When it comes to the SSD market, there's Samsung, and then there's everybody else. While there are dozens of SSD brands, many of which make drives that appear on our best SSDs list, for many shoppers only a Samsung SSD will do. Perhaps that's because, as one of the leading manufacturers of NAND Flash memory, Samsung has the ability to make its own chips and controllers at a large scale.
From the low-cost SATA-based 860 EVO to the mid-range PCIe NVMe 970 EVO and the top-of-the-line PCIe 4.0 980 PRO, Samsung has drives in every market segment. As we start the new year, there are plenty of savings to be had. Below you'll find the best Samsung SSD deals on every major model in 500GB, 1TB and 2TB capacities.
If you're open to purchasing a non-Samsung SSD, check out our list of the best SSD Deals. And, if you want more tech bargains, see our articles on the best tech deals overall, the best monitor deals, the best laptop deals, the best gaming PC deals, the best CPU deals and the best graphics card deals.
Samsung 970 Evo Plus Deals
Samsung 970 Evo Plus: Best Cyber Monday Deals
If you don't know which Samsung SSD to buy, the 970 EVO Plus is probably your best choice, provided that you're using it in a computer that supports M.2 NVMe SSDs (most recent desktops and laptops). Samsung's mainstream consumer drive sports rated read and write speeds of 3,500 and 3,300 MBps at the 1TB and 2TB capacities, along with a solid 5-year warranty and 600 or 1,200 TBW, respectively.
The Samsung 970 EVO Plus is one of our favorite drives because its real-world performance lives up to the hype. The drive loaded Final Fantasy XIV in 19.97 seconds in our testing, outpacing competitors such as the WD Black SN750, the Intel 660p, and its predecessor, the 970 EVO. On our 50GB file transfer test, it scored higher than any competitor except the super-expensive Intel Optane SSD 905P.
Samsung 970 Evo Deals
Samsung 970 Evo: Best Cyber Monday Deals
The Samsung 970 EVO is the company's older mainstream, consumer NVMe PCIe drive. Though it has been replaced by the slightly-faster Samsung 970 EVO Plus, the non-Plus is still available in 500 and 1TB capacities and usually $10 to $20 cheaper.
According to Samsung's spec sheet, the 970 EVO sports sequential read / write rates of 3,400 / 2,300 MBPs in comparison to 3,500 / 3,300 MBps for the EVO Plus. Both drives are rated for 600 TBW (at 1TB) and come with standard five year warranties.
Samsung 980 Pro Deals
Samsung 980 Pro: Best Cyber Monday Deals
If your PC supports PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSDs, you'll get epic speeds from the Samsung 980 PRO, Samsung's fastest SSD. Available in capacities of 250GB, 500GB, 1TB and, soon, 2TB, the 980 PRO boasts ridiculous (or should we say ludicrous?) sequential read and write speeds of 7,000 and 5,000 MBps with 1,000,000 IOPS (500GB / 1TB model), thanks to its powerful Samsung Elpis controller and LPDDR4 DRAM.
In our Samsung 980 PRO review, we noted that this drive had faster transfer speeds than any other NVMe drive (only the Intel SSD 950P, an add-on card that costs more than $1200, was faster). You'll definitely pay a premium for the 980 PRO as its MSRPs are $149 for the 500GB and $229 for the 1TB. There's also an $89 250GB model, but does anyone really want to spend that kind of money for 250GB?
It's important to note that the only computers that support PCIe 4.0 SSDs at this point are desktops with AMD Ryzen 3000 or 5000 series CPUs and motherboards with AMD X570 or B550 chipsets. If you don't have these, you might consider a 970 EVO Plus instead.
Samsung 870 QVO Deals
Samsung 870 QVO: Best Cyber Monday Deals
If you're upgrading an older desktop or laptop that can only take 2.5-inch SATA SSDs, the 870 QVO (see our Samsung 870 QVO review) may be your best Samsung choice. Also, if you already have a speedy NVMe boot drive, getting a less-expensive SATA drive for extra data makes sense.
Based on Samsung's 4-bit QLC NAND, the 870 QVO is available in capacities ranging from 1TB to 8TB. It touts maximum sequential read and write speeds of 560 and 530 MBps, and up to 98,000 and 88,000 of random 4K read/write IOPS, which is about as good as you can get from SATA. The 870 QVO is newer and slightly more performant than the 3-bit TLC 860 EVO, but also sometimes a little more expensive.
Samsung 860 Evo Deals
Samsung 860 Evo: Best Cyber Monday Deals
The older sibling of the Samsung 870 QVO, the Samsung 860 Evo is often found for under $100, which makes it (at least when there's no sale) cheaper than the 870 QVO for ever-so-slightly less performance in some workloads. First launched in 2018, the SATA-powered Samsung 860 EVO touts read and write speeds of 550 and 520 MBps and comes in capacities of 250, 500, 1TB, 2TB or 4TB.
Though most people who need a SATA drive will also require one that's in the 2.5-inch form factor, Samsung also makes versions of the 860 Evo which are M.2 form factor but use the SATA interface. The only reason to get one of those is if your computer is one of the few laptops that has an M.2 slot but can't support faster NVMe drives, or if your desktop has a second or third M.2 slot that solely supports SATA.
Samsung 970 Pro Deals
Samsung 970 Pro: Best Cyber Monday Deals
Though it has now been replaced by the Samsung 980 Pro, the 970 Pro is still available and could be a good choice for some users, particularly those who want maximum performance from an NVMe SSD, but don't have the CPU and motherboard you need for PCIe 4.0.
Because it uses two-bit MLC NAND Flash, the 970 Pro is significantly more expensive but also notably more performant than the 970 EVO Plus, which uses slower, three-bit TLC NAND. Available in 512GB or 1TB capacities, the Pro also features hardware encryption, something the most demanding users and IT professionals would want.
