There was a time when the idea of replacing a hard-disk drive with a solid-state drive was wishful thinking. Not because they were impossible to get, but because prices were through the roof. You had to pay a pretty penny for the ability to get better performance out of a drive. Fortunately prices are finally starting to fall and Crucial is dropping them like old Mike Tyson opponents.
One such SSD is the MX100, which comes in 128, 256, and 512GB versions. For this review, I was sent a 256GB SSD from Crucial for testing purposes and I came away pretty impressed not only by its performance but by what it costs to own one of these puppies.
The SSD uses the SATA 6.0GB/s interface, is only 7.0mm thick, and is a standard 2.5-inches thick. Crucial also gives owners a limited-3 year warranty. For those that are familiar with Crucial’s other SSD offerings, the MX100 is essentially a replacement for the M500 and uses 16-nm flash (for the 256 and 512GB versions), with a write speed of 330MB/s while reading at 550MB/s. For those concerned with overheating, the MX100 also reduces performance if it begins to get too hot from heavy use, though the average user won’t likely have issues with heating.
So how does the MX100 perform in day-to-day activities? Surprisingly well. My sequential read test showed the SSD pull off 314.5MB/s, while the sequential write test saw the MX100 get up to 503.8MB/s, so I was happy to see that it performed closely to what the max read/write speed is expected to be, per Crucial.
Start-up time, which was recorded on a Macbook Pro (2012) while running OS X Yosemite (v. 10.10.1) was 9.56 seconds, which was considerably faster than what the Macbook could do with it’s original HDD (it would generally take nearly 30 seconds). To test out installation speeds, I pulled up Microsoft Office 2013 and timed the full install (on default settings) at 93.6 seconds. Having reinstalled iTunes (v. 12.0.1.26), I timed the installation at 17.2 seconds, which was in line with a few other SSDs that I’ve tested out.
At $116.99, the Crucial MX100 256GB SSD is easily one of the best values around. Not only is this one of the cheapest SSDs available, but also one that performs great. For those looking to upgrade their HDDs and also hoping to avoid a big dent in their wallets, look no further.
Final Score: 5 out of 5
via Examiner National Edition Gadgets & Tech Channel Articles http://ift.tt/1C52BtL