Best SSDs For The Money: August 2012 (Archive)

[Bob McKay]

Personally I'm a big fan of the Crucial M500 having installed it on a four systems (laptops and desktops), I opted for a lower capacity and then gave myself some extra storage and flexibility by adding mini USB drives to my laptop when I needed more space, see here: LINK REDACTED. No Amazon affiliate links, plus you're actually breaking their disclosure policy on your site. - SS

 

[tinhocductin]

i don,t see any corsair in the list, somebody let me know, please

 

[amstech]

Your missing the PNY XLR8, 120GB for $65.

 

[littleleo]

The Crucial M500 and the Samsung EVO are the most popular models I sell right now. Customers feel they offer the best price/value performance. I carry many brands and several models of each with varying capacities in each, but those two lines do the best, so that must mean something.

 

[king smp]

I know personally when I was in the market for a SSD a few months ago the 120 GB 840 EVO was the best price vs performance SSD i could find according to many many benchmarking reviews
also the Samsung Magician is pretty decent for an included free software package.
after about six months now I am still a satisfied buyer

 

[Adroid]

I finally broke down and went for my first SSD, the Crucial M500. They are pretty reasonable right now at 50c/GB (for the 240 gb version), and I've always trusted micron to deliver a reliable product. I think they are somewhat of a bargain while they are phasing the product out to make way for the newer M550.

I almost went for the Samsung for the faster solution, but the Crucial has a few extra features and for 20$ less I couldn't pass it up... Not to mention it's an American company.

 

[Oaklander114]

why does nobody talk about the Plextor here, seems to me to be a really good/best deal..

 

[ubercake]

I'm a stickler for warranties especially when it comes to storage. SanDisk offers 5 years on their Extreme IIs. Intel also has it on their better lines (ie my 520). Same with my WD Blacks. If a drive manufacturer doesn't have enough confidence in their product to back it for 5 years or more, I don't want it. A good warranty adds value and should be considered in a value proposition. I think everyone should carefully consider warranties when choosing storage devices. There's a reason companies will back a drive for 5 years as opposed to 1 or even 3.

 

[drconopoima]

So, basically, for April 2014 are you recommending everything?

 

[aberkae]

fyi ssd prices are reaching 3 gigs per dollar for lower end ones and 2 gigs per dollar for high end ones!

 

[Firedrops]

Please review and/or comment on the Toshiba hg5d!

 

[ExpLicitSainT]

I've been using the Crucial M4 512MB disk for a 2 - 3 years now. Rock solid, fast, and no sign of it slowing down. On Sata II though in my laptop that gets thrown around. Pretty impressed with it.

 

[Scotty99]

Ummm this article was written today and it says amazon has the m500 480gig for 193.00 bucks.....but if you click the link it says 234.00 bucks, dangit lol.

 

[kyuuketsuki]

I'm curious why you guys keep snubbing the Seagate 600 for the 240GB category. It's one of the best SSDs on the market, especially in terms of consistency, and I consistently find it around the $120 or $130 mark. Especially considering you keep recommending the aging M500, which is much slower and barely cheaper.

 

[logainofhades]

You can get the M500, 240gb for like $110 now. The seagate is about $140.

 

[littleleo]

why does nobody talk about the Plextor here, seems to me to be a really good/best deal..

Plextor is a good product but they have not been very aggressive with their prices like most of the other manufacturers are right now. When I update my list each month most have price drops even Intel but it is very rare that Plextor has a price drop.

 

[littleleo]

I'm curious why you guys keep snubbing the Seagate 600 for the 240GB category. It's one of the best SSDs on the market, especially in terms of consistency, and I consistently find it around the $120 or $130 mark. Especially considering you keep recommending the aging M500, which is much slower and barely cheaper.

The Seagate 600 240GB is about $210 the Seagate 600 120gb $112, so they are a bit over priced for the specs. Plus they are not really well known for SSDs.

 

[grumpigeek]

Something is wrong with Section 7 "Performance per Dollar" of this article.

No chart, commentary or anything is displayed in Firefox nor IE11.

 

[JPNpower]

Please review the Toshiba q series pro! Massive speed and extremely low price!

As for Plextor, as the guy above asked... some people prefer pinching pennies than rock solid reliability and power. I personally love Plextor, but they are not for everyone.

 

[kamhagh]

i dont know why, but from the day i born, there's a natural hatred with adata in me!

 

[tomfreak]

SSD price per gigabyte hasnt been dropping as rapid as b4. 256gb still have not reach the price of 128gb 12 months ago. This is lame.

 

[Someone Somewhere]

You can pick up a 240/256GB drive for ~$100...

 

[Menigmand]

I don't understand how these recommendations work. The Adata drive is slower and more expensive than the EVO, yet it gets recommended? Maybe I'm overlooking something?

 

[Onus]

Something is wrong with Section 7 "Performance per Dollar" of this article.

No chart, commentary or anything is displayed in Firefox nor IE11.

If "highslide.com" is blocked (e.g. in NoScript), you won't see the slide. I had that problem too until I unblocked that site. If it is also blocked in IE11, might it be a corporate firewall?

What amazes me is the low idle-state power of the Samsungs. If you're putting a SSD into a laptop in part to extend battery life, this looks like the way to go. I'm going to swap out another drive for a Samsung in mine and see what difference I get...

 

[aberkae]

I want to upgrade my 4 year old 1st sata 6 c300 256 gig ssd on rampage 3 extreme, do you recommend 2 Samsung 500 gigs evos in raid 0 currently about $490 total?