HP 5101 - SSD or 7200?

ralph123 · 23rd September 2009, 10:26 PM

Anyone got one of these?

How do you find performance?

Build looks quite solid.

I'm wondering how much performance gain will i get from the SSD vs 7200 drive? Is it worth the trade off of speed for space? as it only has the 80 gig SSD model available.

firepower · 24th September 2009, 1:28 PM

my work mate bought one after i recommeded it, best feature is its 10" matt 1366 x 768 res LCD, ssd are faster but not greatly remember you still using single core atom with basic GPU. I would go for larger HDD and more memory
can buy for about $600 with XP and 160GB and 1GB ram or about $800 with 320GB HDD and 2GB ram and vista/W7 the SSD version is a lot more.

Narcoticx2 · 24th September 2009, 1:47 PM

If you can survive on less space and can afford the SSD, go for it. In general computing it helps significantly, and i'd be guessing if you're considering a 7200RPM/SSD drive then you'll already be upgrading the ram.

Apparently SSD's are that good

(I haven't got one myself)

ralph123 · 24th September 2009, 8:08 PM

yeah after doing a bit of reading i decided on the 7200 RPM HD,., i'm not very good at being organising my space and so i dont think i could handle the lack of space :P will let you know how it is. When i get it i plan to put Windows 7 on it straight away.

psynapse · 24th September 2009, 8:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by firepower

my work mate bought one after i recommeded it, best feature is its 10" matt 1366 x 768 res LCD, ssd are faster but not greatly remember you still using single core atom with basic GPU. I would go for larger HDD and more memory
can buy for about $600 with XP and 160GB and 1GB ram or about $800 with 320GB HDD and 2GB ram and vista/W7 the SSD version is a lot more.

WHere have you seen these netbooks being sold for around $600?

$820 is the cheapest i've seen in my limited searches

figrin · 25th September 2009, 9:25 AM

I have a MSI Wind (N270 - overclock to 2G) with a 120G OCZ Vertex. I swapped the original hard drive out pretty much immediately when I got it and installed win7.

However, I do not recommend this setup, and will be pulling the SSD out from the netbook in the future. To me, the Atom is holding everything back, and I do not see that much benefit in a SSD with such underpower CPU.

firepower · 30th September 2009, 2:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by psynapse

WHere have you seen these netbooks being sold for around $600?

$820 is the cheapest i've seen in my limited searches

from static ice

Price Description
$574.00

HP MINI 5101 VM531PA Intel Atom N280 1.66GHz , HDD 160GB 7200RPM , Green Ho...
Penta Computers (NSW) | www.penta.com.au | updated: 30-09-2009

FNQer · 1st October 2009, 2:19 PM

just a thumbs up for penta - i thought they are based in chinatown, syd. bought a lcd monitor from there, prompt delivery and good price.

i reckon don't bother installing the ssd into the netbook - just a larger capacity 7200 rpm will do there. of course, go for the extra ram if poss.

is there that significant performance improvement in going for a n280, instead of n270 - left on its default settings respectively? theoretically (practically on some netbooks), an overclocked n270 by 25% approaches that of n280 while the former runs on faster fsb (i presume)...

we are in overclockers aust forums!

always tempted to boost performance of the 'standard' 'out-of-the-box' setups - but essentially, netbooks are restrictive by its nature. i.e. small screen low resolution, slow processing, etc.

as for storage - i use various memory cards to store certain data (i.e. game roms on one memory card/stick sdhc, sd, pro duo..., documents on another, etc), external HDDs, USB thumb drives, etc... you got usb ports and card reader on the netbook.

But, having stated all that, its also easy enuff to upgrade the netbook's hdd.

typically, the 2 easiest upgrades on a netbook is to increase the ram to its max and change the hdd. others have changed the wlan card, modded the spkrs. these changes address physical performance while other mods seem more superficial - i.e. touchpad mods, etc.

i reckon after addressing these 2 easiest upgrades on the netbook, there is not much you can do to improve its computing processing performance because of the bottleneck of its onboard video graphics capacity. accept the fact that generally the cpu and gpu of a netbook is limited...

Bangers · 21st October 2009, 1:44 AM

I'm about to get the VM531PA (InstantIT have it for $580). $50 for RAM upgrade and hopefully it'll last a while. It's my first netbook but the matte finish, HD Sceen, nicer keyboard and the cleaner business exterior (similar to the ProBook) were the items that sealed the deal for me above the Dell 10v or Winds/Eeepc.

I don't think an SSD is worth the price with the N280 CPU. I think we still have a few generations of netbook to progress through before SSD and Atom are paired together nicely for an acceptable price.

