eMMC Vs SSD Vs HDD

ElecKtrA

Heya,

I'm really torn between two laptops at the moment.

I'm very keen on buying one which has eMMC 64 GB, and the another which is 32GB SSD. I have been advised that the SSD is far more superior than the eMMC, however I like the thought of having double the internal storage space of the other laptop. I know I can increase storage via SD card, USB etc. But I really just want to know is there a huge difference in the hard-drives?! I will only be using the laptop to load up pictures, watch videos, check emails, general browsing - travel laptop really. I won't be spending hours on it.

coylemj

You won't be able to travel and look at photos, watch videos etc. with that miniscule amount of storage. The laptops you're looking at assume that you will be always connected to the internet via high speed broadband, that's where most of your data will be stored. If you want mobility and to always have your data available regardless of the connection options or cost, you need a laptop with a real drive, either an SSD or a HDD and if it's a HDD, make sure that it's spin speed is at least 7200 RPM, a lot of the ones I looked at recently are 5400 RPM which would give very poor performance.

ElecKtrA

coylemj wrote: »

You won't be able to travel and look at photos, watch videos etc. with that miniscule amount of storage. The laptops you're looking at assume that you will be always connected to the internet via high speed broadband, that's where most of your data will be stored. If you want mobility and to always have your data available regardless of the connection options or cost, you need a laptop with a real drive, either an SSD or a HDD and if it's a HDD, make sure that it's spin speed is at least 7200 RPM, a lot of the ones I looked at recently are 5400 RPM which would give very poor performance.

Thanks for the reply. But the laptops/tablets that I am looking at are within budget! I can always buy a microSD card to increase storage capacity and Cloud space.

NIMAN

Have you considered a SSHD, a hybrid of SSD and HDD?

ElecKtrA

NIMAN wrote: »

Have you considered a SSHD, a hybrid of SSD and HDD?

Nope, I've never even heard of that!

http://www.pcworld.ie/Product/hp-pavilion-x2-10n050na-101-2-in-1-silver/327738/396.0.5

http://www.pcworld.ie/Product/asus-transformer-book-t100ha-2-in-1-grey/328578/396.0.5

I'm currently between choosing one of these....any advice please?

mordeith

ElecKtrA wrote: »

Nope, I've never even heard of that!

http://www.pcworld.ie/Product/hp-pavilion-x2-10n050na-101-2-in-1-silver/327738/396.0.5

http://www.pcworld.ie/Product/asus-transformer-book-t100ha-2-in-1-grey/328578/396.0.5

I'm currently between choosing one of these....any advice please?

Not much between the too. Asus has a mirco USB port and a slightly faster processor. It also has double (albeit slower) storage. How long are you going travelling for? I;m asking because that should dictate how much extra data you'll acquire along the way (in terms if photos). Of course you'll want to backup any images you take as well.

ElecKtrA

mordeith wrote: »

Not much between the too. Asus has a mirco USB port and a slightly faster processor. It also has double (albeit slower) storage. How long are you going travelling for? I;m asking because that should dictate how much extra data you'll acquire along the way (in terms if photos). Of course you'll want to backup any images you take as well.

Thanks for your reviews.

I was more drawn to the HP laptop, better sound system and looks nicer, but then again the key determinant for me would be the storage space. I'm hopefully going for a year...but it depends really how I get on, it's a difficult question to answer.

Alanstrainor

ElecKtrA wrote: »

Heya,

I'm really torn between two laptops at the moment.

I'm very keen on buying one which has eMMC 64 GB, and the another which is 32GB SSD. I have been advised that the SSD is far more superior than the eMMC, however I like the thought of having double the internal storage space of the other laptop. I know I can increase storage via SD card, USB etc. But I really just want to know is there a huge difference in the hard-drives?! I will only be using the laptop to load up pictures, watch videos, check emails, general browsing - travel laptop really. I won't be spending hours on it.

You can buy 128GB micro SD cards for ~40 quid these days. Buy one of those and you've suddenly got close to 200GB of storage. I presume these laptops have micros sd card slots, even if it's a full size slot the micro sd card will come with an adapter.

These laptops are the modern equivalent to netbooks of old. Low storage, relatively slow but fine for most, and long battery life. I reckon it is actually a good choice for travelling.


Also I bet any machine with between 32 and 64GB of storage is eMMC. Despite what PCworld might claim.

ElecKtrA

Alanstrainor wrote: »

You can buy 128GB micro SD cards for ~40 quid these days. Buy one of those and you've suddenly got close to 200GB of storage. I presume these laptops have micros sd card slots, even if it's a full size slot the micro sd card will come with an adapter.

These laptops are the modern equivalent to netbooks of old. Low storage, relatively slow but fine for most, and long battery life. I reckon it is actually a good choice for travelling.


Also I bet any machine with between 32 and 64GB of storage is eMMC. Despite what PCworld might claim.

Thank you for your feedback.

eMMC, is it really not a good choice?! There are lots of variations in the models from different stores i.e. HP pavilion model is sold with different specs in different stores...it doesn't make decision making easy at all!

mordeith

ElecKtrA wrote: »

eMMC, is it really not a good choice?

