SSD Upgrade for 5 year old Laptop

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Jul 22nd, 2021 11:57 pm

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Jul 16th, 2021 3:35 pm

kr0zet [OP]: Deal Fanatic; Jan 16, 2011; 7205 posts; 9230 upvotes; The NORTH

Jul 16th, 2021 3:35 pm

SSD Upgrade for 5 year old Laptop

Hey All;

TL;DR - Upgrading an old Asus K55A to an SSD, Does it really matter what brand SSD I go with?

Did a search here and googled as well, I seem to have gotten lost in the weeds here... I am upgrading an old Asus K55A (4Gb Ram, Ivy Bridge i5 CPU, Windows 10) for a family member and the laptop is solid but SLOW! It's only used a few times a week for web browsing, quickbooks and programming commercial LED signs. Not looking to get a new laptop but hoping to breath some new life into it with an SSD.

Does it matter if I get a WD Blue 3D NAND 500GB for $75, a Samsung 870 for $90 or a Kingston 480GB A400 for $65? The computer will defiantly not be pushing these drives to the limit. Haven't bought an SSD since my old Crucial C300...

Thanks for any tips from the experts.

PS - I'm gonna toss another 4 gb ram in it while im at it.

18 replies

Jul 16th, 2021 3:47 pm

coilz: Deal Fanatic; Jul 26, 2004; 5271 posts; 2274 upvotes

Jul 16th, 2021 3:47 pm

For simple web browsing and office work it doesn't really matter. People usually focus on the dram thing which the Blue 3d does have. It doesnt mean dram-less is "slow" .. just "slower" when compared to an ssd with dram in some situations. For alot of normal everyday usage you wont be able to tell the difference. I think the WD blue 3d is a fair middle ground since its only a little bit more than the Kingston and you wont have to think about " what if "

Going with the bigger brands will be a safe option.

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Jul 16th, 2021 4:03 pm

zerod: Member; Feb 9, 2008; 409 posts; 332 upvotes; Vancouver, BC

Jul 16th, 2021 4:03 pm

The Kingston one is pretty solid.

You might also benefit from a memory upgrade, if you can find some for a decent price (used).
Otherwise, they're around $70+ new on Amazon.

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Jul 16th, 2021 4:06 pm

coilz: Deal Fanatic; Jul 26, 2004; 5271 posts; 2274 upvotes

Jul 16th, 2021 4:06 pm

and good idea on adding additonal 4gb of ram to make it 8gb. I run a Thinkpad T420 with i7 2xxx (dual core/4 thread) as my everyday driver at work for office work and web browsing. Works just fine.

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Jul 16th, 2021 4:11 pm

kaws: Deal Addict; Oct 9, 2007; 1375 posts; 311 upvotes; Richmond Hill

Jul 16th, 2021 4:11 pm

Great idea on putting an SSD into that laptop. Performance is gonna be night and day with it.
It wouldn't matter too much which SSD you get from your list; just go with the most affordable. DRAM or not, you wouldn't see much difference, especially with that 'workload'.

The additional RAM will help with browsing and quickbooks.

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Jul 16th, 2021 5:01 pm

ji2o0k: Deal Expert; Oct 28, 2004; 24085 posts; 7246 upvotes; Toronto

Jul 16th, 2021 5:01 pm

Crucial MX series babbbbyyyyyy!!!

coilz wrote: ↑ and good idea on adding additonal 4gb of ram to make it 8gb. I run a Thinkpad T420 with i7 2xxx (dual core/4 thread) as my everyday driver at work for office work and web browsing. Works just fine.

well hello my twinsie / doppleganger!

I'm running a T420s i7 with Crucial MX500 2TB & 16Gb ram as my daily driver! Handles pretty much everything like a champ......

FS: Nothing at the moment
Heatware: 63-0-0

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Jul 16th, 2021 5:04 pm

Quentin5: Deal Expert; Feb 8, 2014; 30383 posts; 14037 upvotes; Socially Distanced

Jul 16th, 2021 5:04 pm

Reinstall windows and don't just clone it.
Windows rot is not as bad these days as yesteryear but its not obsolete.

There is probably a recovery CD or windows re-installer built into the laptop somewhere or it may have come with a DVD or flash drive. Or you may be able to contact Asus to get it.

