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Top Selling SSD Recommendations
It’s official! After an unprecedented time as the top selling SSD at Amazon and other similar retailers, the SanDisk Extreme and Ultra Series SSDs have been knocked off their perch by the Samsung 840 TLC SSD.
Typically , this position is held by the lowest price SSD and reflective of those migrating to SSDs, however, the new Samsung 840 is showing itself to be as reliable as it is cheap and Amazon reviews are glowing.
Those of us close to SSDs watch e-tailer customer reviews very carefully as they can provide a very accurate view of SSDs from those that matter most, SSD owners. In the case of the Samsung 840 Series TLC SSD, its success is counted in 446 of 470 reviews as being 4-star or higher, which seems to dispel original predictions many had of the success of TLC memory. Let’s take a look at our top SSD choices for May 2013 along with our thoughts on each…
TOP VALUE – SAMSUNG 840 TLC
The Samsung 840 Series TLC SSD utilizes triple level cell NAND flash memory which simply implies that it would be expected to have a lower life cycle than MLC (multi level cell) SSDs. Samsung states that this TLC SSD will equal, or outlast, that of todays MLC SSDs, solely the result of additional over provisioning and custom firmware.
OUR REVIEW / TODAY’S AMAZON PRICE
TOP PERFORMANCE – OCZ VECTOR
The OCZ Vector is our recommendation as the ‘SSD must have’ for the media professional. The Vector brought the long awaited Barefoot 3 controller to reality and, with this, came very strong incompressible 500MB/s read and write performance along with 100,000 IOPS.
OUR REVIEW / TODAY’S AMAZON PRICE
TOP CAPACITY – CRUCIAL M500
At 960GB in size, the new Crucial M500 SSD is the largest capacity SSD available to the consumer. Using Microns own 20nm MLC memory, Crucial is the first to reach 1TB of storage in a single PCB consumer notebook SSD design. The M500 also contains a proven Marvell controller and pricing for the 960GB capacity is below $600, making both capacity and $/GB the best on the market today.
OUR REVIEW / TODAY’S AMAZON PRICE
TOP PERFORMER/VALUE MIX – SAMSUNG 840 PRO
It is no secret Samsung SSD sales are dominating the market and their 840 Pro Series has seen massive sales. The Samsung 840 Pro is neck and neck with the OCZ Vector, with respect to performance, and then goes one further by ensuring their price point is hard to match. For price and performance, this SSD simply can’t be beat.
OUR REVIEW / TODAY’S AMAZON PRICE
TOP OVERALL FEATURES – CRUCIAL M500 FAMILY
With its recent release, the Crucial M500 brought enterprise level features to the table, both of which still aren’t common for typical consumer level SSDs. Power Loss Data Protection ensures all information safely reaches the memory in the case of a sudden power loss and Adaptive Thermal Protection throttles the SSD should it get too hot (65DegC/150DecF)
OUR REVIEW / TODAY’S AMAZON PRICE
TOP PCIE SSD – OCZ REVODRIVE 3X2 PCIe SSD
Short of the new OCZ Vector PCIe anticipated release, the tried and true OCZ RevoDrive 3×2 is the cheapest means of establishing monster performance that we are aware of. Typical read and write performance of 1.5GB read and 1.25GB write, with up to 200.000 IOPS, makes this unmatchable when the 240GB version can be purchased at the mid-$500 mark.
OUR REVIEW / TODAY’S AMAZON PRICE