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Can anyone tell me what type of HD this is.....

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    #2
    Spear
    Moderators, Computer Games Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators, Help & Feedback Category Moderators Posts: 25,313 CMod ✭✭✭✭Spear


    The_Chopper wrote: »
    Hi I am looking to buy the following laptop http://www.alienware.co.uk/configurator_pages/area-51_m17x.aspx?SysCode=PC-EU-LT-A51M17X&SubCode=SKU-DEFAULT&source=418

    I want to upgrade the HD on this but thing the prices on the site are ridiculous. Can someone tell me if this is 2.5 SATA or a 3.5 SATA?

    Also if it's a 3.5 SATA would this be a good HD to buy? http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=343055

    Thanks

    It's a 3.5 inch SATA, you can tell from the categories on the left.


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    #3
    The_Chopper
    Registered Users Posts: 2,049 ✭✭✭The_Chopper


    Spear wrote: »
    It's a 3.5 inch SATA, you can tell from the categories on the left.

    Thank you - so this would be a good hard drive then?


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    #4
    Spear
    Moderators, Computer Games Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators, Help & Feedback Category Moderators Posts: 25,313 CMod ✭✭✭✭Spear


    The_Chopper wrote: »
    Thank you - so this would be a good hard drive then?

    Not for a laptop.


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    #5
    The_Chopper
    Registered Users Posts: 2,049 ✭✭✭The_Chopper


    Spear wrote: »
    Not for a laptop.

    Why not? Obviously my ability to upgrade parts will be a huge factor in whether i purchase this or not - so I want to find the best possible affordable parts for this deal.......

    Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated


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    #6
    Spear
    Moderators, Computer Games Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators, Help & Feedback Category Moderators Posts: 25,313 CMod ✭✭✭✭Spear


    The_Chopper wrote: »
    Why not? Obviously my ability to upgrade parts will be a huge factor in whether i purchase this or not - so I want to find the best possible affordable parts for this deal.......

    Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated

    It's too big to fit in a laptop, as they normally use 2 1/2 inch disks.


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    #7
    ethernet
    Registered Users Posts: 3,568 ✭✭✭ethernet


    The_Chopper wrote: »
    Why not? Obviously my ability to upgrade parts will be a huge factor in whether i purchase this or not - so I want to find the best possible affordable parts for this deal.......

    Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated
    Laptops use the smaller 2.5" drives, usually running at 5,400 rpm to conserve battery power and reduce heat.


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    #8
    Cuddlesworth
    Registered Users Posts: 13,995 ✭✭✭✭Cuddlesworth


    The_Chopper wrote: »
    Why not? Obviously my ability to upgrade parts will be a huge factor in whether i purchase this or not - so I want to find the best possible affordable parts for this deal.......

    Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated

    Its a laptop, by buying it you have chopped most if not all upgrade ability. Its the inherent problem with laptops and is the reason why desktops are still superior, especially in terms of gaming.

    All you can change on it would be the hard-drive tbh. And what hard-drive you decide to get would depend on how much you are willing to spend, how much storage space you want and how much speed do you want?

    What are you going to be using the laptop for?


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    #9
    PogMoThoin
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,874 ✭✭✭✭PogMoThoin


    Its a laptop, its not for upgrading


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    #10
    Nforce
    Registered Users Posts: 2,924 ✭✭✭Nforce


    I beg to differ. Laptops can be upgraded...although parts can be expensive. I've upgraded the processor,memory,graphics,hard drives and optical drive on my old laptop (Alienware M9700).


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    #11
    The_Chopper
    Registered Users Posts: 2,049 ✭✭✭The_Chopper


    Spear wrote: »
    It's too big to fit in a laptop, as they normally use 2 1/2 inch disks.

    Ok I'm a little confused as you said in your first post that it was 3.5?

    All i'm looking to upgrade is the RAM (komplett) and hard drive - this would make it very worthit to me as they are the most expensive things to upgrade (i.e. bad value for money IMO)

    Thanks for the replies


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    #12
    Nforce
    Registered Users Posts: 2,924 ✭✭✭Nforce


    The Alienware M17 uses 2.5" sata hard drives. Thats what you'll be needing


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    #13
    Spear
    Moderators, Computer Games Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators, Help & Feedback Category Moderators Posts: 25,313 CMod ✭✭✭✭Spear


    The_Chopper wrote: »
    Ok I'm a little confused as you said in your first post that it was 3.5?

    All i'm looking to upgrade is the RAM (komplett) and hard drive - this would make it very worthit to me as they are the most expensive things to upgrade (i.e. bad value for money IMO)

    Thanks for the replies

    Because the hard disk you linked to was a 3.5 inch hard disk.


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    #14
    The_Chopper
    Registered Users Posts: 2,049 ✭✭✭The_Chopper


    Spear wrote: »
    Because the hard disk you linked to was a 3.5 inch hard disk.

    Sorry didn't word the question correctly I was refering to whether the hard drive on the laptop was 2.5 or 3.5

    So this is more what i'm looking for http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=358193?


