The price, though, is anything but painless. At 475, it's an incredibly expensive upgrade to make, especially when the only real benefits are faster boot times and a snappier, slightly quicker OS. For that money, you could double or quadruple the amount of RAM available in your laptop, for instance or, if you're using an older machine, you could get a brand new notebook that could easily outpace your current model.
While the 256GB capacity is the largest ever produced by Samsung, and an amount that's finally viable for use as a main hard disk, the price of this technology means that it still doesn't make sense as a pure value proposition.
However, another major benefit of SSD is also data security. While manufacturers have come up with smart ways of protecting conventional hard disks from data loss caused by crashing heads after your laptop is knocked to the floor - with no moving parts an SSD is always going to win out for overall ruggedness and for many business users, that will be worth the price of the SSD entry fee alone.
Verdict
There’s no doubt that, in theoretical tests at least, the Samsung SSD is far quicker than the average hard disk – and thanks to snappier menus and faster loading, installing this in your laptop will mean it runs quicker and is more satisfying to use, even if this doesn’t particularly tell in application benchmarks. While it’s a good addition to a machine, the price means that technology is still too high to justify for many users, but the advantages of a solid state drive for ruggedness means that it’s still an investment worth considering.
Part number: MMDOE56G5MXP-0VB Capactiy: 256GB Technology: MLC NAND Flash technology, Interface: SATA II Dimensions: 65 x 98 x 8mm (WxDxH), Weight: 80g
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