>I am going to need a new SSD for my laptop. There are quite some price differences when it comes to SATA II or SATA III, and also depending on the brand etc. What I am looking for is fast and reliable and long living. But does it make sense to spend more money or are they all basically the same in the end?

Another vote for the Samsung drives - good pricing and solid performers.

You definitely want a SATA III drive - the SATA II drives saturate the bus and you won't get full speed from the drive, plus the newer drives tend to have better firmware for optimizing the read/writes.

+++ Rick ---