In fact in Rand McNally they wear hats on their feet and hamburgers eat people

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Jul 16th, 2021 5:11 pm

middleofnowhere: Deal Addict; Dec 6, 2020; 1065 posts; 1222 upvotes

Jul 16th, 2021 5:11 pm

kr0zet wrote: ↑ Does it matter if I get a WD Blue 3D NAND 500GB for $75, a Samsung 870 for $90 or a Kingston 480GB A400 for $65?

It matters to an extent. Both the WD Blue and the Samsung EVO SSDs are very good choices for most users. Skip the Kingston.

There is a very dramatic performance difference between slightly cheaper corner-cut SSDs and full price SSDs. Spending even $20 less on a corner-cut SSD could mean ten times slower sustained (steady-state) write performance. This will have a major impact on how long heavy write episodes, such as Windows 10 feature updates, take to complete.

The Kingston A400 isn't ten times slower than an EVO, but it has no DRAM buffer and will, therefore, have lower burst write performance.

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Jul 16th, 2021 11:56 pm

M1K3Z0R: Deal Fanatic; May 11, 2009; 8178 posts; 5083 upvotes; Trudostan

Jul 16th, 2021 11:56 pm

Old computer + SSD = feels better than a new computer. Night/day difference, no exaggeration; i remember sticking a SSD into an old AF Pentium D 820 back in 2013 and was blown away by the speed boost - and that was running at SATA I speeds!

I'd stick with Samsung, Crucial(Micron) and WD when it comes to SSDs, never been disappointed with them. They'll easily outlive the computer, so consider the possibility of carrying it over to another machine or using it as an external down the road.

Kingston, ADATA, and other off-brand dirt cheap SSDs are probably okay if you are on a super tight budget, I'd rather pay a bit more and have some peace of mind what I'm buying and that the company stands behind its product.

SAMSUNG SUCKS! NO SSD WARRANTY IN CANADA > https://forums.redflagdeals.com/has-any ... d-2098075/

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Jul 17th, 2021 5:40 am

rabbit: Deal Guru; Jun 27, 2004; 14895 posts; 4114 upvotes; Vancouver.bc.ca

Jul 17th, 2021 5:40 am

I would get the WD Blue for $75, of the three you've listed.

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Jul 17th, 2021 7:07 am

kr0zet [OP]: Deal Fanatic; Jan 16, 2011; 7205 posts; 9230 upvotes; The NORTH

Jul 17th, 2021 7:07 am

Thanks everyone for the feedback. Ordered a Western Digital Blue and I have a 4gb SODIMM for this unit already. Figured for about a $100 I've saved this from the e-waste pile and given it a few more years of life easily.

Created a Windows 10 USB drive using the MS Windows Media Creation Tool and pulled the product key from the system. Once the WD arrives I'll do a fresh install and migrate the old needed data over.

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Jul 17th, 2021 7:17 am

BernardRyder: Deal Fanatic; Jun 16, 2009; 6981 posts; 7790 upvotes; GTA

Jul 17th, 2021 7:17 am

Get whatever is most affordable to you. Your needs aren't very demanding, so even a DRAM less one will suffice and perform night and day. I say this from experience, and that's from using those very cheap Chinese wacky name ones on Amazon (Torosus, Somnambulism, Asenno). But buy a name brand one of course, reliability on these is questionable.

Personally I'd install the SSD before reinstalling a fresh copy of Windows, the performance will probably be good enough you don't need to go through the extra labour. The nice thing with Crucial drives is you can download a free copy of Acronis cloning software to use with it and transfer your old system over

https://www.acronis.com/en-gb/promotion ... -download/

Most major SSD manufacturers seem to have a free cloning software package connected to them, so even if you don't buy a Crucial, do a Google search.

c'mon get happy!

+2

Jul 17th, 2021 11:11 am

CrazyJo82: Deal Addict; Oct 18, 2007; 4156 posts; 1413 upvotes

Jul 17th, 2021 11:11 am

So, I had just made the same change for a Lenovo L412. It was running window 7, 4GB and had a 160gb hdd. I just bought a Kingston A400 240GB and installed Win 10, there's still 190GB to use. If you're not going to install a lot of programs then 240/250GB SSD should be sufficient.

