M4 still good overall balance?

So I'm getting some more Elitebooks and Z workstations in and I'm not going with factory SSD's as I need 512Gb.

I've had pretty good results with Crucial M4's so far and with my vendor advertising some excellent prices plus a further small but meaningful volume discount, it's the shoo-in at the moment.

Is there anything else I should consider? I'm not looking for ultimate-by-degree performance - just something that's fast for reads and writes and won't give me trouble - and since I'm buying two dozen plus, a reasonable price would be nice.

 

The M4 is still a good buy price/performance wise. however, there is the 5200 hours bug that popped up recently. Crucial said they were working on a fix and they hoped to have it released by the 16th so if you are in no hurry...

Intel remains the best reliability wise, but the price tag comes with it. If you don't want to take a Chance with the M4 bug, i'd suggest the Samsung 830 as an alternative.

 

Hmmm. Thanks for that, missed it. Fortunately I doubt any of my M4-equipped machines are approaching the 5200-hour mark yet. I'll wait to see what happens. It'll be more than two weeks until I've got the entire PC order sorted out in any case. I could hedge my bets with 50% of each I guess.

 

I think that M4 is still good. New firmware is scheduled to be released this month to fix the 5k hours problem.

 

Since the fix is set for release next week, i'd wait and see. I'm inclined to trust Crucial, they didn't pull an "OCZ" on us yet and they acknowledged the issue.

 

i really doubt that the bug won't be fixed in 7 months(the minimum amount of time necessary to hit that bug).

 

im using a pair and havent got any problem so far. although the ss 830 is faster and newer, its not far enough that would make a difference so I have no plan to upgrade anytime soon

 

I'm planning on getting a Crucial M4 next week.

With the stated firmware fix by the end of the month and 5200 hour time bomb roughly equaling 10 weeks I think I'm safe correct?

Or should I hold off until the firmware fix is released?

 

Go get it. Like now! GO. GET. IT!

 

Unless you have a killer deal for the drive, i'd wait until the 16th. Well, that's what the clam part of me is saying. The compulsive and excitable buyer in me says go for it.

 

No worries, I'm currently using a Intel 310 80GB so it's not like the Crucial M4 128GB is really going to WOW! me with performance; I can wait if necessary.

Thanks tijo. BTW, I've decided to go with a 7200 RPM hard drive instead of keeping the 5400 RPM once the laptop arrives.

 

Is there something new and exciting on the 16th? Please do share! I was speaking only in term of him waiting for a new firmware since that will get released soon. I bought the ssds back in september and even assuming that i run the laptop 24/7 since then (which i did not) i still have like 200 days left.

 

Crucial expects to have the firmware fix up the 16th i think.

Just checked again and they said week of the 16th. Doh! Well can't really blame them for giving themselves some leeway in case they can't get it up on monday.

 

Edit:

Nevermind, just ordered a Crucial M4 128GB for $1.35/GB. Intel 320 120GB would have cost me $1.60/GB plus it's smaller and slower.

Thanks again for this thread.

 

And... although I usually never do this with electronic gear, you can always get a 2 year warranty on the drive you buy and then, if Crucial doesn't have a fix for the bug you can just use the warranty to get a new SSD when the bug hits... but you have to make sure it hits before the end of the 2 years. You can probably get an M4 128Gb plus a 2 year warranty for around $200 total.

 

I can understand how for one guy that can be an acceptable substitute, but for someone like me who even just by himself sits at literally dozens of computers let alone his coworkers and in the case of a mass SSD failure will have to pull several dozen drives, recover them, etc - having a valid warranty is nowhere near as valuable as not having to use the warranty at all.

Which is the main reason I LOATHE Apple gear - you *have* to use the warranty, however delivered-promptly-with-a-smile-with-nice-extras the customer service may be. There has not been an Apple in my direct possession since 2006 that has not hit the Genius / AASP desk or the been in a UPS box at some time, and one of my filing cabinets bulges with Apple repair orders. I don't want the Apple of SSD's.

Intel came out with the 320 issue, so I no longer confer on them the automatic choice - and there isn't a 512Gb 510 yet, is there in any case. I think I might have to go 50/50 Crucial / Samsung...