Crucial M500 480GB SSD review

The SSDs that comprise Crucial’s new M500 range come in a variety of capacities, from a relatively low 128GB to a large 960GB, but each SSD uses the SATA3 interface, a Marvell 88SS9187 controller and 20nm Micron MLC NAND flash chips. This means performance should be the same throughout the range, so you should get similar speeds to the M500 480GB SSD reviewed here.

The 480GB M500 was certainly quick, writing large files at 468.3MB/s and reading them at a slightly slower rate of 406.4MB/s. It wrote small files at 153MB/s and read them more slowly at 90.6MB/s. Overall, it’s one of the fastest SSDs we’ve seen.

If you have an ultra-portable laptop and want to replace its SSD or mechanical hard disk, you’ll be pleased to discover that the M500 is just 7mm thick. This means it’s compatible with many laptops, even ultra-portables. Of course, make sure your laptop is compatible before you buy the M500, as some modern Ultrabooks use RAM-like mSATA-based storage rather than the 2.5in drives.

It’s a shame that the M500 isn’t available with extra accessories such as a 3.5in mounting bracket, disk cloning software or a USB enclosure for your old 2.5in drive. This will probably be most disappointing for first-time SSD buyers, and is unlikely to be a concern if this is your second or third SSD. The M500 has a three-year warranty. Although we’d prefer a five-year warranty, its three-year warranty should be sufficient for most users.

The Crucial M500’s excellent performance and competitive price makes it a good value SSD. It’s faster than both the Samsung 840 Pro and the OCZ Vertex 4 overall when writing and reading large files. The Crucial M500 is also much faster than the OCZ Vertex 4 overall when reading and writing small files, with the OCZ Vertex scoring just 70.6 overall in our small file benchmark test. It isn’t quite as fast as the 512GB Toshiba THNSNF when reading and writing large files, but that model is still in short supply.

The 480GB model we’ve reviewed has a reasonably low cost per gigabyte of 60p, but the admittedly more expensive 960GB model has an even lower cost per gigabyte of just 49p. That’s very low for such a high capacity SSD. No matter which capacity you choose, the Crucial M500 SSD is a great buy.