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jake898

77 Posts

107644

March 8th, 2011 02:00

SSD Drive for XPS Laptop

Does anyone know what kind of SSD drive comes with the Dell XPS Laptop? The customizer just lists a 256GB SSD option, for an extra $600. Probably not predictable, huh.

I'm thinking I can do better buying one on my own - getting one for a better price, my choice of name brands, features, etc.

Can anyone recommend what I should be seeking to make sure it's compatible with a new XPS laptop (like L701x or L501x)? Should I just simply be looking for an SSD drive with a 2.5" laptop form factor and SATA interface? Any special caddy needed? Any special version of SATA? Any special speed (Mbps) limit?

After getting and installing such a drive, I figure I'd clone over the recovery partition from the original non-SSD drive (just in case), then install Windows 7 from scratch.

Sidenote: the Windows 7 that comes pre-installed on the non-SSD hard drive (and its recover partition) is probably meant to work on a non-SSD hard drive. Would this make the recovery partition's version sort of useless once I get myself an SSD drive?

Thanks!

-jake898

 

DELL-Chris M

Community Manager

 • 

54.2K Posts

March 9th, 2011 05:00

jake898,

I do not see an SSD drive on L501X parts page.

XPS L701X Samsung PM800
XPS L701X, XPS L702X Samsung PM810
XPS L401X, XPS L702X Liteon

jake898

77 Posts

March 9th, 2011 20:00

Thanks for chiming in, Chris.

Does that imply that I could not buy my own SSD drive and pop it into an XPS L501X ?

 

bacillus

14.4K Posts

March 10th, 2011 00:00

There should be no reason why you can't swap any 2.5" ssd in place of your present hdd.

DELL-Chris M

Community Manager

 • 

54.2K Posts

March 10th, 2011 18:00

No, it just means we never validated it. It may or may not work.

jake898

77 Posts

March 10th, 2011 19:00

Thanks, guys.

Ok, so what do I need to know before buying an SSD on my own? As long as it's 2.5"/laptop and SATA connector/interface I'm (probably) good?

 

bacillus

14.4K Posts

March 11th, 2011 03:00

Thanks, guys.

Ok, so what do I need to know before buying an SSD on my own? As long as it's 2.5"/laptop and SATA connector/interface I'm (probably) good?

Pretty much! I put a crucial c300 in my old  inspiron laptop and it flies...

der_Geist

61 Posts

March 20th, 2011 22:00

I am also considering an upgrade for my XPS m1330, I want to make this extremely and unreliable expensive laptop run as long as possible, since I bought it in 2007 for a 2300euro prime price, Dell has replaced EVERYTHING, from the monitor, keyboard, speakers, to the mainboard with the nvidia graphic card (4x), until i decided to ditch the expensive mainboard with nvidia for a normal mainboard without it. this laptop as cool as it looks, and as nice as it worked when new, hasn´t been anything but headaches. Thats why I want to make it last as long as I can.

 

Lately my HDD has been starting to get hot, in the last 2 weeks, something that didnt happen, there is an option of a 500GB 7200 rpm for a reasonable price, but since I might be forced to ditch Dell laptops once and forever (until they start producing the great quality laptops they used to before 2007), I decided to go for an SSD drive and give it a try, who knows maybe I can still spare a 2grand for a couple of years.

 

As I am also a neophite in the SSD field could anyone:

- suggest me a compatible SSD drive for this laptop in particular? Would it be compatible with other laptops (dell)

- I dont know what format is my hdd 2.5" , 1.8" - and I dont remember which HDD controller the xps m1330 has (SATA?)

-  can I go for a SSD 256GB or 512GB??

- which are the brands, and average prices?

- what should I look for in order to get something that will work as flawlessly as possible with my XPS m1330.

 

I would appreciate any info!

Thanks in advance!

jake898

77 Posts

March 21st, 2011 16:00

Hi, Der_Geist:

Sorry, I can't help you with your m1330 laptop specifically, but here are some things about SSD drives that I think you should consider. I've been learning about SSDs lately myself:

  • 1.8" is mainly for netbooks and very small laptops. Given your laptop's age, I feel pretty confident it's made to hold 2.5" hard drives. Want to be sure? Go to Dell's Parts/Accessories shopping area and call up the parts for your specific laptop, then review the details of the various replacement drives Dell sells for that laptop. Check out the specs. You may need to review more than 1 drive.
  • When viewing the specs of compatible Dell drives, as I suggested above, you should see if SATA is the interface that your computer uses. It probably is. The different versions (SATA II, SATA III) are inter-/backward compatible, so no problem there.
  • Larger is better for SSD drives. Not just for your own stuff, but for wear-leveling, as the drive needs more space to efficiently write/re-write data. Read the Wikipedia entry on SSDs to get the scoop. Anyhow, the larger the drive, theoretically the faster it'll be for you (unless you fill it to the brim with data).
  • If you're using Windows XP, I hear that an SSD drive won't work well, so don't bother. I think you need Windows 7, Windows Vista, or Linux to properly handle the i/o from/to an SSD drive.
  • I'd recommend a clean format and install of your OS, rather than a cloning of the drive.
  • I hear good manufacturers of SSD drives are: OCZ, Samsung, Intel, Crucial

Good luck.

-jake898

 

der_Geist

61 Posts

March 22nd, 2011 16:00

jake898,

 

thanks for your reply =),

it was very informative, I have been checking the SSD options, but to be honest, a 500usd price for 256GB is still to steep, I can get a new toshiba portege R700 for 700 usd!!!

 

therefore I decided to upgrade the HDD to a 500GB 7200RPM for 100usd. The SSD will have to come instaled in my next laptop.

 

 

 

 

 

Sifta

2 Posts

May 27th, 2014 08:00

Hi Jake,

The SSD in my XPS 13 Ultrabook is a custom chip, about 2 cm by 4 cm. I managed to purchase a 480GB upgrade from crucial dot com that works fine.

Sifta

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