Windows 7 SSD vs RAM

[richardhsm]

I just picked myself up a used Thinkpad T410
with i5core at 2.4ghz and 4Gb of RAM with a
standard HDD & W7 x64.

I don't do VMs
I don't edit Video
I don't process stupidly large RAW files (not
again)

The machine is primarily for processing a small
work database that needs to be 'mobile' for
barcodes.

To improve performance (bang for buck) -

Do I swap out the HDD for an SSD and pop the
existing HD as a data backup in the Ultrapart Bay
where the DVD is now ?

OR

Do I buy 4Gb x 2 RAM to max out the memory ?

(When processing RAW files approaching 1Gb I
do not recall ever going over 6Gb of memory
useage - and it was slow and processor bound.
Not a mistake I will repeat.)

I'm leaning towards the SSD option. If so, do I
buy another Intel...the one I've had is going
good 2 years on with daily use or are all the
major manufactures reliable these days ?

Thanks. Richardhsm

 

[Rus]

I did both. I increased my RAM from 4gb to 8 gb and bought a Crucial m4 SSD. Whenever I look I'm only using 15% of my RAM ever. Everything runs super fast and I'm a happy camper.

 

[Pauli]

SSD is the word. In case you don't have immediate need: wait some months, by the end of this year prices will have come down and capacities will have gone up - that's actually an official announcement by OCZ.

I got myself a OCZ Agility3 SSD 120GB, and I couldn't be happier! Windows 7 is ready after a few seconds. When I get my new build I'll have a second 120GB SSD where I will install my games.

And memory is always what memory has always been: can't have too much of it. Eh?