Alrighty - technical question. I just bought a used laptop off Craigslist…
Alienware M14XR2
Windows 7 Pro 64bit
Intel Core i7 3610QM
16GB of DDR3
500GB 7200rpm HDD
NvidiaGT 650M (2GB)
So I’ve got an SSD on the way that I was going to install in my desktop…but now I’m thinking I’ll stick it in this laptop. The laptop is clean right now with just W7 Pro 64-bit and the Alienware utilities. Should I bother migrating the current HDD or just do a clean install of W7 on it?
BeachAV8R
I’m a fan of the fresh install. Windows 7 is a breeze. Plus you end up only installing the things you really need and want other than any left over stuff that you tried or didn’t like but never got around to uninstalling.
Pro tip: before throwing in the SSD, read up on your machine to ensure it can take advantage of the SSD’s speed. My PC has a Marvell 9128 controller which sounds spiffy and all, but slows my SSD to near platter speeds. It’s a criminal use of an SSD, I’m sure, but I don’t have any other machines that can use it…yet.
Good points EP - the guy I bought it off of said he had an SSD in it prior to selling it to me, and highly recommended it. The speed compatibility is a good point, but I also want it for the other two big SSD reasons - energy savings and durability. This is my “take flying” laptop and even though I’m careful with it, it spends a lot of time in my flight bag getting bumped around. I think you are right though - no reason to migrate when I can just as easily do a clean W7 install…
I read up on your laptop (i.e., googled “M14XR2 SSD”) and didn’t find anything negative, so you’re probably ok.