I was bored with "Still being a little bit off topic" LOL.

Very good info for those looking to improve performance of their HD's. Unfortunately, some of these changes would almost require a tech support person for my PC's (laptops) Swapping MB's, etc., is more challenging in laptops. HD's them selves are easy in most cases, so is Ram, but to switch type of HD (IDE to Sata, etc.) would be a large undertaking in my laptop because of the need to switch MB and other components.

I never measured pre SSD install HDD performance, but I do know that it took well over 1 minute to have a usable notebook with the installed Hitachi 500GB HDD. It ran at 5400rpm, had a 8MB cache, & was the hugest bottleneck on the system.

The Crucial M4 SSD instantly changed overall performance of the notebook, after all, it has a i5 (480M) CPU, a NVIDIA GeForce GT 425M (1GB DDR3 Video RAM), it needed a performance HDD. I did consider others, but prices were too high for the listed specs. Most notebook HDD's (2.5" ones) has only a 16MB cache. Now I have a usable notebook in less than 15 seconds from pressing the power button, much improved performance, faster loading apps, updating is much faster (even those .NET Framework 4 that takes forever to install).

No, I don't have a SATA3 MB, but the upgrade was worth the price ($137, including shipping + local taxes). I'll NEVER buy a mechanical HDD again for OS installs. But for storage, I'll continue to do so.

BTW, that upgrade install was a total disaster. Looked good at first, but was unusable. I won't attempt this again. I'm now freshly re-installing Win 7 through my recovery partition. I did backup the notebook, but decided on a fresh install.

Cat

Speaking from 30+ years of experience with computers, let me just say, that laptops and Netbooks are more TOYS than real computers. I have both, so I really do know from which I speak.

I love my little PC's, but they are really just play pretties, not real computers.

My desktop PC can challenge any Mainframe and beat most of the ones I've worked on in the past.
I could SMOKE an IBM 370!

Oh well, that's all irrelevant now, isn't it.???

All that's important now, is..... can your PC run Windows 8 without shooting craps. ???
Mine can...... and does.

Mine does too. That's why Windows 8 Pro, soon after Retail release, is going on my PC. Runs well, & doesn't shoot craps.

I did find one limitation of notebooks, even well built ones, is that they cannot withstand the 24/7 running required for gaining huge points in distributing computing on sites such as folding@home (protein folding by some type of CPU/GPU simulation). Hosted by Stanford University, the donor research goes a long way towards developing cures for certain illnesses. Many teams participates in the program.

Didn't hurt my CPU, but fried my GPU & a portion of the MB beneath it. It was a bit older than 3 months old, but less than 4. Anyway, MSI sent me a brand new one (with an extended life battery & replaced my Windows Anytime Upgrade to Pro) for my troubles. Even threw in a $50 Newegg gift card. The folks there couldn't understand why that happened on one of their computers, said it shouldn't never happen, not even with 10 years of use. So once they seen the damage, one was rushed by FedEx international shipping in less than 48 hours.

Has ran fine since, but have learned that even the best of notebook has their limitations. But one thing about those SSD's, & this I know because how long it takes to update a computer (of any type) after re-install. The extended length that it takes to update the computer & re-install programs. The updating process took no time, all updates + SP1 for Windows 7, in barely over an hour (this alone would've taken over 4 hours on the Hitachi HDD). First round of updates, all 108 of them were finished by the time I brushed by teeth & shaved. Normally, I could've took a shower & still be waiting for the 1st round to finish. .NET Framework 4 & it's massive number of updates took no time. So did SP1, downloading & installing within 5 minutes.

I'm sitting here thinking "damn, is this fast, or what"? Finally there were no more updates, so I grabbed a shower. Then returned & installed my programs, it took less time than updating did, many installing in almost the blink of the eye.

