SSD Laptops - any good?

My current (ancient) laptop is dying. I'm not keen on tablets - give me a keyboard and screen any day. My question is whether it is worth looking at Solid State Drive laptops? The thin, lightweight and ultra-fast start up/shut down all appeal but what should I be looking for and what should I avoid?

If it makes any difference I'm in the U.K.

Thoughts please

 

No.

It is worth it to get the cheapest crappiest drive possible to save money. Then buy your own SSD for cheaper and install it. My laptops specs be in the sig.

I boot Windows 7 from POST in 10 seconds. Windows 8 is 7.

 

Intel, Crucial and Samsung SSD's have least problems, OCZ probably the most but are improving with the latest models and firmware updates, most other brands are somewhere in between, Plextor are likely to be very good but it's a little too soon to know.

You can get good deals on some Crucials and Samsungs complete with all you (should) need to transfer/clone your data over from the current drive.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B005OK6VJU/ref=olp_product_details?ie=UTF8&me=&seller=
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B006W6J51Q/ref=olp_product_details?ie=UTF8&me=&seller=

So, buy a base model but quality laptop with a HDD plus an SSD w/transfer kit, clone the drive to the SSD, switch drives over and run from the SSD.

If the original HDD is multi-partitioned, you might be better advised to make a clean install of Windows onto the SSD (or perhaps you could clone only the System partition from the HDD and make it Active/bootable).

When you backup, you can do so to the original HDD connected via the transfer kit USB hardware. Or you can buy a hard drive caddy for the original drive.

 

Adrynalyne - thanks for your post. Having looked at the specs of your laptop from your signature your machine does not seem to have been purchased as one with a cheap drive, I can only find other HP Envy laptops but starting at £700ish to £1500+. I was hoping to get something for a total of £600-£800. Maybe I'm trying to enter the market too soon?

satrow - Thanks for your valuable input as to how to get the SSD into the laptop and get it working.

Please can anyone point me towards a suitable 'base' model (light, slim, cheap, 13-15" screen) that I can replace the drive in?