I have a new ThinkPad x220t laptop with 8GB of RAM and a 7200rpm 320GB
drive.
I'm thinking about replacing that drive with a Samsung 830 256GB SSD.
However, before I spend money on this I would like to flesh out my
thinking on what to expect the impact to be on my activities versus
spending money on this, since this will come out of my pocket (I didn't
spend for the laptop).
I'm thinking the most meaningful impact will be the increased battery
life. I've read reports of 1-2 hours of increased battery life by going
to this SSD over the HDD. That is important because I want to use the
3-cell battery rather than the 6-cell battery. I have back issues so
lugging around the lightest load possible is important. I find using
those rolling luggage bags to be a bit of a pain.
I also think the SSD is less prone to bumps so data should be safer on
the SSD than on the HDD. Most of my software load is already on the
laptop to just the new workout will be landing on the drive and I still
use my desktops for extended work sessions. I don't warm well to
smallish keyboards and screens (mainly screens).
When repeatedly opening programs like Word, Powerpoint, OneNote, and
PDF, the caching plays a big impact and lessens the advantage of SSD.
An upgrade to 16GB might extend that as more would remain in cache.
That will require wasting 8GB however, because I would have to replace
both sticks. I don't think boot time is that important as I will let it
sleep between sessions.
Any comments or experiences that suggest I'm off on these thoughts?
