Crucial M550 - Any info?

[SSBrain]

Apparently a new improved version of the Crucial M500 - called M550 - should be out soon. Only thing, there's no official information available about it. I think there has been a leak about it, somehow. Does anybody know more?

Article which broke the story http://translate.google.com/transla...s/Crucial-M550-SSD-Serie-aufgetaucht-1113758/

Spec sheet (google cached) https://webcache.googleusercontent....df+&cd=7&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=it&client=firefox-a

Apparently this has been online for quite a while, although nobody noticed it until recently.

 

[VirtualLarry]

So is this why M500 has firesale prices online? Time to snap some up while I still can, I guess.

 

[razel]

Yes, crazy prices on SSDs lately. $.50/GB is common even on the top-rated 840 EVO. I'm glad there's an M2 version. Hopefully that will be sans-SATA. I see SATA-IO compliancy. Crossing fingers.

 

[F1shF4t]

So is this why M500 has firesale prices online? Time to snap some up while I still can, I guess.

Yep, just ordered a 960GB one. $100 bucks cheaper than what I would of got in Australia and $200 cheaper then the same sized evo.

 

[Cerb]

And, now it's reviewed. Assuming the prices hold, it looks like a nice step up.

 

[PliotronX]

So with Crucial being a subsidiary of Micron, how is it that their SSD in the same price bracket is improved while Kingston's silent change to the V300 with Micron NAND doesn't go over so well?

 

[Cerb]

So with Crucial being a subsidiary of Micron, how is it that their SSD in the same price bracket is improved while Kingston's silent change to the V300 with Micron NAND doesn't go over so well?

A new drive with a new model number and higher performance is hardly like a bait and switch. I'm not even sure what you're trying to say or ask, really, because it doesn't make any sense. They are probably using Micron flash in the HyperX 3k, as well.

 

[code65536]

So with Crucial being a subsidiary of Micron, how is it that their SSD in the same price bracket is improved while Kingston's silent change to the V300 with Micron NAND doesn't go over so well?

The problem isn't that they got their NAND from Micron. The problem is the grade of NAND that they got from Micron--the cheap async stuff. Doesn't mean that all Micron NAND is cheap, low-performance stuff, nor does it mean that all Toshiba NAND is high-performance.

(And technically, it's IMFT, the Micron/Intel joint venture, so Intel also uses "Micron" NAND.)

 

[Hellhammer]

The problem isn't that they got their NAND from Micron. The problem is the grade of NAND that they got specifically chose and bought from Micron--the cheap async stuff. Doesn't mean that all Micron NAND is cheap, low-performance stuff, nor does it mean that all Toshiba NAND is high-performance.

(And technically, it's IMFT, the Micron/Intel joint venture, so Intel also uses "Micron" NAND.)

Fixed that for you. Micron offers several grades of NAND ranging from the low-end async (50MT/s) parts to high performance ONFI 3.0 stuff (up to 333MT/s).

 

[PliotronX]

A new drive with a new model number and higher performance is hardly like a bait and switch. I'm not even sure what you're trying to say or ask, really, because it doesn't make any sense. They are probably using Micron flash in the HyperX 3k, as well.

Eh, I don't know how I could have asked any more succinctly

Pardon my ignorance of SSD nuances, just wondering why Kingston would sabotage themselves because now that the word is out there is no reason not to get an M500 and now M550 over the V300 because they're comparably priced. In such a competitive market you don't silently switch to crappier parts and hope people won't notice... sorry to nearly derail a thread with Kingston angst

 

[Cerb]

Eh, I don't know how I could have asked any more succinctly

I assumed you couldn't help but know they changed to slower NAND, since you knew they had moved to making it under-performing.

Pardon my ignorance of SSD nuances, just wondering why Kingston would sabotage themselves because now that the word is out there is no reason not to get an M500 and now M550 over the V300 because they're comparably priced. In such a competitive market you don't silently switch to crappier parts and hope people won't notice... sorry to nearly derail a thread with Kingston angst

Someone who can make such decisions at the company is penny wise, pound foolish. Kingston isn't going to go under or anything, but breaking customers' trust this way is not a good thing to do, and will keep us from recommending other products from them, as well.

 

[code65536]

Someone who can make such decisions at the company is penny wise, pound foolish. Kingston isn't going to go under or anything, but breaking customers' trust this way is not a good thing to do, and will keep us from recommending other products from them, as well.

Over the December holidays, I directed my aunt to purchase a 120GB V300 for $30 after shipping and rebate (her Amex wasn't offered the 30-off-100 statement credit offer like mine was; otherwise it would've been free). $30 for 120GB for her family's casual-use laptop is pretty awesome in my book. And if Kingston using cheaper parts enabled such crazy sales, I'm all for it. Yea, Kingston should've said something, but I'm willing to forgive if the price is good enough.

And just going by the Newegg ads that I skim now and then, the V300 is on sale more often (and at steeper discounts) than other SSDs, so their pricing seems to be in line with the performance. You get what you pay for.

 

[Cerb]

And just going by the Newegg ads that I skim now and then, the V300 is on sale more often (and at steeper discounts) than other SSDs, so their pricing seems to be in line with the performance. You get what you pay for.

On sale, yes. At normal prices, like builders are generally paying for, not so much. They're saving more like $5-10. Buying on sale is an opportunistic thing to do. If building or upgrading a PC at some time, like needing it up and running soon, finding things on sale is a matter of luck. Tons of people bought them for $0.50-0.60/GB, expecting them to be good buys, like the drives they saw reviewed named V300.

 

[Hdgamer]

The performance and reviews look good. But being a newer gen drive you can expect prices to be higher than current offerings. This is for sale on Amazon right now for a 1tb at $519. You can get the M500 for $439. Personally for the 480 and up you probably wouldn't even notice a difference in performance between these two drives.