RFD is bad for your wallet's health 😂
Rogers EPP - $40 Canada/USA-wide + 6GB

+2

Jul 17th, 2021 4:32 pm

kr0zet [OP]: Deal Fanatic; Jan 16, 2011; 7205 posts; 9230 upvotes; The NORTH

Jul 17th, 2021 4:32 pm

CrazyJo82 wrote: ↑ So, I had just made the same change for a Lenovo L412. It was running window 7, 4GB and had a 160gb hdd. I just bought a Kingston A400 240GB and installed Win 10, there's still 190GB to use. If you're not going to install a lot of programs then 240/250GB SSD should be sufficient.

I had the same thought and was going to go for a smaller drive but for literally $15 to double the space 'just in case' was a better option for me. The old hard drive was a 500gb and was only 1/4 full...

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Jul 17th, 2021 5:09 pm

CrazyJo82: Deal Addict; Oct 18, 2007; 4156 posts; 1413 upvotes

Jul 17th, 2021 5:09 pm

kr0zet wrote: ↑ I had the same thought and was going to go for a smaller drive but for literally $15 to double the space 'just in case' was a better option for me. The old hard drive was a 500gb and was only 1/4 full...

That make sense.

RFD is bad for your wallet's health 😂
Rogers EPP - $40 Canada/USA-wide + 6GB

+2

Jul 17th, 2021 6:15 pm

tritium4ever: Deal Addict; Mar 1, 2003; 1806 posts; 299 upvotes; Scarborough

Jul 17th, 2021 6:15 pm

kr0zet wrote: ↑ I had the same thought and was going to go for a smaller drive but for literally $15 to double the space 'just in case' was a better option for me. The old hard drive was a 500gb and was only 1/4 full...

The other factor in choosing a larger drive is that in SSDs, the larger capacities of a given drive tend to perform better simply because they're using more NAND chips. So if a given drive exists in 250GB, 500GB, and 1TB versions, what you'll normally find is that the 500GB drive is faster than the 250GB version, and the 1TB is again faster than the 500GB version.

Larger drives also have more write endurance, though that's usually a minor thing since the overwhelming majority of users come nowhere near the limit before the drive becomes obsolete.

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Jul 22nd, 2021 6:54 pm

kr0zet [OP]: Deal Fanatic; Jan 16, 2011; 7205 posts; 9230 upvotes; The NORTH

Jul 22nd, 2021 6:54 pm

Just wanted to say thanks again for all the info passed on here. Received new WD SSD yesterday, did a fresh install from a USB stick of Windows 10 (old computer was a windows 8 upgraded to windows 10). Bought an external HDD enclosure at the same time and used it to migrate data from the old drive to the new drive. Boot up time has gone from literal minutes to 15 seconds. Apps load quickly and my family member is very happy with the results. The only casualty was that Office 2007 couldn't be transferred... I thought it wouldn't be an issue because I could always grab an office 2019 grey market key off ebay but it seems that ebay has cracked down on those. So I setup the free MS Office online account for them as they rarely use office anyway.

Thanks again all!

+3

Jul 22nd, 2021 7:09 pm

kenvin100: Deal Addict; Mar 15, 2008; 2324 posts; 881 upvotes

Jul 22nd, 2021 7:09 pm

ji2o0k wrote: ↑Crucial MX series babbbbyyyyyy!!!
well hello my twinsie / doppleganger!

I'm running a T420s i7 with Crucial MX500 2TB & 16Gb ram as my daily driver! Handles pretty much everything like a champ......

coilz wrote: ↑ and good idea on adding additonal 4gb of ram to make it 8gb. I run a Thinkpad T420 with i7 2xxx (dual core/4 thread) as my everyday driver at work for office work and web browsing. Works just fine.

X201Tablet user here LOL-running Windows 11.

SSD and Ram are game changers. I mean unless you want to play video games on it things like MS Office and RFD these oldies work like gold.

+1

Jul 22nd, 2021 11:57 pm

coilz: Deal Fanatic; Jul 26, 2004; 5271 posts; 2274 upvotes

Jul 22nd, 2021 11:57 pm

kr0zet wrote: ↑ The only casualty was that Office 2007 couldn't be transferred... I thought it wouldn't be an issue because I could always grab an office 2019 grey market key off ebay but it seems that ebay has cracked down on those. So I setup the free MS Office online account for them as they rarely use office anyway.

Just go with Open Office or Libre office or even Google docs. All reasonable free alternative if you're just using it for simple word office stuff.

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