What budget SSD brands should I buy?

So black friday and cyberweek is just around the corner. I am thinking about investing on a laptop SSD to upgrade my HDD on my Asus ROG GL551VW. Since I have only used HDDs, I only know of western digital and toshiba is reliable since they served me well for the past decade.

For the SSD however, I am not sure which one is good, how it differs from each other, and known problems like software and failures. My research has lead me to about 4 brands. Crucial, Sandisk, Adata, and PNY for the budget performance, price, and power usage. I notice that some of these drives have an unusual total memory storage like 480GB and 525GB at the mid ranges which puzzles me. On top of that the software that is induced like cloning concerns me as it may take up some memory as what the phone market does.

In your experience which one of the brands I picked are good? I am leaning towards crucial since they seem reliable and has a bigger storage. Sandisk seems decent, followed by PNY, then Adata which is the cheapest but is a unheard of brand for me.

 

@Rikki all the brands you mentioned have crappy models, which are also the cheapest in their lineup. You shouldn't rely on brand alone in making your decision, it is particular model that really matters.

 

@Rikki, are you absolutely committed to those SSDs listed? The Samsung EVO line of SSDs seem to be a solid alternative, but I don't know if that fits within your budget.

 

I can't recommend the Evo drives enough for their price and reliability. If budget allows the Pro models get you a little better performance but most people won't see the difference. I've also used Intel drives in the past on my personal machines and had good experience with them. Both have some of the best testing and hardware validation before they even get boxed up to head to the stores.

 

Thats not a budget option at all... the 850 Evos are like the most expensive consumer SATA line.

I'd recommend the Sandisk Ultra II or X400 as they offer similar performance and reliability for less of a premium.

 

I have a pair of M.2 SanDisk X400 1 TB drives, and they've been outstanding. Plus they leave the two 2.5" SATA drive bays in my system free should I need to further expand storage. Said need may come sooner rather than later since modern games are needing a minimum of 20 GB. CoD: Infinite Warfare is more than 70, though I'll be uninstalling it as soon as I finish the single-player portion.

 

I've never used the X400, but hear good things.

Opinions vary. I guess that is why my post mentioned that the Samsung EVO may or may not fit the budget.

 

I vote for crucial/micron. They're stuff isn't the fastest, but they typically pack good features and solid reliability. I've been using Micron drives since 2011 without any issues, knock on wood.

 

Opinions vary... It's objectively not a budget option. Samsung even launched their 750 evo line as a budget option... It's also priced significantly higher than budget ssd options. I'm not saying it's bad, but when the 500GB 850 Evo is 165, while most entry level options are like 120, that's a different tier.

It is definitely the premium sata ssd line for consumers.

 

Yes. That. The Samsung 750 EVO as a budget option. But as previously stated, I don't know if this fits @Rikki's budget.

Note, I wouldn't call the 750 EVO the 'Premuim SATA SSD' line for consumers. I think Anand sums it up nicely, "The 750 EVO establishes a new budget-oriented product line that competes in the cutthroat low end of the market where price per GB is the most important aspect of the product." - http://www.anandtech.com/show/10258...20gb-250gb-ssd-review-a-return-to-planar-nand

 

No no, the 750 Evo is budget minded, I was referring to the 850 Evo as the premium sata ssd for consumers. The 750 is budget not premium. Ambiguous wording on my part.

What is his budget he never stated it.

 

Thanks for the replies. I just notice that some of these SSD comes with a mount. Is it necessary to purchase a mount to use in a laptop? Or can I use my existing HDD mount that came with my computer?

Sorry, I should have included my SSD options that I was looking at in my research. A lot of the names and types of SSD in each of the brands seems the same and the pricing for each respective memory sizes are a couple bucks difference. Since this is going to be my first SSD, so I want it reliable at the very least with obvious speed differences coming off of HDD. From that I am thinking about sticking with the middle class option for the brand which in my budget is around 70-130 bucks, in the mid 380-525GB memory capacity range. My budget hovers around the holiday sales price so, I just may end up getting a brand names premium if the price is right. As of now, the Crucial MX300 sounds nice since the capacity is at 525GB and I am quite interested about the claims of being "power efficient", "keep systems cool", and the 3D NAND technology. Then the Sandisk Ultra II that I read on here is my 2nd choice.

My initial shopping tip was to go with this guys advice so I didn't want to go all the way with the premium products as it would cost too much.

I considered Samsung but after looking at the price of 50+ bucks more, it wasn't for me due to my budget limitation hovers in their 250GB capacity. I do use steam so I tend to horde up quite a bit of games. I also read that I should not use up all my SSD memory or it'll suffer a decrease of performance, so I want to try to avoid that.

