SSDs in laptops

[PHalanKS]

Intel's HM55 chipset tends to dominate the affordable laptop population and it only supports SATA 3G.

The HM65 is the high-end laptop chipset and - as you noted - supports 2 x SATA 6G ports.

The HM55 was released with the 1st generation mobile Core i3/5/7 CPUs and is analogous to the H/P55 chipsets in LGA1156 desktop environment.
The HM65 is designed for 2nd generation mobile Core i3/5/7 CPUs and is analogous to the H/P67 chipsets in the LGA1155 desktop environment.

In the not-too-long term, SATA 3G on-board controllers will be replaced by SATA 6G on-board controllers but these will also provide backward compatibility support for SATA 3G drives

The timescale is probably going to depend on Intel/AMD as the chipset R&D is under their control (Intel seem to be lagging behind AMD when it comes to number of SATA 6G ports supported by chipset).

Currently, Intel's chipset roadmap shows the 7-series Panther Point chipsets (targeted for Ivy Bridge CPUs) as staying with the current 2 x 6G & 4 x 3G SATA support.

Only the X79 (Pattsburg) chipset (targeted at LGA2011 Waimea Bay CPUs) shows a shift in balance between SATA 6G (6 x ports) and SATA 3G (4 x ports)

Ivy Bridge CPUs will, effectively, be a 22nm Die Shrink of the current Sandy Bridge CPUs and the matching Panther Point chipsets will be the first Intel PCH chipsets to offer USB 3.0 native support.

So, for the Sandy Bridge replacement (Ivy Bridge) the balance between SATA 6G and SATA 3G will remain unchanged, but with it will come PCIe 3.0 support with more and faster lanes.

Isn't Nature wonderful?

So that's a "yes"...

 

[DevillEars]

So that's a "yes"...

A qualified "Yes" - on those laptops that incorporate a SATA 6G controller (i.e. those featuring the HM65 chipset), a SATA 6G SSD will deliver.

On lower-spec laptops that use the HM55 chipset, a SATA 6G SSD's performance will be throttled back by the controller bandwidth. (It'll still work, but a cheaper SATA 3G SSD will perform about the same)

Of course, if money is no object and the real motive for the purchase is to tell everyone that you have a SATA 6G SSD in your laptop, then that's a whole new ballgame....

 

[PHalanKS]

Ok. Well aforementioned laptop is HM65 so I'll take that as a yes then. Money wise, I'm not paying for it, just trying to fit it in a budget. Bragging wise no-one she knows will have a clue what an SSD is anyway

 

[DevillEars]

Ok. Well aforementioned laptop is HM65 so I'll take that as a yes then. Money wise, I'm not paying for it, just trying to fit it in a budget. Bragging wise no-one she knows will have a clue what an SSD is anyway

As long as no-one confuses an SSD with an STD....