SSDs Vs. HDDs
Over the years, computer components have become faster and faster. Processors are now about 175 times faster than 13 years ago, and other components have seen almost the same exponential jump in performance. With all that performance gain, you’d think we can all go by with our computing tasks at lightning-fast. There is however one thing that’s holding everything back, and that is the hard drive.
The hard drive uses a spindle that reads data off of a magnetic platter. This is the process that keeps hard drive read speeds significantly slower. Because of this limitation, some people now prefer to use SSDs, or solid state drives. SSDs use NAND flash chips to store data, so there are no moving parts unlike in a hard drive. The problem with them is that they still cost too much and their sizes are still limited compared to hard drives.
So, what really is better? Well, it all depends on computing needs and budget. If a computer is going to be used extensively for tasks such as media editing, or for serious multi-tasking, the additional cost of SSDs is probably worth it. However, for if a computer is only going to be used for web surfing, word processing, or a little multimedia playback, then hard drives are still the better option. They’re more cost effective and light users wouldn’t really notice the difference between the performance of HDDs and SSDs.