheaply fixed.

Again, what are you talking about? Replacing a hard disk in a Tosh is a matter of just a few screws and easily DIY.

fionny

Torqay wrote: »

What are you talking about? A fully fledged Windows 7 installation requires ~15 GB.

I don't appreciate the snotty tone so please bring it down a notch, im only giving the OP (not you) my honest opinion.

Minimum 16GB for 32bit Min 20GB for 64bit + Page File (around 1gb) + Hiber File (4gb) if enabled (im pretty sure this is NOT included in MINIMUM specs). = 21 GB minimum for OS requirements.

Any system restore points = more space,

All this before you have installed any programs at all.

Torqay wrote: »

Again, what are you talking about? Replacing a hard disk in a Tosh is a matter of just a few screws and easily DIY.

I wasnt implying changing the HD was hard what I was implying is that laptops have a finite life time, solder wears out due to heat, fans give up, batteries lose usefulness.

Its true the laptop could go for another 10years without anything going wrong but if more critical parts go the prices go out of proportion for laptop parts, especially when you consider most of the pieces in this will no longer be in production, DDR2 etc...

Torqay

fionny wrote: »

Minimum 16GB for 32bit Min 20GB for 64bit + Page File (around 1gb) + Hiber File (4gb) if enabled (im pretty sure this is NOT included in MINIMUM specs). = 21 GB minimum for OS requirements.

So, 21 GB with all the bells and whistles plus 4+1 GB... that's "half of that at least" (on a 60 GB drive)? Do your maths...

We're talking about a solid state disk here, no? So, no hibernation, no system restore and if you're the adventurous type, you might as well, do without paging, now your Windows 7 installation is kept well below 10 GB.

And while a 3 yr old laptop isn't exactly brand new, it's nowhere near the end of its life span.

Again, if you believe it's perfectly OK to send a 3 yr old 17" C2D laptop with 4 GB RAM to the landfill just because the HDD is toast, than that's your opinion to which you are perfectly entitled, I, however, do beg to differ, if you don't mind.

fionny

I have no problem with your opinion which as you say you are well entitled to, i had a problem with your snotty condescending tone at my and EVE_E's opinion.

Torqay

fionny wrote: »

I have no problem with your opinion which as you say you are well entitled to, i had a problem with your snotty condescending tone at my and EVE_E's opinion.

Snotty? I was asking, what you were talking about. Even in a worst case scenario a Windows 7 installation is nowhere near "half" the capacity of a 64 GB drive, let alone more, as you have claimed. (I once had Windows 7 installed on my 701 4G with a 4 GB SSD, so I know a thing or two about keeping its size at bay)

Anyhoo, if you think, 40 or 50 GB is not enough for your files, you can spend €130 for a 120/128 GB SSD... or €80 for a 500 GB platter HDD.

It's all about someone's requirements and preferences, but throwing away such a machine because of a broken hard disk, that is quite a stark suggestion.

IMO, 80 Euro is an economically viable investment considering age and specs of the laptop, whether you buy a 64 gig SSD or a 500 gig platter drive for that money is not my decision, but if it was, I'd buy the SSD any day. I would even buy it iif the original HDD wasn't broken.

Cotsy

Cheers for the input guys.

Having read your comments I realise I probably should have mentioned a few things.

This laptop spends 90% of it's time plugged in on my desk and 100% of it's time in my house. It has always had a very poor battery (~1hr) so battery life isn't really an issue going forward. (And the power brick one of the biggest you'll ever see so it's just too heavy to put it all in a bag and carry round.)

I use it mainly for everyday web, videos and music. The big screen makes it good for films/ tv shows and it actually has a very decent built in speaker setup which I quite like, saves having to plug in ext. speakers.

Also, I have access to brand shiney new work laptop so I'm covered for any needs on the go.

And of course Sentimental value

I'm ok with paying €100-150 on a decent SSD (128GB) as long as I know it's going to be compatabe and make an improvement. I can make a decision on a HDD at a later time, for the moment I have all my stuff backed up on an external HDD so no rush.

So with all that in mind I'd rather spend a reasonable amout to keep it running than to buy a new laptop.

Torqay wrote: »

Nothing, they're backwards compatible with SATA II.

Thanks Torquay, what I meant to say was, Imagine I did buy a SATA III SSD, What would I have to do to get the my computer to be able to use the SATA III capabilities (6GB/s) rather than just being backward compatable and using the SATA II (3GB)?

Torqay

Cotsy wrote: »

Imagine I did buy a SATA III SSD, What would I have to do to get the my computer to be able to use the SATA III capabilities (6GB/s) rather than just being backward compatable and using the SATA II (3GB)?

You'd have to change the controller/chipset, hardly an option with a laptop, but you can still use newer SSDs as they're backwards compatible. You wouldn't find any cheaper SATA II drives as nobody would buy them. Take it or leave it.

fasttalkerchat

Sell the Windows CD you bought. Buy one 2nd hand disk of ebay. 160GB HDD will set you back 40 or 50 Euro but it will do the job and will probably last longer than the laptop itself.

In a few years buy yourself a new laptop with a SSD included.

marco_polo

Torqay wrote: »

You'd have to change the controller/chipset, hardly an option with a laptop, but you can still use newer SSDs as they're backwards compatible. You wouldn't find any cheaper SATA II drives as nobody would buy them. Take it or leave it.

It's also probably cheaper in terms of manufacturing costs to just to focus on making one type of chipset as well squeezing out SATA II that way too.

OP I'd agree that you well get the SSD and flog another few months/years out of the laptop if you are not keen to splash out for a new one yet, you can always bring the SSD over to any new machine anyway so its not dead money by any means.

Cotsy

Cheers for the advice guys