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    Crucial m4 256GB mSATA SSD Review Discussion

    Discussion in 'Notebook News and Reviews' started by John Ratsey, Jul 5, 2012.

  1. John Ratsey

    John Ratsey Moderately inquisitive Super Moderator

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    The mSATA (mini-SATA) standard represents a new category of SATA storage devices first developed by Samsung and then adopted as an industry standard format that is about 3cm x 5cm (about 1.2-inch x 2-inch) in size. The format is especially suitable for Ultrabooks and other thin-and-light notebooks. mSATA-compatible mini-PCIe slots have also been provided in some larger notebooks which offer the option of using an SSD as a boot drive for speed alongside a conventional hard drive for capacity.



    Read the full content of this Article: Crucial m4 256GB mSATA SSD Review

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    Last edited by a moderator: May 7, 2015
    John Ratsey, Jul 5, 2012
    #1
  2. davidricardo86

    davidricardo86 Notebook Deity

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    I'd love to have one of these if I had an mSATA capable laptop along with my standard 2.5" SSD. Thanks for the review!
     
    davidricardo86, Jul 5, 2012
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  3. Penguissimo

    Penguissimo Notebook Enthusiast

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    This is awesome, thanks! I've been really interested in an mSATA drive for when I get a P9170. One question: is this thing available to consumers yet, and if so, where can it be purchased?
     
    Penguissimo, Jul 5, 2012
    #3
  4. long2905

    long2905 Notebook Virtuoso

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    I'm debating whether to keep my set up or get one of these and pair it up with a regular 2.5" 256GB SSD.
     
    long2905, Jul 6, 2012
    #4
  5. baii

    baii Sone

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    IIRC, they announce this and promised 2.5 SATA speed in mid April. The question is when is this getting release to consumer .
     
    baii, Jul 6, 2012
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  6. John Ratsey

    John Ratsey Moderately inquisitive Super Moderator

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    Yes. Google for "CT256M4SSD3" I bought mine in UK (although there's no more stock at this moment) and US people can find them here, for example.

    The critical detail to check for is the "3" at the end of the part number. A "1" means 7mm and a "2" means 9.5mm. Some websites are putting the correct part number but with a photo of the 2.5" SSD.

    John
     
    John Ratsey, Jul 6, 2012
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  7. CSHawkeye81

    CSHawkeye81 Notebook Deity

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    I just snagged one from CDW paid 225 for it.
     
    CSHawkeye81, Jul 6, 2012
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  8. baii

    baii Sone

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    For some reason if you put the model number in goggle, all the japanese site pop up. I guess the first batch is released in JP?
     
    baii, Jul 6, 2012
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  9. Penguissimo

    Penguissimo Notebook Enthusiast

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    Brilliant, thanks you guys!!

    edit: This is what I want to get, right?
     
    Penguissimo, Jul 6, 2012
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  10. John Ratsey

    John Ratsey Moderately inquisitive Super Moderator

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    John Ratsey, Jul 6, 2012
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  11. SoundOf1HandClapping

    SoundOf1HandClapping Was once a Forge

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    Damn. Paid $260 for my BP3. Would have liked to save a few bucks. Oh well.
     
    SoundOf1HandClapping, Jul 6, 2012
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  12. CSHawkeye81

    CSHawkeye81 Notebook Deity

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    Yup that's it!
     
    CSHawkeye81, Jul 6, 2012
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  13. Penguissimo

    Penguissimo Notebook Enthusiast

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    Beautiful, thanks guys! Can't wait to see how fast this is...it'll be my first SSD!
     
    Penguissimo, Jul 6, 2012
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  14. Abidderman

    Abidderman Notebook Deity

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    Just about a year and a half ago or so, I paid $180 fro an Intel 310 80GB mSata. My tablet came with one of the SanDisk slugs. It is good to see how the pricing has come down, and this looks to be a great replacement for my Intel. Nice find and nice review.
     
    Abidderman, Jul 7, 2012
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  15. John Ratsey

    John Ratsey Moderately inquisitive Super Moderator

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    Just watch out for etailers trying to make a quick buck while the product is scarce. I just noticed this currently priced at £569 - over £400 more than what I paid. :eek:

    John
     
    John Ratsey, Jul 7, 2012
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  16. foxyshadis

    foxyshadis Notebook Enthusiast

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    Looks like a great budget-priced upgrade, given that I already have a 2.5" SSD and it's OK if shipping is delayed a bit, since I haven't pulled the trigger on my new laptop yet. Can you believe the Dell XPS 14 comes with a terribly slow 30 GB one? Blows my mind, it might be better to put the O/S on a 7200 rpm drive than that.
     
    foxyshadis, Jul 7, 2012
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  17. jaeyang9

    jaeyang9 Notebook Consultant

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    got my first ssd 2 years ago in my m11x r2. it was a 256gb samsung. what can I say, i loved it so much I got ANOTHER one for my desktop. now i've got an m17x r4 in production with a new 512gb samsung right here waiting to be installed.. the performance difference between hdd and ssd is THAT noticeable.

    the review says:
    "... Until recently mSATA SSD capacities stopped at 128GB." really? until not so recently it had already more than doubled. lol :rolleyes:
     
    jaeyang9, Jul 12, 2012
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  18. John Ratsey

    John Ratsey Moderately inquisitive Super Moderator

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    Show me a mSATA (not 1.8" or 2.5") SSD that was available 6 months ago. I know that 500GB or more has been available in the 2.5" format for over two years - I bought a 512GB Kingston SNVP325 in February 2010.

