One of the most lauded selling points of the new Apple iMac was its use of a solid-state drive (SSD), which is the same kind that you would find in your iPhone and iPad mini. And if you're in the market for a new custom laptop, you're about to be faced with the choice of what kind of storage you should use.

So why is there so much hype around this type of memory? Is it really better? In short, yes. A SSD is smaller, lighter, more reliable and faster than a traditional hard drive, and best of all, they've recently undergone a significant drop in prices as well.

The reason that solid state memory was used in ultra-portable laptops like the Apple MacBook Air is because it's both smaller and more shock-resistant than a regular hard disk. And if you're going to be traveling a lot, a thin, light laptop is likely to be on the top of your list. Going with a SSD let the team from Apple pack more power into a much smaller package.

If you've dealt with the agony of a crashed hard drive before, you know just how frustrating this potential computing disaster can be. SSDs are much more reliable than their hard disk counterparts. On average, experts suggest that you can expect one of these to last at least three times as long as your average traditional hard drive.

Finally, all of the data on a SSD is available as soon as the computer boots up, so your computer will be faster without all that wait time.

If you're looking for the best performance on your laptop, solid state is definitely the way to go. Whether you're looking to give the gift of speed and reliability to a loved one this season, or would simply like to have a top-of-the-line laptop at your fingertips, you can talk to the specialists at PortableOne about what you need.