 

@Rikki, I wish you luck in your search / purchase. The Samsung 500GB 750 EVO might be at the high end of what you're looking for, but perhaps you'll find a pretty good sale/discount. In regards to the Crucial drive, if it's anything like my drive, it should be a winner. I've had my Crucial C300 for 6+ years, and never had an iota of a problem.

If you see any good deals, please be sure to let us know.

 

@Rikki talking about Crucial, MX300 is good - just avoid BX200, that drive is utter thrash.

 

Samsung 750 EVO 500GB is currently 135 on Amazon and Newegg. While I don't have a 750 EVO, I do have an 850 PRO, 840 PRO and 850 EVO and they are all excellent. I also have a new WD Blue 1TB, which is overpriced for the performance you get out of it.

I would have no problem getting a 750 EVO if I were looking for a 500GB 2.5" SSD.

 

Why not just get a used evo 850, i just got a m.2 500gb used for 119 on amazon. i check everything and it only has 6 months since new.

 

The Intel 600p SSD's are not bad. They're not great, though. I'd recommend an Amazon Warehouse Used - Like New* 850 PRO. It'll be about the same price as a new 850 EVO.

*Used - Like New from Amazon means that it was returned within the return period and cannot be resold as new. 90% of the time, they were never even used.

 

I have positive experience with ADATA in the past. They are pretty big in Asian market but somewhat less known here. I have owned a couple flash drives, CF cards, and RAM sticks in the past and they work just fine. Back in 2011 or 2012, I was under a tight budget and was shopping for a cheap SSD. I couldn't quite afford a intel 60G SSD, so I went with a 64G ADATA SSD instead. It worked well with decent W/R speeds, and I still had it working in my old thinkpad (running linux) now. They seem to have issues with JMicron controller in the past, but their products with sandforce controller seem solid. Their reputation in Chinese market is pretty decent.

Anyhow, I would say ADATA is a decent choice if you have a very tight budget. Otherwise, sandisk x400 line seems to be great. I have a couple of these as storage and they have been pretty reliable. If this will be your only drive, however, I recommend getting a 850 evo. It might be out of your budget but I wouldn't risk losing my primary drive.

 

Personally, I would only buy an SSD with TLC NAND if it uses 3D NAND or V-NAND, since the stacked NAND uses larger nodes, which makes it much more reliable than planar TLC NAND.

And that reduces budget 2.5" options to the Crucial MX300 and Samsung 850 EVO.

 

Plextor and SK Hynix and LiteON are very good SSDs

 

For the most part you can't go wrong if you aren't particular about a certain work flow. Most name brand SSD'S will suffice the needs of your average user.

That doesn't mean you shouldn't research a bit. But I impulse bought a 1TB SSD for cheap and haven't looked back.

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

 

I got a 256 ADATA Premier SP550 for about £48 from Amazon, and I've had no problems with it at all

 

That's the exact SSD I'm using in my supped-up 2570p, so far so good.
I know there are better SSDs but I was already near my £200 budget limit back then, which includes the price of laptop so in reality not much to spare on upgrade parts, therefore I had to cut corner at every possible way, not like there's much that can be cut anyway.

 

Well, I'm late to the party, but I'll pitch in anyways.

Ideally, you should always buy SSDs from a brand with their own FABs (budget or not). These guys make the NAND chips, which means they can take the best binned chips from the production line and sell the rest to the FAB-less guys.

Top SSD brands with FABs
1. Intel & Crucial (Micron) - Joint venture, the fabs are called IMFT (Intel Micron Flash Technologies). You pay a premium for Intel due to their extensive validation and support, while Crucial/ Micron is on par with everybody else in terms of pricing, performance is not top notch, but the reliability and CS is there.

2. Toshiba-Sandisk (Western Digital) - Toshiba doesn't "really" sell SSDs en-mass, but you can find them flying around. Sandisk is far more common, and they are quite good. Customer service is meh for Sandisk, but has been improving since WDC bought them.

3. SK Hynix- SKH typically focuses on DRAM market, but have been slowly introducing SSDs to the consumer market. Not spectacular in any fashion, but if you can find one on sale, they're not bad.

4. Samsung- The only vertically integrated OEM, which means they can design, fabricate and write software for their own product. There are pros and cons to this of course. Pro being they have all the best stuff that they can make. Con is that they are the only ones making it, which means they are quite slow to correct any problems that they encounter. That is IF they are willing to admit the problem since there's nobody to throw under the bus for the problem. (The 840's voltage drift problem comes to mind). However, be aware that Samsung's customer service experienced by myself and many others on this forum would be described as abysmal, and this has occurred consistently across many regions.

If you happen to see a sale on SSDs made by FAB-less OEMs, such as Kingston. Then it becomes very model and time specific. For example, Kingston's V300 was a very good SSD for the money, but they couldn't reliably source the NAND so they switched to a cheaper and slower one. End result is that many people that bought the V300 after the switch experienced the "bait n switch".