Crucial MX200 1TB SSD Review

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Fritz Nelson, Editor-in-chief

Wouldn't mind having this drive, for my laptop. Only reason I would consider a 1tb is in my laptop. 500gb would be plenty for my desktops, as I have plenty of HDD storage.

I would say Crucial is going to stress reliability over all-out speed. They usually put out a high-quality reliable product. Most people appreciate this when it comes to storage. On the other hand, the warranty could be longer. 3-year warranties are not very competitive when it comes to the most reliable drives. I personally don't consider SSDs with less than a 5-year warranty in my systems.

in a perfect world i would be swapping drives out after a year or so and keeping the old drive as a backup, with ssd, i think this would be the best way to go.

I can't help but feel that when it comes to pricing, manufacturers
are holding back. What are they waiting for? Just ditch the
pointless entry level 64GB models, move on already. Annoys me
when I see a 128GB priced at X, with the 64GB version at
something like 85% of X, because... reasons!

Given the shifting demands of users as video moves to HD and
beyond, games take up ever more space, people storing lots
of stuff from their phones, music, etc., surely it's time the
industry went sideways and set 250GB/256GB as a new
baseline (then maybe it'll feel like it's 2015 in at least one
respect; where's the jetpack I was promised as a kid? :)
I guess they won't though because as long as people are still
buying the lower capacity models, presumably there's money
to be made. Just wish one of them would break ranks and go
for it, then the others would follow. IMO if a midrange 256GB
goes below a certain price point, sales will skyrocket, more
than making up via volume for the lower price (a bit like the
way hardback books have a price above which most people
won't buy them).

Interesting btw, here (UK) at 250GB, the 850 EVO is exactly
the same price as the MX200.

Ian.

PS. Chris, one of the article subheaders is wrong, ie. where it
says, "A Closer Look at the MX100 1TB" - presumably that
should be 'MX200'. ;)

Thanks Ian, we fixed that one earlier today.

In response to your statement. You might have noticed we don't list 128GB models in the Best of Monthly anymore. I don't plan on reviewing any 128GB models either.

When we move to 256Gbit die the entry point will be 512GB and the 256GB drives will fall off. The 128GB drives till have a place in the market right now for business users and Facetwit Surfers but that group rarely reads performance reviews when shopping for a commodity product.

15781622 said:

In response to your statement. You might have noticed we don't list 128GB models in the Best of Monthly anymore. I don't plan on reviewing any 128GB models either.

Very wise. I know some have moaned, but it's for the best. As long as
consumers keep buying lesser capacities, manufacturers will stall the
advancement of newer tech if they think they can keep making more
money from older entry products.

15781622 said:

When we move to 256Gbit die the entry point will be 512GB and the 256GB drives will fall off. ...

Hooray!! It would be great if everything could shift to 512GB minimum,
but I can't see that happening this year. Too many are still happy to
buy 256GB units. I'm looking for a 512GB atm, but what feels to me
to be an 'acceptable' price isn't even enough for an Arc. I'm building a
PC for someone soon, a typical pro user who isn't that bothered about
the tech nerdyness of it all and doesn't know what stuff costs now.
Their immediate feeling of a sensible boot drive capacity was 512GB,
which is hardly surprising given they've been using an old Dell 650 with
a 300GB SCSI disk for some time. Despite the speed, I'm sure a
256GB SSD would feel too much like a downgrade.

I had a look at Scan's 3XS pro-user systems recently, was surprised
at how many of the top-end models (costing high thousands) only
have 256GB SSDs. Surely not enough these days, though at least
they were mostly using Samsung EVO/Pro models.

Seems like in so many areas of tech now, it's all just gradual
percentage increases year after year. Nobody does anything to break
the mould. So much for all the big research headlines in the last 20
years promising huge breakthroughs in storage, etc. Sums up the
mediocre CPU speedups we've had since SB, similar MO. I get Intel
not forging ahead, no competition, they don't have to, but one would
think with SSDs there'd be scope for at least one maker to really
hurl the cat among the pidgeons somehow. Insert a CinemaSins
Jeremy-style *sigh*. :}

15781622 said:

... Facetwit Surfers ...

That made me laugh. :D

I use 128s for system testing, but that's all. After installing the
benchmarks I use, a 128 is basically full, especially if it's in a
system that has a lot of RAM (bigger paging file) or a 'pro' build
(Viewperf12 uses so much space). Indeed, for a system with
64GB RAM, a 128 is perfect as a dedicated paging file device.

Ian.