Tips for Choosing Storage Drives for Thin Laptops

Smaller and thinner storage drives for thin laptops are available in several types, and all have advantages and disadvantages. Here are some tips to help you choose.

Types: There are three basic types of storage systems for thin laptops, and these are hard disk drives or HDDs, solid state drives or SSDs and hybrids. Traditional HDDs consists of platters with magnetic coating, while SSDs are plain memory chips.

Performance: The main advantage of HDDs is that they have larger storage capacities, are more affordable and are widely available, making them the best choice when buying on a limited budget. SSDs on the other hand are significantly faster but have lower storage capacities and cost more. While hybrids speed up boot times, they still slow down to HDD speeds during normal operation.

Other Considerations: SSDs generate less heat and consume less power, which makes them seem to be a better choice. However, some SSDs connect to laptops via PCIe slots, and not all laptops have them or have the configuration to accommodate this type of SSD.