Samsung 830 vs Crucial m4 (128gb size) in Sager notebooks

hi,

Newegg today has the m4 128gb drive for $130. i'm all about ready to pull the trigger on this drive if it weren't for the samsung 830. can anyone weigh in on which is a better purchase?
Is one drive faster than the other?
is one more reliable in Sager/clevo notebooks?
has crucial released the firmware patch to fix the issue with the drive not working after 5000 hours?
what controller is the Samsung based off? I know crucial is Marvell..
the price difference right now is about $40-50 online.. are these differences worth the cost?

 

The speed isn't that big of a difference for you to notice at all. They are pretty equal.

The firmware issue has been resolved. Samsung has their own controller.

If it's worth the cost? I would say yes, but again 40-50 bucks is a lot, so if money tights you up, I would rather go for the M4, although the Samsung is good too. Good luck with your choice

EDIT: The reviews:
NBR's own review: http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=6152 M4
TT's review: http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/4520/samsung_830_series_128gb_solid_state_drive_review/index.html 830

 

For the low price and price difference the M4 looks like the way to go. We've head great feedback on it here on NBR.
The Samsung SSD does use its own controller, its not a Marvell or SF like the majority SSD are right now.
The Samsung is slightly faster though with Read Times at 520MB/s vs 500MB/s and Write times at 320MB/s vs 175MB/s. While the speeds are faster I dont think you'd see that in actual use. The lower price for the M4 makes it the winner in my book, between those two anyway.

 

First off, I'd recommend taking a look around here - Solid State Drives (SSDs) and Flash Storage - you will find positive comments for each drive. I'd say the Samsung 830 has just a tad more people using it without issue than the M4, but not by much, and I think either drive should work just fine.

To answer your other questions:

What Sager/Clevo will you be using? The 8150 in your sig? If not, does the machine SATA II or SATA III capable? TBH, I don't think you can go wrong either way, as each drive should perform particularly well. If you look at the SSD forum link above, you can find benches from ppl using either drive.

I'm running an older crucial, and have never had a problem. I think the Samsung would be the same.

Yes. Back in January, Crucial released Firmware ([FW]) 0309 to address the problem. If you do purchase the M4, make sure you flash it to the latest [FW]. TBH, I would recommend ppl check a newly purchased Samsung's [FW] as well.

Samsung makes *all* components of its SSD - including the controller. It is one of the reasons ppls seem to like the 830 as Samsung is not beholden to any third party if something should go wrong (as in the case of the infamous SandForce controllers).

Depends on the size of your wallet. With that said, and you are price sensitive, I'd say go for it with the M4.


Finally, if you do make a purchase (assuming you're already on Windows 7) and will be booting from this SSD, I'd recommend you run a *fresh* Win 7 install on the newly installed driver rather than backing up/ restoring an image. The Win 7 installer will tweak some system values based on the kind of drive it is installing to. If you installed to a platter based HDD, and then restore that image to an SSD, a lot more will be needed to configure the system with all the different settings to take advantage of the SSD.

HTH

 

I've been kicking myself for weeks after missing out on the $130 M4 sale..

but when one opportunity closes, another one opens. Just scored the 128gb Samsung 830 (basic kit) for a very cheap $140 on Newegg whoo hooo!

I will have to come up with some DIY solution to add 2.5mm thickness for the bay, but shouldn't be too much of a problem i imagine.

 

Nice find! You'll love having an SSD such a difference in speed compared to a HDD.

 

Great find! It seems it is just a 24 hour special for today.

 

I'm gonna wait for $1 per gb and get the 256gb as a drive.

 

I got in on the same deal....so are you saying the drive doesn't just fit in the hard drive caddy that came with the laptop? I have a 8170 if that makes any difference.


Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

 

Your laptop should already come with everything you need to install the new drive in the main/secondary bays. The two hard drive bays on the P170 fit normal 2.5" 9.5mm drives. The optical bay takes a 12.7mm optical drive (of a totally different form factor), which is why you'd have to get an optical drive caddy if you wanted to add an HDD there.

 

If what I have been seeing on newegg.com is any indication, we MIGHT see that this year. Here's hoping right?

 

That was a brief sale, but who knows. We can hope.

 

Ok great, thanks for the reply. I forgot that the optical drive was even an option.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

 

Sure, it was a brief sale for the Samsung 830 SSD but what about the others listed on newegg that are getting close? Newegg.com - Computer Hardware, Hard Drives, SSD, Internal SSD, SATA III, 120GB

Mushkin and Adata, granted may not be the most popular but still getting close to that $1 per GB price.

 

If you need it to be thicker, wrap a rubber band around it

Oh, I think it's a lot more likely than that. 256GB drives (samsung and crucial) have been hovering around $330, and they were about $400-450 a year ago. December 2010 I was looking around and the 64GB C300 cost $140, the 64GB M4 is consistently under $100. I'm guessing end of summer they break $1/GB

 

just got my sammy 830 today. I'm a little pissed by UPS delivery. I thought they would ring my doorbell and hand deliver. but the small package came in a padded manila envelope and they just stuck it into my mailbox. my black mailbox in 80degree heat on a sunny day. the drive was warm to the touch, hope ssd's are too susceptible to damage with high temperatures.

anyway, can't wait to install
quick question - can samsung ssd firmware updates be made to boot drive without any issues? I plan to install win7 fresh and update firmware (if not on latest) with the one drive.

 

80F equals 27C so you should be fine on the temps. You should be able to update the firmware when its the boot drive on the Samsung, the only ones that cant do it that I know of are the OCZ drives.

 

You should have no issues updating the firmware on the Samsung SSD. Just make sure you install their Magician software and it will make the firmware update a breeze.
I had mine delivered to me on Saturday in much the same manor, but mine was in much colder temperatures. I will be installing it in my wife's machine sometime this week when I find the time.

 

This! Samsung is so easy to install, update and et centra.. best SSD out there

 

Well, one of a few. We've been able to install firmware updates on Patriot and Intel SSDs just as painlessly.

My wife's machine is setup now and running fine with the Samsung SSD now.
The only snafu I hit was installing the Windows 7 OS onto it but I think that was more to do with her DVD ROM. I was able to install the OS without issue when it was in my machine, and once that was done her machine took it fine.

Now comes the daunting task of installing all of her software again. I at least got Warcraft installed on it last night.

 

I've had my Crucial M4 128gb since October when I got my Malibal. Super fast no problems so far.