Solid-state drives (SSDs) have recently emerged as a viable alternative to traditional computer hard drives.

With no moving parts, they're quieter, more reliable and much faster. They're also a bit more expensive, but costs are now down to a level that makes them worthy of consideration.

The downside of SSDs is that they can be a pain to fit. Plugging them into the machine is often easy enough, but getting all your applications and documents transferred from the old drive can be troublesome – especially if you're working on a laptop which can't accommodate both drives at once.

Kingston Technology has tackled this problem with a comprehensive kit comprising an SSD, external drive enclosure and mounting hardware to suit all eventualities. It also comes with an instructional DVD and some free software to make data transfer as painless as possible.

I tested the kit on a two-year-old laptop which was getting a little sluggish. Armed only with a screwdriver and following the video instructions, I completed the process in less than an hour.

Turning the machine back on, I expected to be impressed, but the results were truly spectacular. Everything – start-up, launching applications, copying files – was faster, and not just faster than before the upgrade. It was considerably faster than when the machine was new.

In order to put some figures against the difference I took a note of timings before and after the upgrade. Start-up times were reduced from 30 seconds to 10, applications launched three times faster and files copied twice as quickly as before. If it weren't for tell-tale scratches on the case, I'd have sworn someone had swapped computers.

After the upgrade the machine was also quieter. I suspect in years to come fans of tech nostalgia will buy gadgets to simulate the whirr, tick and pop of old hard drives, but for now the silence is welcome.

An unexpected benefit of the upgrade is that the old hard drive, married to Kingston's supplied USB enclosure, becomes a free portable hard drive (or a way to justify at least 50 quid of the cost to your other half).

If you decide to install an SSD in your laptop I have one tip: reverse Kingston's instructions. Start by placing the SSD into the supplied enclosure then clone your internal drive on to the (external) SSD. That way you'll have two copies of your valuable data before you start open-heart surgery on your laptop.

Kingston SSDNow V200 (128GB) - £124.99
Stars: 4.5/5

Positives A massive performance boost for any computer.

Negatives Comparatively expensive storage.