If I were getting a laptop and it didn't already come with one I would install a solid state hard drive. Improves battery life, makes it more drop proof, and speeds things up immensely.
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Dec. 27, 2011 6:13 p.m. clutchsmoke Reader
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Dec. 27, 2011 8:27 p.m. mad_machine SuperDork
don;t they have a finite life though?
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Dec. 27, 2011 8:48 p.m. rmarkc Reader
clutchsmoke wrote:
Huge trade off of cost vs. capacity. Unless his lappy has room for 2 drives and he can run just the OS on SSD, he is better off with a 500 or 750GB drive with 2 partitions.If I were getting a laptop and it didn't already come with one I would install a solid state hard drive. Improves battery life, makes it more drop proof, and speeds things up immensely.
Seagate has hybrid drives that have 4GB of SSD and 250, 500 or 750GB of traditional platter storage . They seem to work OK for speeding up the boot process but longevity/dependability seem hit or miss.
My advice to the OP: You've already admitted to using a virtual machine to run some of your non-64bit friendly apps. Check AutoCAD's compatibility with various VM software, find one it works with and build a VM to run all your mission critical apps. Back up the VM disk file on a regular basis (while the VM is shut down) and just install the basics on the laptop to run the VM. I've done this on my home and work PCs and haven't lost any critical data yet to failed HDs, viruses or system upgrades.
Virtualbox works for me. Its free and runs well on my 64bit Linux host system.
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Dec. 27, 2011 8:56 p.m. rmarkc Reader
mad_machine wrote:
don;t they have a finite life though?
They do but it usually isn't too much of a concern since most hardware has a finite usable life before something newer and shinier comes along.
I have a 60GB SSD as the OS drive in my gaming PC. I moved the swap file and Steam directory to a 400GB platter to save space and limit writing to the SSD.
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Dec. 28, 2011 12:21 a.m. mad_machine SuperDork
pinchvalve wrote:
mad_machine wrote:
lets not turn this into a Mac vs PC thing
You're right, a dead laptop sucks regardless of who made it.
and both dead PCs and Macs make excellant doorstops
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Dec. 28, 2011 12:28 a.m. BoxheadTim SuperDork
mad_machine wrote:
don;t they have a finite life though?
No to mention that they seem to fail catastrophically - one minute they're working, next minute they're properly dead.
