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I have a Dell Studio XPS 1340 which is around 2 years old but I really like it and would like to wait a year or two more before I get a new one.

However, I can see the harddrive is slowing it down quite a bit, and would like to replace the current one with an SSD.

The problem is – I have no idea what kind of and SSD I need? What type of interface does it use?

Here are some pictures:

Here's part of my lshw output:

description: SATA controller
product: MCP79 AHCI Controller
vendor: nVidia Corporation
physical id: b
bus info: pci@0000:00:0b.0
logical name: scsi0
logical name: scsi1
version: b1
width: 32 bits
clock: 66MHz
capabilities: storage pm msi ahci_1.0 bus_master cap_list emulated
configuration: driver=ahci latency=0 maxlatency=1 mingnt=3
resources: irq:40 ioport:30e8(size=8) ioport:30dc(size=4) ioport:30e0(size=8) ioport:30d8(size=4) ioport:30c0(size=16)
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Marcus, give us more information on the hard drive - it looks like there might be some confusion on whether the hard drive is IDE or SATA. Go to the device manager (through Control Panel, or if you have vista/win7, just type device manager in start menu), and type down the name of the hard drive, just like here: imgur.com/yWYu4 – Amadeu Jan 29 at 15:14
I do not have windows installed. But I have dumped the output of "sudo lshw" here: pastebin.ca/2107453 – Marcus Jan 29 at 15:42
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5 Answers

up vote 2 down vote accepted

According to WikiPedia the Studio XPS 13 was/is even available with an SSD. It also indicates that the drives are SATA (the fact that the computer also has an eSATA port kinda hints that SATA is the way to go).

Sadly, I couldn't find out what SSDs are originally placed in the XPS1340. But if you can reach someone at Dell, I'm sure they'd be able to tell you.

Btw, here's the official hard drive replacement guide.

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up vote 1 down vote

It looks like that computer is a Core2Duo which would put it in the era of SATA II SSDs. They will have a max transfer rate of 300MBps. You will want to make sure that the SSD that you get will match this. You should also look into a SSD that supports TRIM. I would recommend getting a SATAIII SSD since you will most likely not use the laptop for a long time before you decide to get another one and this way you would at least have a SSD that would work well in the new laptop.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148442

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You are correct that it is a core2duo laptop. However, as Simon Verbeke points out - do you really think it looks like a SATA? – Marcus Jan 29 at 14:42
It looks like SATA. Plus, they didn't make Core2Duos with IDE HDDs. – kobaltz Jan 29 at 14:54
@kobaltz your CPU has nothing to do with your drive controller. – kinokijuf Jan 29 at 17:59
True. But I know that the Core2Duo processors were released when SATA2 was available and before SATA3 existed. It's like saying, does my Pentium 200MHz computer have AGP or PCIE. No, but it does have PCI. Not based on the CPU, but the era... Like I said in my answer. The Core2Duo would put it in the ERA of SATA2. – kobaltz Jan 29 at 18:19
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up vote 1 down vote

Go to the Dell warranty support site for your region and enter the servcie tag. This will provide you the original build/config list which should give you the hard drive info you wish. It appears to be SATA as noted by others and the general spec.

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up vote -2 down vote

It looks like an IDE port to me, though I'm not 100% sure.

If it is, it might be hard to find an SSD. Here's a list of IDE SSD's on Amazon.

Ideally, you will want enough place for Windows and your most used programs. A 32GB SSD will be enough for Windows and maybe a few programs, but certainly not large games.

64GB allows for some games to be placed on the SSD. If you want enough space, go for 120GB/128GB. Anything above that will be to expensive per GB.

Another thing to look for is that it has TRIM available.

As far as speed goes, IDE will not get you much. Also, when you buy a new PC, you will most likely not be able to use the SSD. Everything is SATA nowadays.

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Not my downvote, but I think it's a SATA harddrive. Do you think there could be an IDE to SATA adapter? – Amadeu Jan 29 at 15:11
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up vote -2 down vote

You have IDE disk with SATA converter. Any SSD will do.

https://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/sxl13/en/sm/hdd.htm#wp1109848

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