I would consider the SSD optional. Helps greatly with load times but you could do without if need be.
I have to disagree. I would never build a new computer without an SSD. This technology has to be the best improvement in primary storage for OS in the past decade. Nothing has made my computer run faster. Now instead of me waiting on my PC...my PC is waiting on me.
I never realized how much of a bottleneck the hard drive could be. Then I witnessed all my programs loading instantly. My boot times improved as well...No more waiting in front of the computer picking at my scabs while I wait to see the login page.
I would say its only disadvantage is its price/GB ratio compared to that of a HDD. I would certainly prefer to have no moving parts that will last me 10 years, then something that is constantly spinning and is only capable of doing one thing at a time driving my programs.
Yes for data HDD is still the way to go. But my real world experience every day is always satisfaction.
Except at work...where I haz no SSD, and I want to throw this POS brand new laptop through a wall because it takes like 10 seconds to load up waterfox after a fresh reboot. Outlook takes another 30 seconds.
The time really adds up. Think about it every day even once if the only thing you open is Mozilla and Outlook.
0:45 per day 7 days a week is 5.25 minutes per week. That is 4.55 Hours per year.
5 hours per year waiting on an application...really? When everything else moves so god damn fast when the processor and memory can be written to and calculate faster than you can even blink. Why should you be waiting on a HDD which only has one arm to read one thing at one time and expect it to provide you with 0 latency. Seriously you are living in the next generation of computing.
Give it a shot and if you don't like it you can always return the product or sell it to someone else.
Hope this helps,
-NitroNarcosis