SSD PC Laptops & Notebooks

Solid State Drive PC Laptops and Notebooks

Laptops and notebooks are increasingly being equipped with solid state drives. The performance boost provided by solid state memory provides very real advantages for users.

Solid state drives provide a computer with non-volatile memory. In other words, data written onto a solid state drive will remain there after the computer is powered off. To achieve this, a solid state drive uses the same type of flash memory found in a USB memory stick but on a far larger scale. The solid state title comes from the fact that, unlike a traditional hard drive, it contains no moving parts. Unlike a memory stick, though, solid state drives are designed for internal use in a computer as a replacement for a hard drive. Once a niche technology, solid state drives have become increasingly common in both laptop and desktop computers as capacities have risen and prices have fallen.

Solid state memory has a few important advantages over the traditional HDD with its moving parts. Solid state drives can write and access data much faster, providing quicker load times and generally snappier performance. This is particularly noticeable with more complex functions such as editing media and playing games and SSD users can also enjoy faster boot times. The elimination of moving parts also makes SSDs more durable with no fragile arms to break. For laptop and notebook users in particular, the smaller form factor of solid state memory is a major advantage, allowing the razor-thin and ultra-portable designs that are so popular with consumers.

Solid state drives are becoming increasingly common in new-build laptops. Manufacturers such as Lenovo, Microsoft and Apple have adopted them widely, particularly in their premium models. The potentially smaller size of solid state drives makes them a better fit for slimline notebooks and their lower power draw also helps to make a smaller battery go further. Their speedy reading and writing capability also makes them a natural fit for gaming laptops.

While solid state drives possess some very real advantages over hard disk drives, upgrading to an SSD laptop can be a major step. External solid state drives provide most of the same performance benefits. They also provide a way to supplement an existing SSD-equipped laptop with even more high-speed storage. While the price per gigabyte of storage is higher than for HDDs, 2 TB solid state drives and other high-capacity options are still widely available.