Back in January I wrote a short editorial that asked the question: "Is now the time to buy an SSD?" At that time we were looking at a combination of price drops with a lack of upcoming hardware releases. Since that published we have seen the release of the Intel 730 Series SSDs and even the new Crucial M550. While those are interesting drives to be sure (review pending on the M550), they aren't changing our opinions on the currently available, and incredibly cheap, solid state options.
While looking for some new hardware for the office, I found that the 1TB Samsung 840 EVO is now at an all time low $469! That is one of the faster SSDs on the market, and one of Allyn's favorites, for $0.469/GB!! I have included an updated table below with some of the most popular SSDs and their prices.
| Series | Capacity | Cost/GB | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Samsung 840 EVO | 120 GB | $0.69/GB | $83 - Amazon |
| 250 GB | $0.55/GB | $139 - Amazon | |
| 500 GB | $0.51/GB | $259 - Amazon | |
| 750 GB | $0.51/GB | $388 - Amazon | |
| 1000 GB | $0.46/GB | $469 - Amazon | |
| Samsung 840 Pro | 128 GB | $0.92/GB | $119 - Amazon |
| 256 GB | $0.77/GB | $199 - Amazon | |
| 512 GB | $0.74/GB | $413 - Amazon | |
| Intel 530 Series | 120 GB | $0.91/GB | $89 - Amazon |
| 180 GB | $0.80/GB | $144 - Amazon | |
| 240 GB | $0.62/GB | $149 - Amazon | |
| 480 GB | $0.87/GB | $419 - Amazon | |
| Crucial M500 Series | 120 GB | $0.57/GB | $69 - Amazon |
| 240 GB | $0.49/GB | $119 - Amazon | |
| 480 GB | $0.47/GB | $229 - Amazon | |
| 960 GB | $0.45/GB | $439 - Amazon |
The biggest price drops were seen in the higher capacity drives including, the Samsung 840 EVO 1TB and 750GB models, the Intel 530 Series 480GB drive and even the Crucial M500 960GB and 480GB drives. Numerically the best value is with the 960GB Crucial M500 drive at $0.45/GB but it is followed very closely by that 1TB Samsung 840 EVO.
As of now, the Intel 730 Series of SSDs is available for sale on Amazon.com but their price per GB comparisons don't really match that of the EVO or M500. They are great drives, just read Allyn's review to see the proof of that, but they are targeted at the very performance conscious. The Crucial M550 is brand new, and looks interesting; expect us to dive more into that line very soon.
For me personally, grabbing a 750GB SSD is incredibly enticing and I think I'll find a handful in my cart to update our older 180GB SSD test beds.
I got my Velociraptors at
I got my Velociraptors at less than $0.09/GB and regular hard drives are down to 1/3 of that; SSDs still have a long way to go before they are viable.
dont forget how long it took
dont forget how long it took hdd’s to get this cheap and large, first hard drive I bought was a steal at $3 per MB, no thats not a typo, the rate that ssd’s are dropping and increasing in size is incredible. If you’ve ever used a ssd I’m sure you know just how fast even the slower ones are. Its very close to the point where a 1tb ssd is affordable for the masses. Yes they are more pricey than a spinning disk but they are ALMOST at the point where its a reasonable difference in cost. Almost.
I have 128Gb of SSD and two
I have 128Gb of SSD and two TB of Spindle storage. I wish there would be a significant drop in SSDs, or perhaps a “lower speed” or “mass storage” type SSD that is faster than platter but slower than performance SSDS, similar to how there’s a WD black and WD Green.
Just bought a 250GB from
Just bought a 250GB from Amazon. NZD$172, costs NZD$245 in stores here.