Know How...

Sep 4th 2014

Know How... 109

Rogue Cell Towers, SSD Upgrade, Linux Part 3, and Android Tips

Stingray Towers, SSD Upgrade, Linux Mint Install, Android Tips.

Although the show is no longer in production, you can enjoy episodes from the TWiT Archives.
Category: Help & How To

Fake Cell towers are among us, performance gains from a SSD install, Linux Mint install part three, and Android Tips.

Phone Firewall Identifies Rogue Cell Towers Trying to Intercept Your Calls

Feedback: How fast ARE SSDs?

Sean B (Texas):

"You gave the Toshiba Tecra W50 a 'don't buy' in episode 136 of Before you Buy because it uses a HDD instead of a SDD. In the comments you suggested that Toshiba sacrificed 55% of the laptops performance for a 3% decrease in price. That doesn't sound right."

Even without a SSD, the W50 has a super-fast CPU, GPU and lots of memory.

Can not having a SSD really cripple a modern laptop by 50%?"

Here was the calculus I used:

  • Price as-tested of Toshiba Tecra W50-A1501: $2250
  • Difference in price between a HDD and 256GGB SSD: $60
  • PCMark Vantage performance of this laptop with HDD: 9000
  • PCMark Vantage performance of this laptop WITH a SSD: ~20k

That's how I got a 55% performance hit for a 3% cost saving.

So it wasn't a 3% price savings for a 55% performance penalty...
It was a 3% price savings for a 59% performance penalty...

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