Windows 8 to mainstream solid-state drives, says analyst

I'm not sure how Windows 8 is contributing to the popularity of SSDs. The popularity is due to price drops over recent years, especially for useful capacities ie over 128GB. Manufacturing costs have fallen and people have been storming to replace or supplement their PCs with SSDs for well over a year now, no matter what OS they use, and so the cycle continues. SSDs are now becoming commodity items like HDDs.
 

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I'm not sure how Windows 8 is contributing to the popularity of SSDs. The popularity is due to price drops over recent years, especially for useful capacities ie over 128GB. Manufacturing costs have fallen and people have been storming to replace or supplement their PCs with SSDs for well over a year now, no matter what OS they use, and so the cycle continues. SSDs are now becoming commodity items like HDDs.

I was going to read the story Brink put up but I don't have to now, thanks Ray, it's a good thing you're in the know.
 

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facepalm.JPG
 

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"The newest wave of ultrabooks loaded with Windows 8 has started to generate enthusiasm," wrote Ryan Chien, analyst for memory and storage at IHS, adding that a growing appetite for laptops, hybrids, and tablets could conspire with falling flash memory prices to drive demand

That's why.

Jim :cool:
 

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"The newest wave of ultrabooks loaded with Windows 8 has started to generate enthusiasm," wrote Ryan Chien, analyst for memory and storage at IHS, adding that a growing appetite for laptops, hybrids, and tablets could conspire with falling flash memory prices to drive demand

That's why.

Jim :cool:

I agree with that because lately every time I walk into my local retailer people are buying Windows 8 Notebooks like there's no tomorrow, and the retailer has over doubled his display of notebooks.

He must know something, like his figures are going up on Notebooks, or why would he double his display.
 

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In the UK I can buy a 1TB Sata drive for just over £50, whys would I even consider spending an extra £90+ for a 200 GB SSD, the figures just don't add up for me !
Oh but I don't have a notebook/laptop by the way hate them both with a passion !!!!
 
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In the UK I can buy a 1TB Sata drive for just over £50, whys would I even consider spending an extra £90+ for a 200 GB SSD, the figures just don't add up for me !
Oh but I don't have a notebook/laptop by the way hate them both with a passion !!!!

Why, because they make any PC faster, and that's the main aim of Geeks, you know, the type of person that hangs around on these forums.

I myself have bought 2 in the last 12 months, I find they're big enough now for the OS and a few programmes, photos, music and videos I put onto external drives or just put a second Sata drive in the case.
 

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Hi there
SSD's are ALREADY mainstream -- not just for Windows 8.

On a Laptop -- makes perfect sense - both performance wise and less power consumption. You don't need masses of internal storage on a laptop but if you really must have volumes of data storage then and a USB3 external self powered 2TB pocket size drive should satisfy your data needs.

@headonastick :

On a desktop - well not cost effective really -- it's more of a "Luxury" thing but if you can afford it IMO still worth it. SSD's will of course become cheaper and hopefully within a short time totally replace spinners.

Cheers
jimbo
 

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In the UK I can buy a 1TB Sata drive for just over £50, whys would I even consider spending an extra £90+ for a 200 GB SSD, the figures just don't add up for me !
Oh but I don't have a notebook/laptop by the way hate them both with a passion !!!!

It's about performance. That's very important to some. What many do is to get a small SSD that you can pickup for about $99 and put your OS and your important programs on that. Then get a 1 TB drive to store media and other files. You get a fast boot and great I/O speeds for the programs you install on that SSD.

For me, I dump all my pics and videos onto the big drive because I/O times for those files mean nothing to me. My games and my fun stuff goes on the SSD, and it is fast fast fast!
 

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In the UK I can buy a 1TB Sata drive for just over £50, whys would I even consider spending an extra £90+ for a 200 GB SSD, the figures just don't add up for me !
Oh but I don't have a notebook/laptop by the way hate them both with a passion !!!!

Why, because they make any PC faster, and that's the main aim of Geeks, you know, the type of person that hangs around on these forums.

I myself have bought 2 in the last 12 months, I find they're big enough now for the OS and a few programmes, photos, music and videos I put onto external drives or just put a second Sata drive in the case.

Well 1stly allow me to apologise for not being a 'geek', and for using these forums to connect with other people, hell if I knew there was a requirement I wouldn't have bothered ! Aren't you the same guy who criticised people for using useless 3rd party software like Classic Shell (probably written by a geek) ? I think that everyone is entitled to an opinion and use this forum without needing to be labelled, so I will keep my dim views to myself then I don't have to be patronised by you !
KINDEST REGARDS
Ricky
 

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Performance vs Storage

In the UK I can buy a 1TB Sata drive for just over £50, whys would I even consider spending an extra £90+ for a 200 GB SSD, the figures just don't add up for me !
Oh but I don't have a notebook/laptop by the way hate them both with a passion !!!!

