Not enough space if it is the only drive, especially on single-bay laptops. On a tablet, though... 😉 I prefer dealing with only one single drive for simpler management.
SSD's are mostly used for boot purposes since the price per GB is significantly higher than the standard hard drive equivalent. That being said, while it is simpler to manage one hard drive, you can really benefit from running a combination of a solid state drive and a traditional hard drive.
SSDs seem to be getting more and more popular these days, since they are a lot faster than traditional HDDs. SSDs are also more reliable, since they can't be easily damaged. If you switch over to an SSD, you wouldn't be required to run your disk defragmenting programs constantly. Plus, on most occasions, it increases your battery life. Solid-state drives may have limited storage capacities and be a little more pricey than regular hard drives, but they are definitely worth it.
I don't have an SSD, but will most likely get one at some point in the future. [:
Speed is a huge advantage to solid state drives, that's for sure - another thing to keep in mind is their smaller footprint in general. They can fit into smaller form factor PCs a lot easier than traditional hard drives.
The only real problem with SSDs is that it doesn't really have any indication that a SSD is failing. Hard disk drives tend to start to perform less than optimal when impeding failure looms right ahead of it. Mechanical parts tend to wear out first...
That's not really a problem in my eye as the failing of a hard drive is an inevitability, SSD or HDD. You do have a valid point, though.
I have no experience with using a computer actively that contains a solid-state drive, but I have heard that SSDs are faster than HDDs in terms of speed.. but if it's space you're after, then I recommend HDDs.
And for failures, I remember last year when the desktop I had now belonged to my parents and ran Vista, I had no idea what was wrong with it, until I went into BiOS and did a diagnostic test. The diagnostic found that the HDD was going dead, so after I saved up, I went to Best Buy and I got a new Seagate drive that had matching specs to the failed drive, and it has worked flawlessly since.
They really are - up to 10x faster and the difference is noticeable instantly.
The biggest disadvantage I can see in switching to SSDs is that they have a very finite number of read/writes that can be done to them since they're basically just flash sticks in hard drive form.
This finite number - while being correct won't be less than 10 years in practice (probably closer to 15 than 10, in fact) due to some pretty efffective algorithms that prevent the drive from wearing out quickly.
But I've heard SSDs are more reliable : < And amazing scientists and engineers are looking to create a material that can withstand hundreds of millions of R/W cycles.
And it's common practice to put boot on SSD, and all your warez on HDDs right? :P
This is the best way to do things, if by wares you mean legally obtained items. :) But it's not only for your OS and boot files but for programs that you use a lot, such as your web browser, for example.
I'd have to get a device with an SSD so I can see for myself how much they differ from hard drives. I was actually considering getting one as part of an upgrade this past Christmas for my current desktop, but opted out for the time being.
I also have a friend who installed an SSD onto their computer for use of keeping the OS functional and installing the programs onto the SSD while he kept the HDD with the computer for storage.
You should have. They're more than worth the higher price per GB in my personal opinion.
Just remember that SSDs aren't exactly all roses and the like. Sometimes your needs would be fulfilled much better with a regular HDD. If you're a media junkie or a hard core gamer, you might want to stick with the old-school contraptions for now. These things take up a lot of space.
This is a very, very good point. Although I still think investing in a SSD + HDD is the best way to go.
@ Zach Yes, please do tell! I think I'd be comfortable with a 256 GB SSD, not sure if 128 GB would be enough to cover boot + mains + spreadsheet games. They're still hovering around $200 right? :S almost as much as a decent graphics card.
Also, do any of you run with 10,000 RPMs? How's their speed compared to SSD's?
I'm picking up my new MacBook Pro in around 2 hours with a 128 GB SSD (Flash storage) so I'll let you know how that is.
