Top 5 internal drives: The state of solid-state drives
No matter how big or small your computer is, there is at least one internal drive to host its operating system and programs. This drive, be it a regular hard drive or a solid-state drive (SSD), generally comes in one of the two standards, 2.5 inch (for laptops) or 3.5 inch for desktops.
Most, if not all standard SSDs, however, come in the 2.5-inch design. (They have two levels of thickness, however, ultrabook-friendly 7 mm and traditional 9.5-mm.) This is because a 2.5-inch drive can fit in both laptop and desktop computers, while the 3.5-inch drives can only fit in desktops. Due to the fact that SSDs have no moving parts, its capacities generally don't depend on the physical size of the drive.
If you have a computer with a hard drive, you definitely want to replace it with an SSD. This is the single upgrade that will bring a totally new life (performance, that is) to your computer.
SSDs are generally a lot more expensive than a hard drive. However, their prices have been getting progressively cheaper and by now, you can easily find one that costs less than $1 per gigabyte. At this price, the preponderance benefits totally make it worth an investment.
Without further ado, here are the new top-five SSDs that you would want to use as your computer's boot drive, with the most recently reviewed on top.
(Credit: Dong Ngo)
Corsair Neutron GTX
The Corsair Neutron GTX is the first SSD from Corsair that I've worked with. Despite sharing the increasingly popular 7mm 2.5-inch design, the drive's quite different from the rest of SSDs since it uses a new controller called LAMD LM87800 and a high-performance Toggle Mode NAND from Toshiba. This resulted in one of the best performances I've seen. The good news is you don't have to break your bank to get it. The new Corsair drive is priced at around $1 per gigabyte and the price is expected to get lower soon..
The Corsair Neutron GTX is the first SSD from Corsair that I've worked with. Despite sharing the increasingly popular 7mm 2.5-inch design, the drive's quite different from the rest of SSDs since it uses a new controller called LAMD LM87800 and a high-performance Toggle Mode NAND from Toshiba. This resulted in one of the best performances I've seen. The good news is you don't have to break your bank to get it. The new Corsair drive is priced at around $1 per gigabyte and the price is expected to get lower soon..
(Credit: Dong Ngo)
Corsair Neutron
The Corsair Neutron is almost exactly the same as its big brother, the Corsair Neutron GTX, by also coming in the 7mm thick 2.5-inch design and sporting the LAMD LM87800 controller. The missing GTX designation, however, shows that it's a lower-performance tier. And it was indeed slower in my testing. This is because it uses budget synchronous NAND from Micron.
The Corsair Neutron is almost exactly the same as its big brother, the Corsair Neutron GTX, by also coming in the 7mm thick 2.5-inch design and sporting the LAMD LM87800 controller. The missing GTX designation, however, shows that it's a lower-performance tier. And it was indeed slower in my testing. This is because it uses budget synchronous NAND from Micron.
In my testing, while the drive was indeed slower than the Neutron GTX, it wasn't bad at all when compared with other SSDs. In fact, I found that it probably offers the same application performance as that of the GTX. That makes it a great deal considering it costs much less than the Neutron GTX, at less than $.90 per gigabyte. And yes, the pricing is also expected to get lower since the Corsair Neutron has just been released to the market.
(Credit: Dong Ngo)
Plextor M5 Pro
The Plextor M5 Pro is one of the fastest SSDs on the market and the first SSD from Plextor that supports the new 7mm 2.5-inch design. Similar to the Corsair drives above, it also comes with a new controller, the Marvell's 88SS9187 Monet controller, which supposedly provides enterprise-grade double data protection. The drive has just been released and is currently not yet available to purchase, but keep it in mind since you won't be disappointed by its performance.
The Plextor M5 Pro is one of the fastest SSDs on the market and the first SSD from Plextor that supports the new 7mm 2.5-inch design. Similar to the Corsair drives above, it also comes with a new controller, the Marvell's 88SS9187 Monet controller, which supposedly provides enterprise-grade double data protection. The drive has just been released and is currently not yet available to purchase, but keep it in mind since you won't be disappointed by its performance.
(Credit: Dong Ngo/CNET)
Intel SSD 520 Series
When first released some six months ago, the Intel SSD 520 Series was the first 7mm 2.5-inch SSD on the market. Now it's the fourth on this list. It, however, is the only one on this list that uses the once-popular SanForce controller. Coupled with Intel's special firmware, version 400i, the drive offered great performance in my testing. The drive also comes with accessories and hard-drive cloning software, making it a great buy for those who want to make a quick upgrade
When first released some six months ago, the Intel SSD 520 Series was the first 7mm 2.5-inch SSD on the market. Now it's the fourth on this list. It, however, is the only one on this list that uses the once-popular SanForce controller. Coupled with Intel's special firmware, version 400i, the drive offered great performance in my testing. The drive also comes with accessories and hard-drive cloning software, making it a great buy for those who want to make a quick upgrade
(Credit: Dong Ngo/CNET)
Samsung 830 Series
The Samsung 830 series is the only SSD on this list that supports that transnational 9.5mm thick 2.5-inch design. This means it won't fit in ultra-thin laptops, but just regular laptop and desktop computers. The Samsung is not just fast but also really sleek-looking. In fact, it's sad that it's so sleek-looking since it's an internal hard drive that will be hidden away inside a computer's chassis. The Samsung 830 Series also offers the capability to turn its provisioning features on or off on the fly, making it the most flexible SSD on the market.
The Samsung 830 series is the only SSD on this list that supports that transnational 9.5mm thick 2.5-inch design. This means it won't fit in ultra-thin laptops, but just regular laptop and desktop computers. The Samsung is not just fast but also really sleek-looking. In fact, it's sad that it's so sleek-looking since it's an internal hard drive that will be hidden away inside a computer's chassis. The Samsung 830 Series also offers the capability to turn its provisioning features on or off on the fly, making it the most flexible SSD on the market.
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