Not especially techy.....but puzzled by this - why would I pay the extra for the one on the right which is 300CHF more expensive but has a hard disk 30% the size of the cheaper ones. Is solid state worth paying more for?

SSD drives are much faster than regular drives.
Here is a link to info: http://www.notebookreview.com/defaul...+vs+hard+drive

You pay the premium for speed. The price per GB is much higher.
If you need a huge amount of storage standard drives are better.

Solid state is considerably faster. Starting up the computer, opening files, opening programs, etc. will be much faster. Basically anything that reads from the hard disk will happen faster. Browsing the internet, watching videos etc will not be improved though. What do you generally want the laptop for?

However, if you were buying the parts themselves, a 256GB solid state won't cost you CHF300 more than a 750GB mechanical drive. CHF300 is quite a steep price differential.

For example, checking digitec.ch, you can get a 750GB 2.5" (laptop) mechanical drive for CHF125. A 256GB 2.5" sold state drive goes for anywhere between CHF300 and CHF550 (there is a lot of variety in these drives, an average one seems to be CHF379). Assuming that Dell is not using a top of the line sold state drive, then the price differential is a bit too much.

But it all depends on what you want to use the laptop for! Let me know your needs, then I'll tell you whether a solid state will help satisfy them...

Just general home use, not gaming or large programs. I do want to stream videos and i do have a large library of videos at the moment to drop onto the iPad for travel viewing. I have 180GB HD at the moment which is often a little challenged in terms of space and needs housekeeping more often than i'd ideally l like, but i dont think i really need 750GB. Hence the question.....if the 30% bigger solild state is significantly "better" than the big mechanical one in terms of performance, then i'll happily pay and just make do with keeping it tidy!

In that case, I'd go with the cheaper option and save yourself CHF300. You will not see any benefit in streaming videos, as 1) the streaming will be limited by the network speed, and 2) streaming it faster will not help unless you want to watch it faster! From what you've described, the only difference you'll only notice is that your computer starts up faster.