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    #15
    Nforce
    Registered Users Posts: 2,924 ✭✭✭Nforce


    Yep...that WD drive will be fine

    PS what sort of spec are you going for with the M17X....very tempted by one myself with X9000 and dual 8800GTX cards


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    #16
    The_Chopper
    Registered Users Posts: 2,049 ✭✭✭The_Chopper


    Nforce wrote: »
    Yep...that WD drive will be fine

    PS what sort of spec are you going for with the M17X....very tempted by one myself with X9000 and dual 8800GTX cards

    Hi,

    Originally I was thinking of a dell XPS M1730, however now the price doesn't even include the dual graphics card so I think I'm going to leave that (still not sure).

    What I'm eyeing up is the following specs:
    - Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T9300 2.5GHz (6MB Cache 800MHz FSB) [+€192]
    - Dual 256MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ Go 8600M GT – SLI Enabled
    - Additional Battery - Alienware® m17x 12-cell Lithium-Ion Additional Battery [+€97]
    - Going to upgrade my RAM through komplett(crucial)
    - Going to upgrade my harddrive though komplett - but will probably go with this for now 160GB 7200 RPM SATA with Free Fall Protection [+€81] (and use it as a portable drive later)

    Is this worth getting? Intel Turbo Cache Memory 1GB – Accelerate Data Transfer Speed [+€39]

    What are you thinking of yourself?


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    #17
    Nforce
    Registered Users Posts: 2,924 ✭✭✭Nforce


    Wouldn't bother with the TurboCache memory. Also the Go 8600M GT cards are a pile of poo....you'd be better off getting a single 8800GTX and getting a second card when funds allow. I'm considering getting the quadcore X9000 chip,dual 8800GTX gfx,maybe a 128gb ssd + 500gb sata hdd, bluray burner etc. Gotta sell some of my old laptops and PC components first,though.:)


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    #18
    Cuddlesworth
    Registered Users Posts: 13,995 ✭✭✭✭Cuddlesworth


    Tbh, if you were going to spend that much on a laptop I would recommend buying a SSD drive like this;

    http://www.dabs.ie/productview.aspx?Quicklinx=55VK

    Since the laptop takes two hard-drives you could buy a large capacity slow drive for storage and use the SSD for the OS and whatever games you play the most.

    It would be a big difference in performance.


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    #19
    The_Chopper
    Registered Users Posts: 2,049 ✭✭✭The_Chopper


    Nforce wrote: »
    Wouldn't bother with the TurboCache memory. Also the Go 8600M GT cards are a pile of poo....you'd be better off getting a single 8800GTX and getting a second card when funds allow. I'm considering getting the quadcore X9000 chip,dual 8800GTX gfx,maybe a 128gb ssd + 500gb sata hdd, bluray burner etc. Gotta sell some of my old laptops and PC components first,though.:)

    Good point, I'll probably upgrade the video card.
    Cuddlesworth wrote: »
    Tbh, if you were going to spend that much on a laptop I would recommend buying a SSD drive like this;

    http://www.dabs.ie/productview.aspx?Quicklinx=55VK

    Since the laptop takes two hard-drives you could buy a large capacity slow drive for storage and use the SSD for the OS and whatever games you play the most.

    It would be a big difference in performance.

    Would you mind explaining to me what is so good about this HD? What's SSD? Why is this 64gb HD so much better than anyone alienware offers?


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    #20
    Spear
    Moderators, Computer Games Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators, Help & Feedback Category Moderators Posts: 25,313 CMod ✭✭✭✭Spear


    The_Chopper wrote: »
    Good point, I'll probably upgrade the video card.



    Would you mind explaining to me what is so good about this HD? What's SSD? Why is this 64gb HD so much better than anyone alienware offers?

    It's a solid state device, much faster than a hard disk.


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    #21
    Cuddlesworth
    Registered Users Posts: 13,995 ✭✭✭✭Cuddlesworth


    The_Chopper wrote: »
    Would you mind explaining to me what is so good about this HD? What's SSD? Why is this 64gb HD so much better than anyone alienware offers?

    Most systems nowdays are limited by the fact that in the last 15 years hard-drive tech has remained pretty static. All hard-drives were still the only true mechanical devices still within pc's and were still plagued by the mechanical faults caused by a magnetic disk spinning at breakneck speeds.

    Hard-drive performance can be measured by:

    Size; The total storage capacity of the drive
    Transfer Speed; How quickly it could read and write data

    and the important one

    Latency; How quickly the drive could get to the information.

    Why latency is important is that when retrieving information off the hardrive it was placed all over the damm thing. This lead to slowdown as the drive was always skipping from one end to the other. The solution before SSD drives was to increase rotational speed (5400rpm, 7200rpm, 10,000rpm, 15krpm) etc. This meant that as the drive spun faster it was quicker to move from one end to the other.

    Latency on SSD drives like the one listed above is non-existent due to the fact they are based on Flash memory. Transfer speeds have also become quite fast. All you sacrifice is storage space(as they are still quite expensive in comparison). But you will get a much faster response then using a conventional hard-drive. Especially in a laptop where due to the size and heat requirements hard-drives are inherently slower then the desktop inequivalent.


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