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I participated in a server build training class at an Intel Event and one of the pieces of hardware we received was an 80 GB Intel X25-M SSD drive.

After reading Jeff Atwood's article about SSDs recently, I'm very tempted to keep this drive for a future laptop because he says they're blazing fast.

However, I wonder if I should sell it now for a quick ~$250.

I'm thinking about buying a new laptop for Visual Studio software development within the next year, and I wonder if I'd wish I hadn't sold the drive or if it's really that worth it to hang on to. Besides, $250 might even make it possible for me to afford a new laptop in the $500-$600 range.

Any suggestions from someone working with SSDs in this environment?

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why was the question and every answer changed to community wiki? Seems odd to me. – Ben McCormack Nov 18 at 12:40
It depends on the specifics, but I think I'd prefer a $350 laptop with the X25-M, rather than a $600 laptop without an SSD. An SSD is still a premium component, but it targets the real bottleneck in a computer. – sblair Nov 18 at 12:47
This question was switched based on prompts by the community. Your asking for opinions. There is no way someone will give an answer that is 100% correct based on facts. – Diago♦ Nov 19 at 5:33

closed as subjective and argumentative by Molly, joshhunt, harrymc, John T, Diago♦ Nov 19 at 5:33
It's impossible to objectively answer this question; questions of this type are too open ended and usually lead to confrontation and argument.

4 Answers

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THe history of computers says that it will be cheaper, later.

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And thus selling it now and buying another later would be good. – Daniel Nov 18 at 2:15
Exactly. Regards. – Xavierjazz Nov 18 at 2:23
True, but you have to eventually buy stuff sometime. In this question, bmccormack could transform his computer's performance today (or quite soon), by using his a fairly decent SSD. – sblair Nov 18 at 12:38
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If you don't have a use for it now, then economically it is better to sell it and put that money into your new laptop next year. Say at the moment it is worth $250, then next year it may only be worth $100. However next year you could potentially buy a way better SSD for $250 than the one you have now, or as you said get a much better laptop.

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The biggest problem with this drive is the capacity. If you can live with only 80GB in a laptop then by all means use it and enjoy the speed.

If you use a desktop then it would also make an excellent boot drive combined with a mechanical drive for storage. A combination I am using quite happily.

Otherwise you might as well sell it.

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I would put in whatever computer you use at the moment, and enjoy the results. I don't know exactly how much difference an SSD would make to a Visual Studio environment, but this answer claims that the improvement is quite significant.

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