    John
     
    John Ratsey, Jul 12, 2012
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  19. cyrilng

    cyrilng Notebook Geek

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    cyrilng, Jul 12, 2012
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  20. John Ratsey

    John Ratsey Moderately inquisitive Super Moderator

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    It won't work unless the manufacturer has made specific provision for the slot to work as both mSATA and mini PCIe. To quote from Wikipedia:
    John
     
    John Ratsey, Jul 12, 2012
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  21. Lunestic

    Lunestic Notebook Enthusiast

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    Are mSatas better than SSDs? And what if they were paired together?
     
    Lunestic, Jul 12, 2012
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  22. John Ratsey

    John Ratsey Moderately inquisitive Super Moderator

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    For most people there is no choice: Most notebooks do not support an mSATA SSD so the only option is a normal 2.5" SSD to replace a 2.5" HDD. The thinnest and lightest notebooks (the 'ultrabooks' or similar) only have provision for a single mSATA SSD.

    However, there is a group of notebooks which have both an mSATA compatible slot and a normal 2.5" storage bay. For these, the first thing to check is the speed of the mSATA slot. Some of these are SATA 2 (300 MB/s) whereas (on more recent notebooks) the 2.5" bay is SATA 3 (600 MB/s). With the latest SSDs able to read data at around 400 MB/s the SATA 2 speed is a bottleneck. Therefore, a 2.5" SSD is usually the better option. An mSATA SSD + 2.5" HDD is an option which combines moderate cost and high capacity.

    John
     
    John Ratsey, Jul 12, 2012
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  23. cyrilng

    cyrilng Notebook Geek

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    Thanks for the info John. Too bad. :(
     
    cyrilng, Jul 13, 2012
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  24. jaeyang9

    jaeyang9 Notebook Consultant

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    alright fine.. "more than doubled" was an exaggeration. :p but samsung already released 6Gbps 256gb Msata drives back in Dec 2011 :cool:
     
    jaeyang9, Jul 13, 2012
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  25. John Ratsey

    John Ratsey Moderately inquisitive Super Moderator

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    I would consider that to be the announcement. Could you buy one then, or now, for that matter?

    John
     
    John Ratsey, Jul 13, 2012
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  26. long2905

    long2905 Notebook Virtuoso

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    Do you think they would release a 512GB version at all?
     
    long2905, Jul 13, 2012
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  27. aooga12

    aooga12 Notebook Consultant

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    what is the glaring difference between msata and a regular ssd? seems to be more expensive to put a 256 m4 in a laptop as a msata than it is a ssd...
     
    aooga12, Jul 13, 2012
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  28. John Ratsey

    John Ratsey Moderately inquisitive Super Moderator

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    I'm sure that 512GB will come but don't know when. I think there will first need to be a process shrink on the chips.

    John
     
    John Ratsey, Jul 13, 2012
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  29. Iron Dan

    Iron Dan Notebook Consultant

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    I want one! I have a dv6tqe-7000 with an empty mSATA slot beconing for me to fill it (I think it is even SATA III). This SSD would be OS/APP drive and my 750GB seagate hybrid would be for storage. If I found a 256GB m4 mSATA for $150 I would buy it NOW. Unfortunately $230-$250 or whatever they run is too much for now..... ugh... Hopefully soon. 256GB should be PLENTY for Windows and All my games and Apps right? I would think that it'd be hard to fill that up without storing any normal data stuff on it, but if I buy, I'd want to be certain lol. For some reason my Hybrid drive doesn't seem to "learn" to boot well. It's supposed to drop to like 16 seconds after a few boots, but after 3 or 4 weeks I'm still sitting for 30 seconds (oh well, still better than my desktop and freakin tablet). Still can anyone say Christmas present?
     
    Iron Dan, Jul 13, 2012
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  30. John Ratsey

    John Ratsey Moderately inquisitive Super Moderator

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    I think that the mSATA prices are currently propped up by less competition.

    Check what is using your current disk space ( treesize is very useful for this). You may find that a 128GB SSD will be enough for Windows etc.

    John
     
    John Ratsey, Jul 13, 2012
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  31. snickets

    snickets Newbie

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    I just ordered mine from that link (Insight.com) anyone else try them out? I'd like to know how quick they get the product out. They were the only site i could find that had them instock for under 450 bucks >.<

    Anyone try this is a MSI GE60 yet? Will install and post an update in a few weeks when they both get in.
     
    snickets, Jul 13, 2012
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  32. snickets

    snickets Newbie

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    snickets, Jul 13, 2012
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  33. jcvjcvjcvjcv

    jcvjcvjcvjcv Notebook Evangelist

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    In benchmarks, yes. But in real world use I doubt anyone would ever notice. I just ordered one of these to go into a ThinkPad W520. That mSata slot in there is SATA 2, but honestly I don't care about that. The very miniscule performance gain is dwarfed by the savings of being able to use a 2.5" HDD in combination with an mSata SSD.
     
    jcvjcvjcvjcv, Jul 20, 2012
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  34. John Ratsey

    John Ratsey Moderately inquisitive Super Moderator

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    I see that SSDreview has given the Micron M400 / Crucial m4 its Editor's Choice award. However, the review was being economical with the truth when saying that the m4 wasn't yet available at the time of the review.

    John
     
    John Ratsey, Jul 31, 2012
    #34