So I spent barely over 2 hours to do what normally would be a 6 to 7 hour job (updating the computer & installing programs). Not bad for a SATA3 SSD with a SATA2 bottleneck. BTW, there are SATA2 SSD's made, but I was told that even given the bottleneck, it would be better to go with SATA3. Many does this with mechanical HDD's too, runs the SATA3 models.

One thing for sure, my next PC will have a SATA3 MB (or current available technology) along with a SSD to match it. Had that MB been SATA3, it would've taken a little over an hour for everything (in theory, anyway).

As far as upgrades goes, & I did this one out of being curious, they may turn out well for some, but my attempt went with tradition:
Chernobyl. A total disaster.

Cat

I have great success with my laptop PC. Since I never run it 24/7 (I did not on my desktop either, they get turned off overnight) I do not see a problem there. I leave it in sleep mode during the day when I'm not typing. I shut things down when I'm sleeping. I do not wish anything occurring during these times. My laptop is quite powerful and very quick as well.

I still have my desktop, which was dynamite a few years ago, but is somewhat less than a dynamo now. The biggest problem is that the desktop is tied to the room it's in, which in my house is on the 2nd floor study, only room with the space for the large desk and desktop PC. My laptop on the other hand goes where I am, including on trips out of town. This is a big plus for me. In fact, because of the inconvenience of the desktop, it has been relegated to a storage use.

When we retire, our plan is to become more mobile (motor coach) and the desktop will be even more of a hassle, so I am quite sure the desktop will be gone and the laptops will be our staples. In fact I might even consider one of the new Surface Pro tablets in the future. I still have time to make these decisions.

That upgrade attempt has caused nothing but a PITA the last two days. Had the original OS (Win 7 Pro x64) re-installed, as described in my previous post, but something happened early this afternoon. Windows Update would no longer work on my regular OS, as well as XP MCE in VirtualBox. That VM was in my Data partition. I don't know what happened, had just updated some drivers.

Tried all of MS's fixes, still couldn't update. So I had an older backup taken with Todo 2.5 Workstation. Had to revert to that one, because the one that I made before the upgrade attempt wouldn't boot, even tried a repair w/no luck.

Glad that I kept that older backup, as I was considering a clean install, w/o using the Recovery partition, of Windows 7 Ultimate x64. The notebook shipped with a driver & program CD, one reviewer on Newegg done just that. If anything happens with this install, I'll do just that, install from scratch. Which is the best way.

One thing for sure, one can never have too many backups around, as one never knows when they'll be needed. After I get Windows 8 Pro installed (Retail), I'm grabbing a 2TB storage HDD for the sole purpose of keeping backups. They can be had now for $99 on promo, but I'm saving for Windows 8 at this time.

Looking forward to a good Windows 8 experience on my desktop PC. My notebook will continue to run Windows 7, unless MSI comes up with a way for the OEM functions to work with Win 8. It's my hope that they will, but I'm not counting on it, some driver updates mabye, but not a CD to make everything work properly.

A fair warning to anyone considering an upgrade install: DON'T DO IT on your pride & joy computer. It's a PITA to get it right again, especially if you're running a SSD on it. Do it on a secondary computer, or better yet, don't attempt an upgrade at all. And yes, I had the activation issue also, it was in the Action Center. But I couldn't get Windows Update to work, or even get a browser to connect to the internet, although during the setup, it detected my router & I connected to it.

So there is something about upgrade installs & activation issues, I just couldn't get it resolved. How could I, with basically a frozen notebook?

Cat

I'm looking at the title of this thread and scratching my head (yes, at 69[today!] I still have hair up there to scratch) and I don't get it. Activation issue? What Activation? When you begin the install it asks for the key from the Microsoft download page, you put in the key (in all caps) and it's done. There is no further activation required. Eh?

