Laptop Buyers Guide - Should You Go With An HDD or SSD? - Part2
The Cost Of SSDs Are Higher
One of the major obstacles to using SSDs has to be cost.
SSDs are more expensive than HHDs but prices will eventually
fall as production costs decreases. However, for now there
is a marked different and many laptop buyers will go with
the cheaper HHDs.
Another related issue is the amount of memory SSDs can
support. Because of the cost, many of the present day
SSDs have comparably low storage amounts in order to keep
the overall cost of a device down. However, we are now seeing
larger SSDs which support 64 GB, 128 GB and 512 GB of memory.
We even have one SSD drive which can store 1 TB (Terabyte)
of data produced by PureSilicon.
Another thing to consider, with SSDs you don't need cache
since system caches are usually made to solve hard drive
performance problems. This can be a way to save money on
future devices since cache is expensive.
The Future of SSDs
The real future of SSDs have to be realized in the
growing popularity of ultra-portable devices like
netbooks, mini-laptops and the like. The SSD is
perfectly suited for these kinds of portable
devices and as consumer demand grows stronger,
the future of SSDs looks very promising indeed.
Another market for SSDs has to be in gaming laptops,
which are ideally suited because gamers use their
machines mainly to read rather than write data. Plus,
gaming laptops and gamers want the best possible
performance at whatever cost; they don't mind spending
the big bucks if they can get top performances in
return.
Major gaming specialists such as Alienware, do offer
the option of SSDs in many of their laptops and even
in some desktop machines. Other gaming laptop makers
are following in the same direction. As with any
technology there is a lag time before the old is replaced
with the new. The traditional hard drives will be around for
quite some time yet, but its days may just be numbered.
For the laptop buyer, which type of drive you finally
choose will mainly depend on the purpose of your new device.
If you're looking for a quiet, long lasting, speedy netbook
that can take more than a few hard knocks, then you should
be looking at a SSD equipped machine. If you want a traditional
desktop computer or a desktop replacement laptop, then you can
save money by going with an HDD equipped device, these have
worked perfectly fine for years and will be around for some
time in the future. Of course, if you're into gaming laptops
and want a state-of-the-art machine, then a Solid State Drive
may be your best option, assuming money is no object.