There's nothing wrong with that type of drive per se, it's just not as fast in the read/write department as an SSD. The processors in those machines you liked are optimised for tablets really so there isn't a massive difference in them. On a day to day basis you're not going to see much of gap as they both have 2GB RAM.

mordeith

mordeith wrote: »

There's nothing wrong with that type of drive per se, it's just not as fast in the read/write department as an SSD. The processors in those machines you liked are optimised for tablets really so there isn't a massive difference in them. On a day to day basis you're not going to see much of gap as they both have 2GB RAM.

Would you not buy a Chromebook?

People say they need to be connected to the internet all the time but that is mainly wrong. I can watch videos, look at my locally stored files, use google docs and much more even when there is no internet around. I also have a 64gb sd card to store my video/mp3 files on so I wont run out of room. The boot time is like 3 seconds or something. The battery life can last up to 13 hours on some of chromebooks which might also be useful for travelling.

I am in college doing a degree in computing and I have an expensive machine for doing my college work and I never use that machine ever when I dont have to. I really love the chromebook :P Just a consideration.

edit: I also have linux running as a dual boot on my chromebook but that isn't necessary, but if you knew anything about linux you might find that useful.

ED E

Deleted User wrote: »

I am in college doing a degree in computing and I have an expensive machine for doing my college work and I never use that machine ever when I dont have to. I really love the chromebook :P Just a consideration.

edit: I also have linux running as a dual boot on my chromebook but that isn't necessary, but if you knew anything about linux you might find that useful.

Interesting, do you use an online IDE like Koding or really are you bypassing ChromeOS for "real" work?

ElecKtrA

Deleted User wrote: »

Would you not buy a Chromebook?

People say they need to be connected to the internet all the time but that is mainly wrong. I can watch videos, look at my locally stored files, use google docs and much more even when there is no internet around. I also have a 64gb sd card to store my video/mp3 files on so I wont run out of room. The boot time is like 3 seconds or something. The battery life can last up to 13 hours on some of chromebooks which might also be useful for travelling.

I am in college doing a degree in computing and I have an expensive machine for doing my college work and I never use that machine ever when I dont have to. I really love the chromebook :P Just a consideration.

edit: I also have linux running as a dual boot on my chromebook but that isn't necessary, but if you knew anything about linux you might find that useful.

Thanks for your reply. What is the major difference between a laptop/tablet and a chromebook?

I am between these two at the moment..i like the idea of an interchangeable laptop/tablet.

http://www.currys.ie/Product/hp-pavilion-x2-10n050na-101-2-in-1-silver/333436/401.0.0

http://www.currys.ie/Product/asus-transformer-book-t100ha-101-2-in-1-grey/334455/401.0.0

mordeith

Have you seen the HP physically in store, cos the website says it's out of stock?

ElecKtrA

mordeith wrote: »

Have you seen the HP physically in store, cos the website says it's out of stock?

Yes I have....but unfortunately the HP I wanted to buy is the 64gb emmc

the HP in store is 32gb ssd.

ED E

ED E wrote: »

Interesting, do you use an online IDE like Koding or really are you bypassing ChromeOS for "real" work?

For actual programming work Id remote login to my laptop from home and do all the work from my chromebook but the horsepower been done by the laptop back home.

What I actually meant is my laptop is purely used for development, anything besides the real heavy work I'd use the chromebook for.

ElecKtrA

ElecKtrA wrote: »

Thanks for your reply. What is the major difference between a laptop/tablet and a chromebook?

I am between these two at the moment..i like the idea of an interchangeable laptop/tablet.

http://www.currys.ie/Product/hp-pavilion-x2-10n050na-101-2-in-1-silver/333436/401.0.0

http://www.currys.ie/Product/asus-transformer-book-t100ha-101-2-in-1-grey/334455/401.0.0

Atom processors are gross though

If I had to pick between those two (personally Id go for neither). Then Asus I suppose, from looking at benchmarks it seems to have the better cpu, its much cheaper, same ram, hour less battery life. The asus only has 32gb storage compared to the 64 in the HP but that could be sorted with an sd card.

Yet again, I wouldn't go for either here. Then again that is just my opinion, yet again its not a 2 in 1 but this would be much better value for the money imo
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00RK7LFEG/ref=twister_B00SWML5QQ?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

Alanstrainor

Deleted User wrote: »

Atom processors are gross though

If I had to pick between those two (personally Id go for neither). Then Asus I suppose, from looking at benchmarks it seems to have the better cpu, its much cheaper, same ram, hour less battery life. The asus only has 32gb storage compared to the 64 in the HP but that could be sorted with an sd card.

Yet again, I wouldn't go for either here. Then again that is just my opinion, yet again its not a 2 in 1 but this would be much better value for the money imo
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00RK7LFEG/ref=twister_B00SWML5QQ?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

Whens the last time you used an Atom? I run an Atom tablet, with 2GB of RAM from 3 years ago and it's still speedy for web browsing and basic tasks. In fact I never really see if slow down at all.

Alanstrainor

Alanstrainor wrote: »

Whens the last time you used an Atom? I run an Atom tablet, with 2GB of RAM from 3 years ago and it's still speedy for web browsing and basic tasks. In fact I never really see if slow down at all.

Granted it was a while ago but I have not heard good things. The cpu in the HP benchmarks like 900 something, seems very weak.