Is this a good computer?

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Definitely one of the largest, but is hugely expensive because of it. SSDs are not large enough to be taken seriously as archival drives. Ideally, you'd buy one for the OS and all your applications, one for the graphics projects you're actively working on, then inexpensive HDDs for everything else.

In 6 months SSD's will be nearing the standard and have larger capacities for less expensive. I think the old tech drives actually cost more to make and these new releases are covering the R&D o9r until the volume is up higher as non-traditional hard drive corps are making the technology. SSD is actually an older technology that used to be used for larger corps and government I think.

That drive won't be much cheaper in six months. 60 and 90 GB drives however, will be at the perfect price for anyone. Hard disk drives aren't going anywhere anytime soon. They're still going to be everybody's primary storage drives for the next several years, as they'll be the only things capable of inexpensively holding everybody's 1080P movies and lossless audio files.

In one year you will see the 512GB and 1TB versions. The 256GB one will be in the $200 range. I'm just going to get a 256GB in 6 months as that is all I need for some time and build my own computer from newegg.com. I think I still have the ability to do that but it's been a while.

Wait, you ask us if your computer is good and then you turn around and make ridiculous claims about the speed of technological advances in the field of computer hardware? I've been building computers since I was 14 and I remember when 160gbs was WHOA and yet 6 years later we're only at 2tb and you're telling me that SSD technology is going to advance at over 500% the rate that hard drives have been?

Yeah, and by that same time, there will be 4 TB HDDs. There's a 3 TB drive out right now. Dollar-per-gig, SSDs can't match HDDs, and won't for some time. The cost of storing 100 uncompressed 1080p bluray rips on an SSD dwarfs what it would cost on a HDD. Unless one wants instant access to every file they've stored while only using 10 watts to do it, there's no reason to use an SSD as anything but a system speed booster. Also, solid state drives evolved out of NAND flash, and are cutting edge. The only thing more recent is the bleeding edge 3D optical data storage tech that's not even available for commercial manufacturing.

Your basing your judgement on irrelevant factors.

Just wait and see.

I can remember when 8MB of ram and 120MB hard drive and 1/2-1MB 16-bit video was the standard back when windows 3.1 was out. I've built over 1,000 computers, made my first computers at 11 and was entirely obsessed with market trends in prices for some ten years. That was my life.

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Early SSDs using RAM and similar technology

The origins of SSDs came from the 1950s using two similar technologies, magnetic core memory and card capacitor read-only store (CCROS).[3][4] These auxiliary memory units, as they were called at the time, emerged during the era of vacuum tube computers. But with the introduction of cheaper drum storage units, their use was discontinued.[5] Later, in the 1970s and 1980s, SSDs were implemented in semiconductor memory for early supercomputers of IBM, Amdahl and Cray;[6] however, the prohibitively high price of the built-to-order SSDs made them quite seldom used.

In 1978, Texas Memory Systems introduced a 16 kilobyte (KB) RAM solid-state drive to be used by oil companies for seismic data acquisition.[7] The following year, StorageTek developed the first modern type of solid-state drive.[8] The Sharp PC-5000, introduced in 1983, used 128 kilobyte solid-state storage cartridges, containing bubble memory.[9] In 1984 Tall grass Company had a tape back up unit of 40 MB with a solid state 20 MB unit built in. The 20 MB unit could be used instead of a hard drive.[citation needed] In September 1986, Santa Clara Systems introduced BatRam, 4 megabyte (MB) mass storage system expandable to 20 MB using 4 MB memory modules. The package included a rechargeable battery to preserve the memory chip contents when the array was not powered.[10] 1987 saw the entry of EMC Corporation into the SSD market, with drives introduced for the mini-computer market. However, EMC exited the business soon after.[11]

Enterprise flash drives

Enterprise flash drives (EFDs) are designed for applications requiring high I/O performance (IOPS), reliability, and energy efficiency. In most cases an EFD is an SSD with a higher set of specifications compared to SSDs which would typically be used in notebook computers. The term was first used by EMC in January 2008, to help them identify SSD manufacturers who would provide products meeting these higher standards.[19] There are no standards bodies who control the definition of EFDs, so any SSD manufacturer may claim to produce EFDs when they may not actually meet the requirements. Likewise there may be other SSD manufacturers that meet the EFD requirements without being called EFDs.[20]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solid-state_drive

I have no reason to have any storage above 256GB. That seems to be the range that will last me a good 4 -7 years and if needed I can add another drive. It's the speed I need.

You're casting your net way too wide. What ever was done in the analog era is irrelevant to digital storage. Sure, they're linked, but only tenuously.

I am not sure if your speaking to me or not. Consumer demand will continue to shift to SSD's and with that prices will go down because of volume production. To continue selling them they will continue to advance the speed and capacity in order to provoke sales.

You don't have enough data to make that assumption The vast majority of the market doesn't know what SSDs are or that they even exist. The drives themselves are largely limited to the enthusiast market. Laptops still use HDDs - some of them still 5400 rpm. When the general consumer first looks at an SSD side-by-side with a typical HDD, they're going to go "WTF?" because they won't understand the technical explanation behind the 256 GB vs 4 TB choice they're being given for $200. It's going to take more than a year for SSDs to break out of the enthusiast market and be able to compete with HDDs in the cost-per-gig sector.

The transition will take place as the enthusiast market goes from those that build their own to those akin to gang banger posers that look on the dell site for instance and want one like someone else they know because games go faster. As for SSD being in the computer section of stores inside of computer for sale? No that will take longer but as demand increases as I said prices will go down. Right now I'm just to cheap to buy one despite being able to afford several 256GB drives. Ultimately they will replace or something evolved from SSD will replace the more mechanical drives as time goes on.

In 6 months prices will be cheaper and in 1 year much cheaper. Side by side to the old style drives still more expensive. Fundamentally I do not see a disagreement.

That's never happened before, and there's no reason it would now, especially when it's still so transparently obvious that pre-built systems are inferior to self-made ones. If that's the impression you get of the enthusiast market, then you must not have been to [H]ard|Forum or OCN. They're everything but "posers", and know their stuff. Some of them have been into PC building as long as you have, and delight in helping others do what they do. I can easily out-build any pre-fab on the market - why? Because it's not that tough to do. I still urge you to check out OCN; I have an account there as well if you want a familiar avatar. It's a great community so long as you don't come in acting like you'll never need help with anything. That's what the place is for; helping each other build the best rigs they can.


They'll be cheaper, but not by enough to warrant the larger ones over the also decreasing smaller ones, and definitely not enough if space is an issue. I bought my SSD about six months ago at about $200, and now it's $130. A nice drop, but not at the 50% mark.

All I am trying to say is trend behavior lead to more consumption and this consumption increases production making for cheaper prices. Also additional brands are entering into the market. Posers were those finding out about the technology and wanting it from Dell for instance, HP and so on that have other brands build the computers for them and then those major manufactures start offering systems with them or upgrades from the old drives. I think some people or more will begin to realize they don't need 2 - 4 TB and just want it for speed because someone else advised this. While there are some additional factors the old style of drives obviously to me are on the way out and as they increase in capacity and volume increasing lowering costs this will seal the deal. Obviously the typical brands making hard drives may also create SSD drives or else the new hard drive brands will try to be more competitive to gain the market edge. In either scenario if more brands enter into the SSD market that will effect prices.

Let see in 6 months and 1 year from now and post on this topic again.