The Absolute Worst SSD Myth That You Shouldn’t Believe | Dramel Notes

Solid State Drives (SSDs) are great, but there are still too many people who aren’t willing to pick them over more familiar Hard Disk Drives (HDDs). That’s because there are several myths surrounding SSDs, and one in particular that’s notorious: the myth that SSDs aren’t durable.

While it’s true that SSDs can handle only a finite number of writes, there are several other factors at play in deciding how far the life of an SSD will stretch. To understand SSDs better, the people at The Tech Report conducted a hardcore comparison of six SSDs of various brands. Each SSD responded differently to the tests, but all of them led to the same conclusion:

Yes, SSDs do die, but by the end, they all write several terabytes of data minimum. That’s more data than average consumers like you and I could realistically need.

Note to oneself: Choose SSD over HDD.

— The Deetahanator (@deetahanator) June 24, 2015

The bottom line is that you’ll still need to be serious about backing up data on a SSD. But you can let go of the fear that SSDs aren’t durable and take advantage of the increased speed and performance they offer. You can even increase the lifespan of SSDs with tools and optimization tricks.

Don’t let the myths floating around stop you from making the transition, but do consider these five things before you buy an SSD.

What was the worst myth that you believed about SSDs? We’d love to hear about it in the comments!

Image Credit: Hands holding fast flash SSD by Hadrian via Shutterstock

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Black Screens Do More Harm Than Good on LCD Monitors | Dramel Notes

There are way too many monitor-related myths floating around, probable because monitor technology has advanced so quickly over the years. For example, “sit at arm’s length distance” and “screen radiation causes cancer” have both been debunked.

As it turns out, there’s yet another myth that no longer holds true: the myth that black screens conserve more energy. This just isn’t true for LCD monitors, and it hasn’t been for quite a while.

The myth comes from the days of cathode-ray tube (CRT) monitors. Due to the way that CRT monitors work, black pixels require no energy to produce, thus saving on electricity. Back then, this myth was indeed true, and back then, sites like Blackle.com really did reduce your PC’s power consumption.

LCD screens, on the other hand, produce light all the time. When an LCD screen needs to produce a black pixel, it just blocks the light from being shown and energy is being spent no matter what. In fact, on thinner LCD models, black screens actually end up using more energy!

So if you’re on an LCD screen, stop worrying. For those still using CRT screens, you may want to keep Blackle.com as your homepage for now.

Did you already know this? What other myths can you debunk for us? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Image Credits: Black Laptop by GaudiLab via Shutterstock, Black CRT Monitor by NorGal via Shutterstock

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