SSD Upgrade

Heya guys

Its that time of the year I'm considering an SSD upgrade as I want to move my 256gb Plextor M5s from the W110er to the Desktop. Having a bit of trouble choosing between the OCZ Vector 256gb or the Samsung 840 Pro since most of the benchmark data is now no longer accurate.

What I know so far:
The 840 Pro seems to have gotten much more aggressive with GC and hence reduced idle power efficiency with the new firmware releases. i.e. it doesn't have the stellar power efficiency that the pre-production firmware had.

The OCZ Vector seems to have gotten better in terms of performance and stability at the cost of dealing with whole Storage mode tweak.

I'm particularly looking for with very high Random 4k performance with minimal power consumption at idle(my W110er has enough power issues already).
I'm specifically calling to OCZ vector and 840 pro members about their experiences. If possible, could I get a Crystal Mark shot and possibly a time with Bootracer. All of the above tests on a laptop would be much appreciated as sadly, the performance data out there is mostly desktop focused.

I'll also reluctantly consider the M5P or the MyDigitalSSD BP4 but not Sandforce unless there is a very compelling reason as I have read nothing but reports on issues with TRIM

 

Benchmark data is just that, and tends to inflate differences in the mind of the reader of the review.

It's performance in your own world that counts.

So long as the performance is decent, I focus on low price and reliability. Which is why I went with Crucial's 2.5" 512GB M4 SSD.

Your long post also strikes me as arbitrary on when you might do this. If so, wait 3 months for Crucial's M500 to show up, and also keep your eyes open for the sales that routinely show up, like Amazon's sale of the M4 512GB for $350 for two days.

 

One additional thought, to the OP. Crucial's M500 lineup uses the next smaller nand size, than it's current M4 lineup does.

Hence it's more aggressive and lower pricing.

Other manufacturers will come out with similar nand chips, and the next round of lower SSD pricing will take place.

So if your purchase timing really is arbitrary, why would you buy now?

 

Here's AnandTech's review of the OCZ Vector SSD which may help you out.

 

Benchmarks are a good starting point to go off of, but the archetype provided does not necessarily correlate to real world applications - which obviously, is why we're here discussing recommendations. If only there more relatable points of measure that spanned several SSDs, rather than a single product review... But then again, reviews like what Super Bee posted are also helpful. You just have to sift through them one by one to weigh the pros and cons.

Personally, I like the Samsung and Crucials, benchmarks aside. Someone else I know bought a crucial and has been very happy with it as well, with no problems or failure.

 

I just got the samsung 840 pro, it seems the power efficiency edge and high small file read speeds are the key.I did a trace of my ssd usage paterns and the predominant access type was 4k random reads and small file sequential reads (my w110er is mostly a work machine). The 840pro seems to have a hard edge in these two areas though the far cry 3 offer with the vector was sorely tempting. I didn't consider the m500 since i don't think it will match the 840 pro forperformance judging by the plextor m5 pro specs.