You're not the only one. :)

My supplier has 120GB SSDs for ~$100.
However, they also have 2TB HDDs for ~$100.

HDDs still have the advantage (for me), since:
  • It's not difficult to chew up huge amounts of storage
  • I have no complaints about PC's performance

Also, despite claims of a million(?) write cycles, I'm not convinced of their reliability.
My friend spent $3k on a custom laptop with a 512GB SSD in it.
He's had it for about 12 - 18 months and his SSD is starting to act up.

His laptop's reboot times are nice though.

The choice is (relatively) simple:
  • If you need performance, buy a SSD.
  • If you need storage, buy a HDD.
 

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That article also raises some further questions regarding its validity.

Firstly, there's been a declared fall in PC sales, which clearly include laptops, as everyone is saying that tablets and smartphones are taking over. Noting that most tablets (for at least the last year or more) already come with an SSD fitted and most don't have the ability to change the hard drive, so where is this increase in SSD sales actually being generated? The Microsoft Surface Pro hasn't been released, so these can't be included in the supposed increase.

Secondly, given that some tablets do allow the hard drive to be exchanged, there are not a great many manufacturers that make 7mm, or thinner, SSDs that are able to fit into a tablet. Desktop/laptop users have traditionally been the ones changing and upgrading hard drives and the biggest sales seem to be in the traditional 2.5" form factor SSDs (9.5mm), which desktop and laptop users buy.

Thirdly, enterprise users have been the most significant group to take up SSD use over the last year or so and continue to do so, as capacities, speed and reliability increase, and costs reduce. So has the increase in SSD sales quoted in the article been somewhat misplaced as to the reason?
 

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That article also raises some further questions regarding its validity.

Firstly, there's been a declared fall in PC sales, which clearly include laptops, as everyone is saying that tablets and smartphones are taking over. Noting that most tablets (for at least the last year or more) already come with an SSD fitted and most don't have the ability to change the hard drive, so where is this increase in SSD sales actually being generated? The Microsoft Surface Pro hasn't been released, so these can't be included in the supposed increase.

Secondly, given that some tablets do allow the hard drive to be exchanged, there are not a great many manufacturers that make 7mm, or thinner, SSDs that are able to fit into a tablet. Desktop/laptop users have traditionally been the ones changing and upgrading hard drives and the biggest sales seem to be in the traditional 2.5" form factor SSDs (9.5mm), which desktop and laptop users buy.

Thirdly, enterprise users have been the most significant group to take up SSD use over the last year or so and continue to do so, as capacities, speed and reliability increase, and costs reduce. So has the increase in SSD sales quoted in the article been somewhat misplaced as to the reason?

I think that most of the sales for SSDs have been upgrades for older systems and that has cannibalize the new PC and laptop sales as that upgrade is expensive and you get a much snapper system than what a new box does.
 

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I think that most of the sales for SSDs have been upgrades for older systems and that has cannibalize the new PC and laptop sales as that upgrade is expensive and you get a much snapper system than what a new box does.

Indeed, but why let reality spoil wishful thinking.
 

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It is interesting to see the price discussion for SSDs. I bought my first 60GB SSD 4 years ago - for $259 from Newegg - and I never looked back. My 7th SSD is on the way (128GB for half the money) and should get here tomorrow.

The SSDs are by far the most cost effective device for boosting your PC's performance. I never buy big SSD - 60, 80, 90 and now 128GBs. The 80 and 90 size are in my laptops. The data I keep on spinners or on sticks in case of the laptops.

There is really no way to compare GBs versus Dollars. It is a matter of whether you want a Ferrari or a truck.
 

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It is interesting to see the price discussion for SSDs. I bought my first 60GB SSD 4 years ago - for $259 from Newegg - and I never looked back. My 7th SSD is on the way (128GB for half the money) and should get here tomorrow.

The SSDs are by far the most cost effective device for boosting your PC's performance. I never buy big SSD - 60, 80, 90 and now 128GBs. The 80 and 90 size are in my laptops. The data I keep on spinners or on sticks in case of the laptops.

There is really no way to compare GBs versus Dollars. It is a matter of whether you want a Ferrari or a truck.

Yea clicking on a 4mb PDF file and 0.1 second later you are reading it.
 

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Price per GB is still a reasonably valid case, when comparing SSDs to HDDs, but the $/GB difference has fallen dramatically over the last year, with capacities increasing as well. SSDs are now very viable for desktops, for most people, considering the current prices.

From what I've read, you get the best performance from 256/512GB SSDs, rather than the smaller capacities, something to do with the data caching ability or some such (there's a need for some reserved space). The controller is also important for speed and reliability. But whatever you use, have full backups.

Also, keeping all of your data separate to the SSD can lose you performance, as you now have to send information back and forth through several stages, so again, a larger SSD can be very useful, for temporary storage for working data.
 

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