If you own a Windows computer, there’s a reasonable chance that it doesn’t have a Solid-state drive (SSD) in it. Most MacBooks have an SSD. An SSD is a super fast storage medium that acts as a hard drive to your PC, as compared to the slower traditional mechanical hard drive disk (HDD) usually found in computers. There are no moving parts in an SSD (it’s sort of like a memory stick), and the speeds are much faster than an HDD.
The type of SSD that I used is the M.2 type, which is more expensive. You also get ones that fit into a regular HDD connection. Do some research on your laptop model to see which type it supports before buying anything. Your PC may already have one if it’s relatively new.
I recently added an SSD to my laptop and was blown away by the improvements it gave. After moving the Windows files to the SSD so that the operating system was now on the faster storage, I booted up and logged into my account to my desktop within 10 seconds. With the HDD, the bootup time was acceptable, however, it would take a few minutes for the PC to become fully responsive after logging in. For example, I would have to wait a bit for the start menu to pop up or for an app to open. With the SSD, I can open anything I want straight after boot in under a second.
Windows updates also take a fraction of the time on the SSD. Things like opening photos, copying files, and launching Chrome all suddenly become a lot faster.
The best part is that SSD prices have come down a bit recently. Being a student on a really tight budget, I ordered an M.2 64GB SSD for $48. After moving the OS onto it, I had just over 40GB left. It should be mentioned that I now have my 1TB HDD alongside the SSD for more storage.
You ought to get at least a 128GB version or 256GB if you can afford it. Hell, you can even get a 4TB SSD for $1,500 if you’re feeling rich these holidays.