[vasudeva]

Originally Posted by reignofchaos

It has performance issues with incompressible data and is also known to die on occasions. Intel is moving away from sandforce in the next gen 530 controller.

As for Samsung, do not buy anything other than the 840 pro. The 840/840 Evo are based on TLC NAND which on paper has 1/3rd the endurance of MLC based drives. I'd not recommend the 840/840 EVO to anyone. However 840 Pro is an excellent drive and completely worth it.

You have given me the solution; buy Intel's SSD with new controller next maybe next year. 520 has been great for me and I would stick with Intel's offerings until something better comes along. I knew about the issues and also the AES-256 goofup but still went with Intel, and so far so good.

When I bought the Intel SSD last year, there were only reportedly Intel and Crucial (and Samsung 840 Pro) with very good reps. I need a high capacity (>500GB) SSD for my laptop. The two options are Crucial M500 (960GB) and Samsung 840 Evo (750/1000 GB). There is a Samsung Pro also which tops out at 500-512GB roundabouts. 500-512GB will not cut for me at all for a laptop. What would you say about Crucial. M500 960GB is a huge investment of 36-38K but a SSD can really make a diff in my laptop (i7-2760, 8GB RAM). Crucial has a good rep, but what about long-term reliability and after sales India service. A high cap. SSD can do duty not only in my present laptop but also perhaps in a new one maybe in 2015. Samsung may be reliable but I have had largely poor experience with other non-PC Samsung and LG stuff.

[reignofchaos]

Crucials are highly reliable. Have been using one for over 2 years now. They may not have the best specs on paper but their reliability makes up for it.

As for service - no clue! I never needed it.

[Aroy]

Those using SSD should be aware that the SSD have a finite life in terms of write cycles - about 1000

http://www.storagesearch.com/ssdmyths-endurance.html
http://us.hardware.info/reviews/4178...nal-conclusion

Here are some links on the latest trends in SSD

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...mark,3269.html
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...-ssd,3567.html

So do not use SSD for storing crucial data for long term. Always back up to a conventional media - HDD, DVD, CD.

[vasudeva]

Originally Posted by reignofchaos

Intel is moving away from sandforce in the next gen 530 controller.

As for Samsung, do not buy anything other than the 840 pro. The 840/840 Evo are based on TLC NAND which on paper has 1/3rd the endurance of MLC based drives. I'd not recommend the 840/840 EVO to anyone. However 840 Pro is an excellent drive and completely worth it.

Intel SSD 530 series was announced in late-Jul 2013 with top cap of 480 GB.

http://www.storagereview.com/intel_ssd_530_announced
http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/...30-series.html

As to high cap SSD drives, my only option is Samsung 840 Pro 512 GB at 35-37K, or crucial m500 960 GB ($600). Will have to ask someone to get it from the US, as in India, the price difference is big (Samsung pro 512GB is $450-460).

What would be the advice on Plextor 512 GB

http://onlyssd.com/ssd-capacity/buy-...-m5p-512gb-ssd

[Arch-Angel]

i just wish we had a waiver on import duties on computing parts alone, i had shipped in 2 gtx 670s, one for me and another for my friend through another buddy who was returning from the states and i had paid only 16k for one, while it costed 29k here.

[reignofchaos]

The plextor is an excellent drive and has a really nice price too.

[vasudeva]

Originally Posted by reignofchaos

The plextor is an excellent drive and has a really nice price too.

Thanks I will keep that in mind. Let me see if someone can get me these from the US or if not, buy from onlyssd.com. In Delhi, the only online reliable option is flipkart. Amazon.in/junglee do not have much at present, and reputed Nehru Place vendors may not be stocking these.

On a personal note, on your advice, I could not be more pleased by my purchase of Pioneer Kuro 42+ Marantz Amp+MS speakers in 2008. I recently bought a second 32 inch Panasonic LED TV for a second room. I wanted to buy a plasma at 42 inches, but space constraints and laziness (making space for 42 inch would have required some furniture/wall modifications) made me go for 32 inch LED. The picture quality of Pioneer or in general plasma is so much superior to LED/LCD. My opinion only.

