And I can find issues with Intel. Performance. If you're looking to spend under $100 on an SSD, there are several faster options compared to the X25-v, plus they have higher capacity for the same price.
It's also worth noting that with their G3 drives, Intel is using a 3rd party controller.
Sandforce has actually caught up with and surpassed Intel in terms of performance.
The reliability would trump the small difference in performance for a lot of people.
Yes, my Agility 2 is faster than my G2. And yes, Intel has nothing in its price class, but if I were looking for a 120GB drive right now, especially for a system for someone else with less technical knowledge, I'd choose the G2 120 over the SandForce/Crucial 120 models. This is in the $200 price range. Unfortunately, we somehow have third-generation drives that are both underwhelming in regard to performance improvements and significantly
more expensive that similarly-sized second-gen drives. This is
not what we saw with the move from 1st to 2nd gen. For myself, if I were going 120GB, I'd probably take the Vertex 3, but I'm not buying it at its offering price, with its crippled performance versus the larger drives. I'm personally waiting for the 200-250GB drives to come down to the price of today's 120 drives before replacing my app/data drive.