Samsung 830 worth $35 more than Crucial M4 (256G)?

[lowboyee]

I'm in Canada - Samsung 830 is $230 and Crucial M4 is $195.

Machine is going to be Win7x64 for is web development and design, some gaming, and a couple of VMs (those might be on a traditional HD).

From the bench comparison, looks like the 830 is the better drive overall, but I don't want to base my real world decisions on benchmarks alone.

 

[corkyg]

I just ordered a second Samsung 830 256GB from Newegg. Cost? $199.99 USD - and that is $17 less than I paid for the same item two wweks ago. Now I can have my matched pair of drives so I always have a ready-to-go spare in my bag when I travel. Today on Newegg, the Crucial M4 256GB is also $199.99. Not a penny difference. What's going on in the Great White North?

 

[lowboyee]

When it comes to computer parts things are always more expensive due to us having a tenth of your population, even when our currencies are at near parity.

For instance, Newegg US has the ASRock Z77 Extreme4 mobo for $135 regular price. Newegg CA has it for $180.

 

[corkyg]

That's understandable. I hadn't considered the population difference. $135 vs $180 is a big difference. Is there much variance between East and West, i.e., Vancouver and Ottawa?

 

[lowboyee]

I usually order everything from internet retailers and AFAIK there's no difference which part of the country you're in (other than shipping maybe) so I'm not sure how much regional difference there would be.

Here in Victoria (pop 350k) there's one store that has a limited inventory in stock that tends to match online prices. Otherwise it's places like NCIX, CanadaComputers, TigerDirect and Newegg.ca.

Vancouver has an NCIX store locally, and Toronto has a few storefronts of those major online retailers.

 

[AnitaPeterson]

Going back to the original question (yes, we all know Canadians are hosed on prices!): can anyone with experience in SSDs state whether there's any benefit to getting the Samsung over the Crucial?

 

[n0x1ous]

Samsung is most used OEM SSD so reliabilty is tops. Check on the 840's that they just announced yesterday. best performance and power consumption.

Can't go wrong with Sammy.

 

[aviator78]

Like n0x1ous said, it's reliabilty is the benefit. And maybe you want to wait one week, the 840 is out and will lower the price of the well testet and technically mature 830.

 

[lowboyee]

Thanks for the info, and the new 840 does look very nice from the specs. I'll wait until it hits shelves here and make a decision between the 830 and 840.

 

[hhhd1]

Going back to the original question (yes, we all know Canadians are hosed on prices!): can anyone with experience in SSDs state whether there's any benefit to getting the Samsung over the Crucial?

That is a good question.

I know that the Crucial M4 had 2 main issues,
1. the first firmware versions had a bug that would make it crash after having over ~5100 hours on count, anybody buying it now will get a new firmware anyway.
2. sometimes, crucial doesn't play nice with some of intel power saving features, make it freeze temporarily.

Not all users encounter problem no.2

both problems are not as bad as when compared to other SSDs from different manufacturers.

 

[StarTech]

A point to consider is that the SAMSUNG comes with the magician software. I have a SANSUNG 830 256GB and a Crucial M4 512GB. If the difference in price would have been smaler, I would have got the 830 512GB. For $35 difference, I would go with the 830.

 

[bigsnyder]

+1 Samsung

 

[blastingcap]

If you need 7mm then the Sammy is probably going to be about the same price anyway.

But $35?!!?

I'd pay like $5-10 more for the Sammy, max. M4's with updated firmware are more than fine, and you won't really be able to tell a significant speed difference in most real-life cases.

Edit to add: I should know. I own both the Samsung 830 256GB and the Crucial M4 256GB--the exact same drives that the OP is asking about. I also have experience with other SSDs and capacities in my second, third, and fourth rigs and laptop.

 

[Soulkeeper]

I agree with blastingcap

$35 bucks is worth keeping and it's hard to notice the difference between two fast SSDs

 

[firewolfsm]

Hmmm...what do you all think of starting a small business here on AT, based on buying newegg.com products and shipping them personally to newegg.ca customers? I see enough gouging to pay for extra shipping and a small profit, and still benefit the recipient.

 

[xchaotic]

I'd say go for M4, the difference in price is just too big to justify the marginal improvements in synthetic benchmark.
I'd asked Crucial about M4 successor and they said they're not planning to release M5 until they have improvements big enough - M4 is already close enough to STA3 limits

 

[Compman55]

Simply wait for the 840 sammys to come out.

If there all little bugs, they will be addressed with firmware later on. If ou buyt the 830 or M4 now, you will always be wondering if the 840s will be improved.

 

[philipma1957]

I agree with blastingcap

$35 bucks is worth keeping and it's hard to notice the difference between two fast SSDs

This and I own samsung crucial and intel ssds. More then 5 of each all good .

Comes down to price for most users as the samsung 830 crucial m4 and intel 330/520 are all pretty fast and reliable. Yes I can give examples of why a samsung 830 is better I can also give examples of why it is not.

If they go in a desktop and you are not running mission critical work. They will all be fast enough and reliable enough. so size and price are what matters. Yesterday I purchased 5 intel series 330 240gb size ssds my net cost was 126 each. I will sell 3 on ebay and build a raid0 Lacie little big disk with the other two.


If the samsung were 140 or less each I would buy 5 today.

If the crucial were 140 or less each today I would buy 5.

I do some reselling , I do some custom builds and I use some myself.

I have sold more then 25 of each of the above on ebay only one return. All of them are working 2 to 5 months in the return was an exchange a 180gb intel for a 240gb intel.



as to the other poster (firewolfsm) that asked about a resales business send me a pm I can advise you of the plusses and the minuses . clue it is not that easy

 

[blastingcap]

Yesterday I purchased 5 intel series 330 240gb size ssds my net cost was 126 each.

What the..? Care to share details? Or PM them?

 

[sequoia464]

The 830 is $170 for a short time today ...http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2272959

Edit; sorry, missed the Canada part - this probably doesn't help you out at all.