how are solid state hard drives vs hard drives

[sinister_steve]

Hi all been hearing about how the solid state hard drives are much faster and all for gaming and general use ,but are they any good ? I am looking to buy one but dont know which one I am looking for to replace my old hard drive...help would be great thanks...Steve

[Heretic]

SSD drives have lower access time and are considerably more expensive. I wouldn't recommend them for general use and gaming. Mechanical drives are still better at sustained writes (copying files, etc) while SSD are better at reads (at least as fast as a Velociraptor and blindingly quick access time).

[sinister_steve]

SSD drives have lower access time and are considerably more expensive. I wouldn't recommend them for general use and gaming. Mechanical drives are still better at sustained writes (copying files, etc) while SSD are better at reads (at least as fast as a Velociraptor and blindingly quick access time).

OHH OK thanks for the info now I know what they are all about...Steve

[Starscream]

A good SSD is faster and read and writes but will cost a premium per GB.

for a good 32GB SSD you will pay several hundred dollars

[Stumbo]

SSDs are the way of the future, but right now they are still to expensive to negate the cost.

[PoppyLlama]

SSD are also really good for laptops! They use hardly any battery, and put off very little heat. And SSDs are totally quiet (from what I've heard)
I remember reading somewhere that someone extended their battery life by like 1 1/2 hours just by switching to SSD: I REALLY dont know if its true and I kinda doubt it, but i'll look around to see whats up