flong777 :
This is actually the best SSD review I have seen from Tom's. I agree with it right up to the Crucial recommendations and I just don't see Tom's point with the Crucial recommendation which have mediocre performance.
Perhaps you might want to read all the details about
why the Crucial was recommended. It flat out says it's not as fast as some drives in its same price range. However the M500 sports some security features that no other drive has right now. A lot of people get hung up on benchmark scores and forget that the actual user experience difference is minimal between mid-range and high-end SSDs. The M500, like the M4 before it, is just a workhorse. It doesn't excel or fail in any specific aspect. It's just reliable, consistent performance in just about any workload. As the article says, "Still, we remind you that most of the time you spend using an SSD-equipped system is going to feel the same whether there's an 840 Pro or Plextor M5P inside."