SSD Minicard Vs. Single SSD Configuration

[palmstar85]

I am currently looking at buying a new laptop. I was a little confused on which storage configuration would give the best performance for the money spent. The Laptop is a Dell Precision M4500. The three storage configurations are:

a.) 64 Gb. PCIe SSD Minicard and 128 Gb. SSD

b.) 64 Gb. PCIe SSD Minicard and 500 GB HD 7500 RPM

c.) 256 Gb. SSD


Now i was initially going to get configuration A. but then i got to thinking that maybe i should take the money that i was going to spend on the SSD MiniCard and put that towards a Bigger SSD which probably has better I/O performance than the SSD Minicard. I know that normally you would run the OS and Applications on the Minicard and then pair it with a bigger cheaper Hard drive for storage. Would i even want to pair an SSD with a Minicard or would i be better off buying a bigger better single SSD. I am going to use this computer for work and do not need a lot of storage. Can you put the minicard and an SSD in a raid configuration? Would it be a waste of money to purchase the Minicard and an SSD together? I tried to search the internet to see if there was any benefit to having a SSD Minicard as opposed to a single SSD and could not find anything. Any light that could be shed on this to better help me make my decision would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

[house70]

For what you said that you need, option C is the one to get. If you need bigger storage, go with B (minicard for the OS and 500 GB for data). Option A is useful if PC is bumped around a lot, as SSDs are immune to shocks (within reasonable limits), and would need to have sensitive data separated from the OS. That way, if the OS disk fails or is compromised security-wise, the data on the oher disk would be safe.
It all comes down to what will be the use scenario for the system. Pick the one that fits your needs best.

 

[palmstar85]

Best answer selected by palmstar85.