[reignofchaos]

OT: Pioneers are in a class of their own. Even now the latest and greatest panasonics can't touch them.

[vasudeva]

It seems that someone saw the thread discussion yesterday and posted a match-up of Crucial M500 and Samsung 840 Pro

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...-ssd,3551.html

My buying view on SSD is at the conclusion:

``Speed alone doesn't make an SSD worth buying of course. Enhanced security and reliability features rate way up there, too''. With the kind of absolute speeds in SSDs, and the relatively minor speed differences in competition, reliability for a product that costs high for less matters the most to me.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Our ten-year-old Compaq laptop is getting less and less reliable. Can't really grumble at having had a decade out of it!

Thinking of buying a new one... my preferred make would be Lenovo, and I'd be looking for a model that comes with Windows 7, as I don't want to get Windows-Hate-ed .

One question: I have a full copy of Windows Office 2000. Functionalitity-wise, there is absolutely no need for us to upgrade from that, and I'm not keen on giving MS more money for something we don't want. Will Office 2000 run on W7, or have MS nobbled it?


.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

I'd be looking for a model that comes with Windows 7, as I don't want to get Windows-Hate-ed .

One question: I have a full copy of Windows Office 2000. Functionalitity-wise, there is absolutely no need for us to upgrade from that, and I'm not keen on giving MS more money for something we don't want. Will Office 2000 run on W7, or have MS nobbled it?

I have Office 2003 running in Windows 7 without any hitch. I see no reason why a slightly older version should upset Windows. Having said that some software designed for 32 bit OS refuse to work in 64 bit Win 7. One solution to such a problem is to install Oracle VirtualBox and install a 32 bit Windows ( Windows XP would do nicely) there.

Sorry if I state the obvious.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Not at all! I use Virtual Box in Linux for the occasional bit of XPing, but I don't know if it would have occurred to me to do the same in W7.

My wife will require Word and Excel --- and there is no way way that I can tell her that any open suite is a drop-in alternative, because, although I use it, I don't find it to be. I'm not sure she'll want to bother with VMs, though. Well, the purchase isn't on yet, but if are to do it, I want to do it while I still can get W7.

[IronH4WK]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

One question: I have a full copy of Windows Office 2000. Functionalitity-wise, there is absolutely no need for us to upgrade from that, and I'm not keen on giving MS more money for something we don't want. Will Office 2000 run on W7, or have MS nobbled it?

.

Office 2K will run just fine in Win7. What you might have issues with is the compatibility with newer versions of the .docx/ .xlsx/ .pptx files. I'm not sure (as I've not tried) you'll be able to open them.

Even if you do run into problems with Office 2K on Win7, you can always run it in Win XP SP3 compatibility mode.

[Aroy]

Originally Posted by IronH4WK

Office 2K will run just fine in Win7. What you might have issues with is the compatibility with newer versions of the .docx/ .xlsx/ .pptx files. I'm not sure (as I've not tried) you'll be able to open them.

Even if you do run into problems with Office 2K on Win7, you can always run it in Win XP SP3 compatibility mode.

You can download office file format converters from MKS site. Once installed the software will automatically detect and convert the new formats to office 2k format.
http://www.microsoft.com/en-in/downl...ails.aspx?id=3

[Thad E Ginathom]

Aroy, thanks... mostly it is backwards compatibility with existing docs, rather than anything new incoming, but thanks for that anyway. Although I hate it even more than Office (It does a bad job of trying to imitate Office), I use LibreOffice. Probably that will be up-to-date with reading MS formats, and even with writing some old ones.

(I hate Word and its LibreOffice imitator. On the other hand I rate Excel as being one of the best things MS ever produced)

Originally Posted by IronH4WK

Office 2K will run just fine in Win7. ... you can always run it in Win XP SP3 compatibility mode.

Oh, great, thanks for all that information.

I bailed out of the MS plane at XP, no nothing about the subsequent versions, and have zero enthusiasm to change that <Blush>, but I think 7 is not too foreign. My wife will probably get to grips with it long before I do.