Laptop 13 Pro (X9, 64GB): best 1TB SSD for a buy-once, future-proof build? MARS 970 PLUS vs SN850X vs SN7100

Framework Laptop 13
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Hi all, and Framework team if you’re reading. I’m about to pre-order a Laptop 13 Pro and I want the best of the best, future-proof, so I can buy everything now instead of upgrading later. I’ve settled on the Core Ultra X9 388H and 64GB RAM. The only choice left is the 1TB SSD. OS of choice is Fedora Linux.

Options:

  • ADATA MARS 970 PLUS (PCIe 5.0)
  • SanDisk SN850X (PCIe 4.0)
  • SanDisk SN7100 (PCIe 4.0)

Framework’s FAQ says Gen5 drives use more power than Gen4. I couldn’t find independent battery or heat measurements for the MARS 970 PLUS.

Questions:

  1. For a buy-once build, which of these would you pick, and what are the pros and cons of each in the 13 Pro?
  2. What does Gen5 cost in battery life?
  3. Any heat or throttling problems with a Gen5 drive alongside the X9?
  4. Any issues with these drives on Fedora (idle power, suspend)?
  5. If you had to pick one drive and never change it, which would it be and why?

Thanks!

FW13 Pro Limited Batch (X9) Guild
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I wouldn’t go into this level of detail. There isn’t really a “best”: all choices are trade-offs between different priorities.

My strategy is: pick your storage based on size first. Then if there are two options for that size, the more expensive one will perform better. In that case, go for the expensive one if you want more speed, and go for the cheaper one if you are budget-minded or you don’t want absolute top-speed.

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I have settled on a size (1TB).

I understand that the MARS 970 (PCIe Gen 5) is speedier, but I was wondering of how severe is the hit on the battery in idle.

I couldn’t find any benchmarks or information for that matter on that.

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Well, I would expect that a PCIe Gen5 drive gets to spend more time idle than a PCIe Gen4 drive, simply by virtue of taking less time to read/write the same amount of data. So as long as you’re not planning to run a SQL database from your laptop or feed it millions of web-server hits per second for hours at a time, then the trade-off between heat generated by data transfers and NAND degeneration due to heat is not going to be an issue. The only heat-related danger to PCIe Gen 5 drives comes from their controller chip overheating due to long periods of strenuous activity; and even then, the controller will throttle down to keep itself at a relatively sane temp.

TL,DR: Gen5 drives shouldn’t eat up more battery than Gen4 drives, and as long as the NAND controller has decent contact with a thermal pad and/or heatsink, it shouldn’t have performance problems from heat.

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