Why is the Crucial M4 40% cheaper than Samsung?

[nivek1006]

I've been looking around to get a SSD for my MacBook. The smallest I'll go is with the 480gb or 512gb drives.

I keep seeing that the Crucial M4 512gb drive is selling for less than $350 some places. But then I see that the Samsung 512gb drives are going for over $650 with most other brands between 5 and 6.

So I read mostly good reviews about the M4 (although 1 reviewer said why bother since it is not Toggle NAND) but I wonder what the catch is. I don't want to look a gift-horse in the mouth, but is the M4 worth it?

 

[Dereck47]

Here's a good article on the recent SSD price drop: http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2012/06/why-ssds-cost-half-of-what-they-did-in-2011/

 

[RetiredChief]

Good Link Dereck. There is an additional reason not mentioned in the article. Developement/Design cost. This cost adds an addtitional layer to the price and manuf try to recoup this cost in the first couple of years. The Case of the M4 vs the Samsung 830, the M4 has been out longer so a greater percentage, if not all, Developement/Design have been recouped, hense they can drop price sooner than the 830.

Another possibility is that curcial could be getting ready to come out with a Newer version and are tring to reduce stock as when the "newer" version hits the market the demand for the older version drops - JUST a Quess.

My Take, there is not a significat difference between the M4 and the 830 to warrent mort than say a 10->15% price differnce.

I have 3 M4s (2 128 Gigs and one 256 gig). The 256 gig That I just bought last week was cheaper than my first 128 gig M4. Also hve 2 128 gig Samsungs.

 

[nivek1006]

Here's a good article on the recent SSD price drop: http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2012/06/why-ssds-cost-half-of-what-they-did-in-2011/

This is an informative read. Thanks!

I did a little more digging around on Google and found out that the Crucial uses just NAND Flash while the Samsung and Sandisk drives use Toggle NAND. Is it worth it?

 

[Dereck47]

Toggle NAND is excellent but I wouldn't pay 40% more to get it.

 

[Deleted member 217926]

While SSDs are not what I would call super cheap yet they have continued to drop in price. I was just looking at old newegg purchases yesterday and saw where I paid $249 for my 120GB Vertex 2 about 2 years ago.

Here is the 256GB Samsung 830 for $209:

http://www.buydig.com/shop/product.aspx?sku=SAMSSd256

And the 512GB Crucial M4 for $345 ( with promo code EMCYTZT1803 )

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?SID=a7UO1r6AEeGAthIkcGOq0A0&AID=10440897&PID=1225267&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-cables-_-na-_-na&Item=N82E16820148444

Hell 120GB drives are regularly under $100 even for the top of the line models now.

 

[nivek1006]

Best answer selected by nivek1006.