OCZ Vertex SSD

On Wednesday of this week, I noticed that Amazon.com was running a special on the 30gb OCZ Vertex SSD. Excellent (long) tech review of SSD technology (with emphasis on the Vertex) here: The SSD Anthology: Understanding SSDs and New Drives from OCZ.[/quote]

Thanks to Amazon.com and UPS, my D150 is now running Ubuntu 9.04 from a SSD less than 48 hours later. Speed improvements are less impressive than I hoped for (about 20%) perhaps due to data transfer limits imposed by the D150 hardware. Intel SSDs are rated as slightly faster than Vertex line, but I don't think the Acer hardware can take advantage of the added speed. The 160gb HDD (Toshiba on mine) that comes with the D150 (and I suspect most other AA1 models) is plenty fast enough to keep up with the rest of the hardware. I had already implemented on the HDD most of the Netbook Optimization tips suggested by bodhizazen tip 'o the hat, sir), so perhaps those also reduce the performance differential between HDD and SSD.

Still, I now get lower power consumption (both the keyboard and the bottom of the case are noticeably cooler), it's slightly quieter, weighs an ounce or two less, has much improved shock resistance (1500G shock; 20G vibration), and I still have the original HDD available, should I feel an uncontrollable urge to run Windows. And, if I get a faster laptop down the road, I can just transfer the 2.5" drive.