Ablation of Cu and Al targets has been performed with 170 fs laser pulses in
the intensity range of 10^12-10^14 W/cm^2. We compare the measured removal
depth with 1D hydrodynamic simulations. The electron-ion temperature decoupling
is taken into account using the standard "two-temperature model". The influence
of the early heat transfer by electronic thermal conduction on hydrodynamic
material expansion and mechanical behavior is investigated. A good agreement
between experimental and numerical matter ablation rates shows the importance
of including solid-to-vapor evolution of the metal in the current modeling of
the laser matter interaction