In the foreseeable future I will probably have to sell my computer and buy a laptop. I don't want a particularly high spec laptop but I want lots of hard drive space. What is the current biggest 2.5 inch hard drive and is it generally easy to order a laptop and tell them to swap out the standard hard drive for a bigger one?
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A laptop beckons
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HavocXphere
Honorary Master
http://www.prophecy.co.za/western-digital-scorpio-wd3200bevt-95mm-320gb-sata2-p-25511.html
Should be a start. I think I saw some 1TB drives on engadget too...but they will still be mad expensive.
I'd rather go with a small but ultra fast SSD and then use a USB/firewire external drive for mass storage.
Should be a start. I think I saw some 1TB drives on engadget too...but they will still be mad expensive.
I'd rather go with a small but ultra fast SSD and then use a USB/firewire external drive for mass storage.
I just stuck one of these babies into my Thinkpad T61 
320GB for R969 and 5years of warranty, you can't go wrong.
320GB for R969 and 5years of warranty, you can't go wrong.
But what did you do with the old hard drive from your laptop? Do many places allow you to define exactly what hard drive etc?
The biggest 2.5" driver I can find are also 320GB but in all probability I will end up only getting a laptop in just over a year, so hopefully by then we'll have at least 750 or 500GB laptop drives...
Otherwise I will just get a normal laptop and then use an external, but I prefer to have everything onboard.
The biggest 2.5" driver I can find are also 320GB but in all probability I will end up only getting a laptop in just over a year, so hopefully by then we'll have at least 750 or 500GB laptop drives...
Otherwise I will just get a normal laptop and then use an external, but I prefer to have everything onboard.
My 'old' drive I stuck in a 2.5" USB enclosure, it's 120GB, which I am using as a portable leech drive 
If you buy a new laptop, seriously consider a Lenovo Thinkpad, they are rugged and reliable, and if you get a model with the Ultrabay Slim, you can get a bracket so you can interchange your DVD-Writer with another HDD (or battery), so you could have 2 drives in, and take one out if you need ot burn discs.
What is your motive for having such large discs in a laptop?
If you buy a new laptop, seriously consider a Lenovo Thinkpad, they are rugged and reliable, and if you get a model with the Ultrabay Slim, you can get a bracket so you can interchange your DVD-Writer with another HDD (or battery), so you could have 2 drives in, and take one out if you need ot burn discs.
What is your motive for having such large discs in a laptop?
Well my current PC has 320GB which will be probably be running out soon. When I have a laptop it will be my only computer, so everything will have to move onto it. I also prefer to have everything onboard, rather than plugging in external hard drives... When I get the laptop, 500GB driver will I'm sure have become available, so I think that's what I'll try get.
That Thinkpad with the removable bay sounds good. Aren't those quite expensive though?
That Thinkpad with the removable bay sounds good. Aren't those quite expensive though?
It depends what you define as expensive, it also depends how you use your machine, and how long you expect it to last.
As far as ordering notebook with a big HDD goes, rather order it with whatever it comes, and buy your own HDD afterwards, it will probably work out cheaper. Or you can order a bigger laptop, with a 17" screen and put 2x 320GB hdds in one, as most of those larger models allow for two drives.
What are you storing on the laptop?? If you drop the laptop, it's probably game over, esp if you're keeping all your eggs in one basket!
As far as ordering notebook with a big HDD goes, rather order it with whatever it comes, and buy your own HDD afterwards, it will probably work out cheaper. Or you can order a bigger laptop, with a 17" screen and put 2x 320GB hdds in one, as most of those larger models allow for two drives.
What are you storing on the laptop?? If you drop the laptop, it's probably game over, esp if you're keeping all your eggs in one basket!
QX6700RULZ
Expert Member
Wait a year and see what changes are made in that time, no use speculating now about something no one knows 
Ya, I will just have to wait. What I mainly want to do is find out if many places offer customizable laptops.
Re the thinkpad laptops, what is their price range? Over 10k? Because for me that definitely counts as expensive.
Re the thinkpad laptops, what is their price range? Over 10k? Because for me that definitely counts as expensive.
They range from about R8k upwards. You can get a good T seires for about R12k and that has a 3 year warranty and will last a long, long time.
You can order laptops directly from Dell.co.za and they will customize and build the laptop per spec, you pick a base model and you can choose what money you want spent on it. Acer, Lenovo, HP don't really offer this service AFAIK, but a retail shop might offer it, but as I said earlier, it's prob cheaper to buy the laptop with the CPU, screen, RAM you want, and upgrade the HDDs yourself. Just keep in mind however, not all manufacturers are OK with aftermarket customisation. I remember Acer telling me a big fat NO when I asked about upgrading the RAM+HDD myself. With Thinkpads it's all good.
howardb
Expert Member
I have to agree with n1hilist - I have this configuration on my Dell M70 (D820), and it works great -
1x DVD writer in a removable bracket
1x 160GB HDD in a removable bracket
1x battery pack in a removable bracket
Everything fits into the laptop bag, and there are no "extra wires" or power packs to worry about - the only drawback I see is if you need to use the above DVD/HDD and extra battery at the same time, which I don't, so it's not relevant...
I have to agree with n1hilist - I have this configuration on my Dell M70 (D820), and it works great -
1x DVD writer in a removable bracket
1x 160GB HDD in a removable bracket
1x battery pack in a removable bracket
Everything fits into the laptop bag, and there are no "extra wires" or power packs to worry about - the only drawback I see is if you need to use the above DVD/HDD and extra battery at the same time, which I don't, so it's not relevant...
<HIjack>
Can you tell us more about these removable brackets... do theye work will all dells ?
</hijack>
howardb
Expert Member
On the D-Series (D5xx, D600, D7xx, D8xx), they have interchangeable bays, called D-bays or media bays - this allows you to use them with different components which can alos be used between laptops if needed. I got my HDD bay and battery pack on eBay, fairly reasonably compared to Dell themselves. the HDD bracket/bay looks like this:
These bays will usually fit the following models, so you can expand your search:
- DELL Latitude D400, D500 ,D510, D5X, D600, D610, D620, D6X, D710, D800, D810, X300, X1, XPS(Latitude XPS)
- DELL Inspiron 300m, 500m, 505m, 510m, 600m, 700m, 8500, 8600, 9100
- DELL Precision M20, M60, M65, M70
The other types available are:
DVD/CD
Battery
Filler
FDD
...an maybe some others
Usually removed from the side of the PC using the push-catch
These bays will usually fit the following models, so you can expand your search:
- DELL Latitude D400, D500 ,D510, D5X, D600, D610, D620, D6X, D710, D800, D810, X300, X1, XPS(Latitude XPS)
- DELL Inspiron 300m, 500m, 505m, 510m, 600m, 700m, 8500, 8600, 9100
- DELL Precision M20, M60, M65, M70
The other types available are:
DVD/CD
Battery
Filler
FDD
...an maybe some others
Usually removed from the side of the PC using the push-catch