Ok, Ted, I'm with you on that Motor Home, even though I can't afford one, I've kicked a lot of MH tires and even taken a few test drives. My dad taught me to drive a bus when I was 9 (I was as big as my mother at 9...no little kid) and all my life, I've wanted to own one. Do a walk through at least, even if you don't drive one and see just how much room there is in them for a Full Blown, Real, Computer. But don't get one of those 'Mini PC's', they are so proprietary that fixing one is a real pain and it can get expensive. I was in one motor home that even had a built in Computer Desk. With the new flat screens, space is no longer so much of a problem.
If I didn't already own a laptop and a notebook, I could not so much speak from Experience, but I have both and neither one can hold a candle to my Desktop, (the one I lovingly call the HAL 9000).

OH! And for traveling with a laptop, for the ultimate protection of your "baby" take a look at the tool boxes sold by Harbor Freight. No store nearby? Check out their on-line Catalog.
Here's the laptop, that was given to me by a lady who was told that the motherboard was blown.


And here's that same laptop sitting comfortably in it's Armored Carrying Case.


That case may not be fully Bullet Proof, but it's as close as you can get for under $30.
It comes with a full foam insert, that can be cut out for the mouse and power supply to nestle under the PC.

And, here's my little Acer Aspire ONE, Netbook, sitting in its own little Armored Case.


I believe in the old saying that "One picture is worth a thousand words" Eh?

It's the first day of Summer! Y'all have a great day now, Y'hear?

TechnoMage

Nice notebooks, TM. Especially the one the owner thought the MB was shot. Probably by someone who wanted to rip her off.

Kind of reminds me of the deal that I got on a Fiat back in the 80's, the owner was told that the head was cracked, when in fact all that was wrong was a spark plug was cross threaded in. The couple let me have the car for $50. Once I got it home, a friend looked at it & right away knew what was wrong. He took some sort of tool to fix the threads, re-installed the spark plug, it ran like new.

Drove the car for almost 5 years w/o spending a cent on it other than maintenance. BTW, it had an automatic & A/C too. Was the ugliest car that I ever had, but the most dependable used car that I ever bought.

Sometimes, we do luck up on deals. This ThinkPad T42 that I made a makeshift desktop for my wife, was another. Got it on eBay for $99, Free 2 day shipping. It's been a very dependable notebook for her. Wished that it would hold more than 2GB of DDR RAM, but that's the way it goes. It actually boots faster than the OEM version of Windows 7 Pro x64 on my desktop PC. But programs tends to load slowly. Oh well, we can't have it all for $99.

Hopefully, I'll be able to do something about that by Christmas. I believe that I mentioned that in another posting, no need to re-hash that.

Cat

We both have Targas foam brief cases right now that travel very nicely with our laptops. We take them now when we go visiting. The briefcases have many extra pockets so I take along my Ext HD with my Images. I also take along all my "repair tools" as both of my kids are less PC literate and depend on dad fixing their little ailments.

I often carry my repair tools whenever I (or my wife & I) goes somewhere where there are computers. Because many asks me to fix something most everytime I see them, or at least asks me to check.

This can seem to be a PITA sometimes, but often I'm rewarded with a good meal, at the least. Some outright pays me. The last time that I done such a repair was 2 weekends ago, where afterwards my wife & I got a prime rib & shrimp, cooked on the grill by an executive chef (this is his trade). The repair? Installing 2 sticks of 8GB x2 (16GB) DDR3 RAM. He thought that all it could hold was 8GB, as was printed on the box. Using Crucial's online tool, it was discovered that it would hold twice that amount, a pleasant surprise for him. The only reason that this scan was done was to determine what SSD was best for his computer. The tool reports both the RAM & SSD options, fully guaranteed on their dime to be compatible.

It took me longer to unpack the new GSkill RAM than it did to install it. So tight in the package, it took a careful trim of the plastic with a pocket knife to remove them. Removed the other sticks, blew the slots with a few quick blasts of canned air, installed the new, booted & it was there, all 16GB of it.

In the end, we all were happy. It pays to know a little something about computers, even if not all. RAM & HDD's are frequently swapped items, so are OS installs & virus/malware cleaning & printer installs. One can never know too much about computers.

Cat