SSD vs. HD version

Which is better, the SSD with only 8 gig or the 120 gig HD? I can dual boot Linux on the 120 but the SSD seems limited. What is the advantage of SSD?

http://www.amazon.com/Acer-Aspire-8-9-i ... 199&sr=8-2

The SSD has 512 mb RAM.

http://www.amazon.com/Acer-Aspire-8-9-i ... 432&sr=1-2

The 120 HD has 1 gig RAM.

Is the 120 HD prone to damage due to shock and movement?

Should I go for the 120 and dual boot, or no?

Thank you.

 

If you like running the Linpus OS on the SSD model and you don't want to void your warranty by opening up the SSD to add RAM then you should get the XP model. You can install XP or Vista on either but the performance of the SSD is poor when it needs to be continually accessed by more advanced OS's like XP, Vista or OSX. Also, 512MB RAM is just sufficient to run XP and not enough to run Vista or OSX; to run the latter two OS's you would need to add 1GB of RAM to the SSD model but again, you will be voiding the warranty by opening it up.

If you don't slim down your XP or VIsta installations then the 8GB SSD will fill up quite quickly; in this case a replacement hard drive would be a good idea as it also boosts performance considerably as well as increases the storage. However, now you have just turned the SSD model essentially into the XP model and most likely spent more than what you can buy the 120GB XP model for.

On the other hand, if you are like me and got the SSD model for cheap ($280+tax) and bought the RAM and hard drive used ($15 for 1GB RAM, $40 for 30GB Toshiba ZIF drive) then the cost is actually less than the XP model but with less storage and more RAM.

Evidently it is also possible to add a 2.5" SAT drive to the SSD model if you are into surface-mount soldering on the motherboard.

 

If you get the 120, dual boot. A linux install can take up only a fraction of that amount, but offer a large amount of useful free applications that you would typically pay for with windows. If you've ever owned a laptop before, you know that hard drive failures are not common but do occur. The ssd can be dropped, shaken, etc and still function fine (can't say that much for your other parts though e.g. screen). If you don't need a lot of applications, and you don't plan on playing fps that take up a gig or two of space, you will be fine with the ssd.