Would replacing regular HDD with SSD boost speed & performance significantly on my HP 15 Notebook ?

[Ramesh-Iyer]

Hi,

The regular HGST (Hitachi) hard drive failed on my HP 15 Notebook and I chose to replace it with a spare Seagate Momentus 500Gb HDD (due to urgency). I read in some other posts on this forum that SSDs boost speed of startup and general performance much more than conventional hard drives. Also, seems SSDs consume less power and generate less heat, which is great for notebooks. Though SSDs are still quite expensive compared to regular HDDs (a regular 500Gb notebook HDD costs about Rs. 3500, i.e. $50 approx.), while an SSD of 240Gb capacity from Samsung / Kingston available on Amazon.in costs about Rs. 5000 ($70 approx.). So, an SSD of half the capacity of a regular HDD still costs a lot more 😞

Would consider replacing my current HDD with an SSD if it's worth the investment (I intend using this notebook for two more years).

Also, please confirm if my model supports SSDs, as it probably has only one bay to hold either a regular HDD or an SSD. Would help if you can suggest a good make/model of SSD as well. Thanks a lot.

Cheers !

Ramesh

[Huffer]

Unequivocally, indisputably absolutely yes. An SSD is the only thing to have for all the reasons you identify. Your model will accept one just fine. The best consumer model is the Samsung 850 Evo, but you can safely shop on price. OCZ, Kingston, Crucial, Transcend, SanDisk, all make good ones. 

Do you need installation instructions? You already did the hard drive so an SSD is no different. Don't overthink it. Your hardware is new enough that you can just treat the SSD as a hard drive and install. No elaborate tweaks or configuration should be needed. I have installed in dozens of machines and for some reason just never get the problems some people report. I have run into incompatibility where particular computers just do not like some SSDs. The Samsung Evo 850 seems to be the most widely compatible. 

[WAWood · Accepted solution]

Ramesh-lyer

I second the advice of Huffer regarding SSDs and laptops. 

I replaced the spinner in my 2011 HP laptop with an SSD and it's like getting a new machine.  It boots instantly and runs a lot faster, plus I don't have to worry about the spinning drive going bad.

An SSD is the best investment for improving the performance of a laptop.

Good Luck

[Ramesh-Iyer]

Thank you Huffer and WAWood. Shall go with your advise and buy a compatible SSD for my laptop.