SSD has many benefits over traditional HDD, but it all hinges on what you intend to use your computer for?
For example for gaming and/or multitasking with lots of local applications open such as Excel, Word and similar processing/data intensive programs, then a SSD is the way to go, especially if your processors are not to at least i5 standard or above.
On the flip side, if you're not using your machine that intensively then a standard 500Gb or 1Tb HDD will suffice.
Personally from own experience installing drives, I would opt for SSD every time: they're more expensive, but you do get the superior response times, especially during boot-up and data reading/writing.
However, be aware there are two primary SSD formats out there - standard SATA and the new guy in town, PCIe SSD. The latter, as might expect of an evolving technology, is faster and more stable than standard SSD SATA - anything up to 6x faster in some bench tests. But they're also quite expensive and very specific to a particular motherboard.
Most PCIe SSDs only fit motherboards with an M2 interface slot; and they come in a certain size (I can't recall dimensions); but you have to make sure from the user manual of your motherboard that there is sufficient space for the SSD to fit into.
Basically PCIe SSDs, are a bit of a faff, especially on older laptops and PCs. As a consequence I would be inclined to focus on the tried and trusted SSD SATA because they've been around for years, relatively cheap and rock solid.
In terms of manufacturers - I have always gone with either Western Digital or Samsung: rarely had a problem with either, and generally last years (especially in a RAID set up). I can't really recommend specific models because it all hinges on your particular hardware, but a simple Google for best WD SATA SSDs will give you some pointers.