23rd September 2009, 10:26 PM	#1
ralph123 Member Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Somewhere.... Posts: 398	HP 5101 - SSD or 7200? Anyone got one of these? How do you find performance? Build looks quite solid. I'm wondering how much performance gain will i get from the SSD vs 7200 drive? Is it worth the trade off of speed for space? as it only has the 80 gig SSD model available.

24th September 2009, 1:47 PM	#3
Narcoticx2 Member Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: 4158 Brisbane, Queensland Posts: 3,898	If you can survive on less space and can afford the SSD, go for it. In general computing it helps significantly, and i'd be guessing if you're considering a 7200RPM/SSD drive then you'll already be upgrading the ram. Apparently SSD's are that good (I haven't got one myself) __________________ 40+ Successful Trades :: Pixel Art Collaboration - Currently dead ... will be revived Intel Core i7 2720QM - 16GB DDR3 - nVidia Geforce GTX675M 2GB - 256GB Samsung 830 SSD - Ext. DVDRW - 95% Matte 1080p

1st October 2009, 2:19 PM	#8
FNQer Member Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Sydney Posts: 881	just a thumbs up for penta - i thought they are based in chinatown, syd. bought a lcd monitor from there, prompt delivery and good price. i reckon don't bother installing the ssd into the netbook - just a larger capacity 7200 rpm will do there. of course, go for the extra ram if poss. is there that significant performance improvement in going for a n280, instead of n270 - left on its default settings respectively? theoretically (practically on some netbooks), an overclocked n270 by 25% approaches that of n280 while the former runs on faster fsb (i presume)... we are in overclockers aust forums! always tempted to boost performance of the 'standard' 'out-of-the-box' setups - but essentially, netbooks are restrictive by its nature. i.e. small screen low resolution, slow processing, etc. as for storage - i use various memory cards to store certain data (i.e. game roms on one memory card/stick sdhc, sd, pro duo..., documents on another, etc), external HDDs, USB thumb drives, etc... you got usb ports and card reader on the netbook. But, having stated all that, its also easy enuff to upgrade the netbook's hdd. typically, the 2 easiest upgrades on a netbook is to increase the ram to its max and change the hdd. others have changed the wlan card, modded the spkrs. these changes address physical performance while other mods seem more superficial - i.e. touchpad mods, etc. i reckon after addressing these 2 easiest upgrades on the netbook, there is not much you can do to improve its computing processing performance because of the bottleneck of its onboard video graphics capacity. accept the fact that generally the cpu and gpu of a netbook is limited... __________________ Q6600/Foxconn Mars/4gb DDR2/8800GTX 512mb/M$ Vista Home Premium 32-bit + MSI Wind u100/2GB/500GB/WinXP/Ubuntu + Acer Aspire 5750G NDS Lite + PSP Phat 6.39 + PSP Slim 6.39 + PSP Brite 5.03 + PSP-GO + PS3/40gb + iPod Touch 1G & 4G + Acer Iconia A501 + HTC IC

21st October 2009, 1:44 AM	#9
Bangers Member Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Silicon Valley Posts: 7,281	I'm about to get the VM531PA (InstantIT have it for $580). $50 for RAM upgrade and hopefully it'll last a while. It's my first netbook but the matte finish, HD Sceen, nicer keyboard and the cleaner business exterior (similar to the ProBook) were the items that sealed the deal for me above the Dell 10v or Winds/Eeepc. I don't think an SSD is worth the price with the N280 CPU. I think we still have a few generations of netbook to progress through before SSD and Atom are paired together nicely for an acceptable price. __________________ There's a story about a golfer who sinks a 30-meter putt and someone says: 'Gee, that was lucky' and the golfer says, 'Yes, amazing how lucky you get when you practice 8 hours a day for 20 years'.

24th September 2009, 1:28 PM	#2
firepower Member Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Brisbane Posts: 30	my work mate bought one after i recommeded it, best feature is its 10" matt 1366 x 768 res LCD, ssd are faster but not greatly remember you still using single core atom with basic GPU. I would go for larger HDD and more memory can buy for about $600 with XP and 160GB and 1GB ram or about $800 with 320GB HDD and 2GB ram and vista/W7 the SSD version is a lot more.

24th September 2009, 8:08 PM	#4
ralph123 Member Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Somewhere.... Posts: 398	yeah after doing a bit of reading i decided on the 7200 RPM HD,., i'm not very good at being organising my space and so i dont think i could handle the lack of space :P will let you know how it is. When i get it i plan to put Windows 7 on it straight away.

25th September 2009, 9:25 AM	#6
figrin Member Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: Sydney Posts: 2,963	I have a MSI Wind (N270 - overclock to 2G) with a 120G OCZ Vertex. I swapped the original hard drive out pretty much immediately when I got it and installed win7. However, I do not recommend this setup, and will be pulling the SSD out from the netbook in the future. To me, the Atom is holding everything back, and I do not see that much benefit in a SSD with such underpower CPU.