Re: New Computer parts
SSD stands for Solid State Disk. It replaces the traditional HDD in a computer. An SSD has no moving parts, generates less heat, makes no noise, is smaller, more effecient, and extremely fast. Think of it as a flash drive, but instead of being bottlenecked by USB speeds, you have SATA, SATA2, and SATA3 interfaces. Because there are no moving parts, it <span style="font-style: italic">theoretically</span> has a longer life span. From my experience, 1 SSD is faster than 2 10,000 RPM Raptors in RAID, AVG scanned 50+ gigs of data in a little over a minute, apps load faster, web pages load faster, etc. They work quite well in notebooks too since they don't get warm and draw less power, extending battery life. Some of the older notebooks use the PATA interface, most new ones use SATA(the notebook should be labeled)
However you do pay for all of this, price/gig is quite high. In my desktop computers, I have an 80gig Intel and a Corsair 128gig SSD(SATAII), the 80gig set me back $200 and the 128gig was $265. Anyone who runs an SSD will say it's worth it though. I bought one earlier this year, and I liked it so much I now have four--2 in desktops and 2 in notebooks. The difference in performance is quite noticeable.