OCZ Vertex 2 SSD Review
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One of the major ways to increase your computers speed and effectiveness is by upgrading your regular hard drive to an SSD (Solid State Drive). With increased speeds, some other major differences in upgrading to an SSD drive are the fact the an SSD drive is completely silent where as a regular hard drive has moving parts in it which cause all those annoying noises and clicking sounds you most definitely hear when you are working with a laptop computer. The OCZ Vertex 2 SSD is a fantastic upgrade drive that comes in a 2.5" form factor for laptop computers as well as a 3.5" adapter bay for non-laptop computers. Catch the full review after the jump.
For this review I am comparing the Vertex 2 SSD to a regular Hitachi 500GB 7200RPM drive that most of us use on a daily basis. There is no comparison between the two really, the Vertex 2 blows the 7200RPM drive out of the water in every day usage like boot up times, applications and heavy data transfers. Your operating system will run much faster and smoother on an SSD drive than a standard 7200RPM drive. If you're importing, exporting large files like HD videos, pictures and so on, an SSD is a smart investment to speed up times and let you get your work done faster.
Here are some comparison times between the Vertex 2 SSD and the Hitachi 7200RPM drive:
OZC Vertex 2 SSD
- Start up from first push of the power button to complete operating system load - 21.5s
- iTunes 10 - under 1s
- Adobe CS5 application including Photoshop - 2.8s
- iMovie 09 - 1.9s
- Aperture 2 - 2.1s
Hitachi 7200RPM drive
- Start up from first push of the power button to complete operating system load - 59s
- iTunes 10 - 4.3s
- Adobe CS5 application including Photoshop - 11s
- iMovie 09 - 10s
- Aperture 2 - 6.5s
Tested using a Macbook Pro i5 2.4Ghz | 8GB of RAM with Snow Leopard.
As you can see from these boot up times, there are significant speed differences mostly in the boot up times of the computer from the start to a finished loaded OS. Upgrading to the Vertex 2 SSD from the standard 7200RPM drive is a big difference overall. You're OS will be much snappier no matter what application you're going to be using. Of course all of this comes at a price, SSD's as of today are not cheap considering the amount of storage you are getting. If you are a non-laptop user and you don't want to spend a lot on an SSD, you can at least get the lowest storage capacity Vertex SSD and install your main operating system on it while keeping a large capacity mechanical drive.
Installation is very easy and isn't different from any normal mechanical hard drive installation. The OCZ Vertex 2 is very lightweight unlike a regular 2.5" hard drive, with a metal enclosure for extra durability.
You really cannot go wrong in investing in an OCZ Vertex 2 SSD drive to ultimately upgrade your computer's performance. It's an all around great performing SSD for everyday uses. Prices vary depending on storage capacities. The OCZ Vertex 2 is backed by a 3-year warranty.
