Hard Drive configuration in Acer TravelMate P645-M

Shrimply

Hi Guys,

I am hoping to soon be getting an Acer TravelMate P645-M (NX.V8REK.037), its not exactly my first choice but options were limited and it's not my money so I can't moan too much.

As soon as I get it I'll be sticking in another 4GB of ram, this much I know I can do.

I'd also like to upgrade it to an SSD drive. It comes with what is listed as 500GB + 20GB SSD. I had presumed that this was a standard hybrid drive. However (and yes this might be wishful thinking), it appears that some models have capacity for both an mSATA and a standard hard drive. Obviously if the 20GB can be upgraded to a larger mSATA drive for the OS and programs and the standard hard drive can be left in place that would be totally ideal. Does anyone know for certain?

Google has told me that Acer say you can't install programs etc on the SSD as it's used as cache. But if you format the drive it appears the the 20GB SSD is available to format and use as storage.

So if anyone has any experience I'd be very interested to hear it.

Shrimply

Giving this a quick bump as it had dropped off the page, if anyone has any thoughts I'd be very grateful.

I'm under pressure to make a decision and if this has the set-up I think it does then I will probably go with it.

bingo_bango

No idea, but if Acer are saying the 20Gb is cache, than I'd guess this is a standard hybrid.

Saveonlaptops has a spec listed HERE, which states hybrid, and the PC World spec list (which in fairness doesn't specifically state hybrid) seems to suggest that it is a hybrid also. As do Misco.

I think you'll have to accept that different sellers have different descriptions, but all appear to be hybrids.

It should be noted that that saveonlaptops version only has 8Gb SSD cache, and the others seem to be 20Gb cache.

Shrimply

Thanks Bingo, I've just went for it, so I'm hoping you are wrong :rotfl:

Some models definitely have mSATA instead of the standard hard drive. I'm keeping my fingers crossed and heavily relying on this image that it has both, or the capacity for both.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/attachments/internal1-jpg.106859/

If I'm wrong I will be sad because I partly went for this over a Toshiba for that reason.

I'm not that tech savvy, and don't really know that much about hybrid drives. However, I can't find an off the shelf hybrid drive with more than 8GB cache.

I guess now I will find out in a couple of days.

Fightsback

Just out of curiosity how much are you paying for this acer ?

These things seem to be retailing for about £580 which for a 14inch i3-4xxx is way over book for the spec.

Just wondered why this laptop ?

I think you are getting poor value for money here.

Could you return the acer ?

Shrimply

Fightsback,

It's best not to ask, if it was my money it probably wouldn't be my first choice. I think it's coming in at £400 before VAT.

I don't know if it's totally the best option, but I had a few specific requirements, including good portability, but also needed multiple video out connections ideally without a dock which limits things a fair bit. Money was limited and choices were limited and this is basically what I've ended up with.

I'd be interested to see what you thought would have been a better buy, out of curiosity, but it's ordered now, and if I don't have to lug around my 3.something Kg Dell anymore I'll be happy.

I wanted something with more power, but I've been coping no bother with a i3 380M and I don't think I'll notice much difference with this (plus the new machine will be kept much lighter software wise). Anything computationally expensive will not be run locally.

Fightsback

Shrimply wrote: »

Fightsback,

It's best not to ask, if it was my money it probably wouldn't be my first choice.

I don't know if it's totally the best option, but I had a few specific requirements, including good portability, but also needed multiple video out connections ideally without a dock which limits things a fair bit. Money was limited and choices were limited and this is basically what I've ended up with.

I'd be interested to see what you thought would have been a better buy, out of curiosity, but it's ordered now, and if I don't have to lug around my 3.something Kg Dell anymore I'll be happy.

I wanted something with more power, but I've been coping no bother with a i3 380M and I don't think I'll notice much difference with this (plus the new machine will be kept much lighter software wise). Anything computationally expensive will not be run locally.

Where has it been ordered from ?

If it was ordered over the internet then distance selling regs apply and it can be returned for a refund.

Is a 14inch screen a requirement or will a 15inch do ?

Just because it's not your money doesn't bar you from getting the best you can for the cash available.

Shrimply

Not that I don't appreciate your help, and for my own interest I'd like to see what you think would have been a better deal. But it's more or less out of my hands now, I will be very very unpopular if I say I want something else. 14" was really as big as I wanted to go, and was the trade off between being portable but having enough connectivity

It has been a total nightmare trying to get anything ordered, and purchasing options are limited in order to avoid going via IT, who will insist on putting a crippling windows build with encryption on it.

Fightsback

Shrimply wrote: »

Not that I don't appreciate your help, and for my own interest I'd like to see what you think would have been a better deal. But it's more or less out of my hands now, I will be very very unpopular if I say I want something else. 14" was really as big as I wanted to go, and was the trade off between being portable but having enough connectivity

It has been a total nightmare trying to get anything ordered, and purchasing options are limited in order to avoid going via IT, who will insist on putting a crippling windows build with encryption on it.

Oh I see, it's a work jobbie. I understand and best of luck.

Shrimply

Fightsback wrote: »

Oh I see, it's a work jobbie. I understand and best of luck.

Well it's for study, and I wish I understood, it's been the most ridiculous process ever :rotfl:. And the joke of it is they are so worried about adding extra security to all the machines but I've been using my personal laptop connected to their network for the past year, and that's fine with them.

Thanks for taking the time to try and save me some money though, it is after all what this forum is all about

If anything goes wrong with the order and I don't get that machine I will seek further advice from all of you.