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Written byandUpdated October 6, 2019It's 2019: If any of your devices still have a spinning hard drive—be it a laptop, gaming console, or PC—it's high time you. SSDs are cheaper than ever and easy to install, so there's really no excuse. Even if your laptop came with a 128GB SSD, upgrading to a bigger one can just make your life easier.But while buying an SSD is a no-brainer, actually picking one means navigating a sea of confusing buzzwords. We've got you: We've tested the most popular solid state drives, and we believe the best overall SSD for most people is the Samsung 860 EVO. It's fast, it's competitively priced, it will work with just about every laptop on the market, and it has a 5-year warranty.That said, unless you have a high-end laptop that supports faster 'NVMe' memory (we'll address these in a later roundup), pretty much all SSDs are going to perform about the same. While the Samsung 860 EVO is still our favorite for most people, it pays to shop around—and if any of the other drives we tested is substantially cheaper, you can go with that without losing out on much.These are the best SSDs for laptops we tested ranked, in order:.
Samsung SSD 860 EVO 2.5' SATA III 500GB. Western Digital Blue 3D NAND SATA SSD - 500GB. SanDisk Ultra 3D SSD (2.5-inch 500GB). Samsung 850 EVO SSD (2.5-inch 500GB).
![Samsung 860 evo macbook pro 2010 Samsung 860 evo macbook pro 2010](http://www.macplus.sg/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/samsung750evo.jpg)
I purchased the 850 EVO SSD this week and installed it in my 2011 MacbBook. Now if I can just figure out if I should use Trim Enabler or not.
Crucial MX500 SSD (2.5-inch 500GB). Kingston A400 SSD (2.5-inch 480GB). Capacity: 250GB, 500GB, 1TB, 2TB, 4TBFormats: 2.5-inch, M.2, mSATAWarranty: 5-year limited warrantyThe Samsung 860 EVO launched early this year as the follow-up to the exceptionally popular Samsung 850 EVO. Though the 850 EVO is still trickling out of the market, the 860 EVO is the successor and includes a number of changes that result in better long-term endurance and some minor performance increases.In our testing, the 860 EVO was a hair faster than the 850, even though both are limited by the SATA III interface's max speed. The 860 is actually the cheaper of the two now, as the 850 is leaving the market and prices tend to be higher.Though not as cheap as the least expensive drives on the market, with the 860 EVO you can expect slightly better performance, a long 5-year warranty, capacities reaching 4TB (though M.2 versions top out at 2TB), and support for features like hardware encryption that not all drives support.Across the board, the Samsung 860 EVO is the best laptop SSD that we tested.
At typical capacities, it's only a tad more expensive than the other drives, and there's something to be said for the fact that it comes in nearly every form factor and capacity. Unless your laptop takes super-fast NVMe SSDs, the Samsung 860 EVO is the best bet on the market. Capacity: 250GB, 500GB, 1TB, 2TBFormats: 2.5-inch, M.2Warranty: 5-year limited warrantyThe WD Blue series of SSDs has been a highly rated, well-priced addition to the market since the middle of last year.
In our testing, the 1TB model managed consistently high read/write speeds, it's competitively priced, and it has a 5-year warranty.While the Samsung 860 EVO did slightly better in a few tests and is rated to endure more use over time, for most people, the WD Blue is a cheaper option that will perform functionally identically in day-to-day use. It lacks hardware encryption and doesn't come in a 4TB package, but those are extremely niche concerns.It’s right around $75 for a 250GB model, jumping to around $115 for 500GB, and $229 for 1TB—with prices falling all the time. The 2TB price is still quite high, but at just under $500 it’s in line with the competition and you get a 5-year limited warranty across the board.Overall, there is very, very little performance-wise to choose between the WD Digital Blue and the rest of the drives we tested, so it's better to focus on value. The WD Blue does the best job of balancing performance, price, and a long warranty, so for most people, it's actually the best choice right now.
How We Tested The TesterMy name is TJ Donegan, I’m the Executive Editor of Reviewed. I’ve reviewed nearly every kind of tech you can buy, from cameras and camcorders to smartphones, laptops, and PC components.
![Macbook Macbook](/uploads/1/2/6/6/126615075/465981810.jpg)
I’ve built numerous custom PCs for myself and others, and lost at least 20 screws inside of various computers over the years.Handling the testing side of this roundup is Kyle Hamilton, our in-house Product Test Technician and reviewer. He is a former validation technician for Intel, where he was responsible for testing power, performance, and thermal throttling for solid state drives. Credit: Reviewed.com / TJ DoneganIf your laptop takes standard 2.5-inch SSDs, anything in that form factor should fit great, but performance will be limited.
The TestsFor testing, we are relying on the free and readily available Crystal Disk Mark, meaning you should be able to easily check our results. We picked our test batch by looking at market data, user reviews, current prices, and looking at other in-depth guides to the best SSDs at places such as. We also reached out to each manufacturer to discuss their current product lines to see which drives may be replaced soon. Credit: Reviewed.com / TJ DoneganLeft: the Samsung 860 EVO in an M.2 form factor. Right: the same thing in a 2.5-inch driveYou could write 10,000 words on the different types of SSDs and still not explain all the differences, so we're going to keep it simple. When shopping for an SSD you first need to figure out what will fit into your laptop or PC.
Most laptops, game consoles, and PCs take so-called '2.5-inch' drives that are a little bigger than a playing card. If that's what you need, just buy one and you know it'll fit perfectly.In some slim laptops, however, you will find what is called an 'M.2' port with SSDs that look like long, thin circuit boards. Why the drastic change? Because the actual memory in SSDs is really tightly packed, so most of the space in 2.5-inch drives is wasted. M.2 sticks are more space-efficient, which is perfect for today's laptops.
M.2 sticks are more space-efficient, which is perfect for today's laptops.Most M.2 SSDs are 22mm wide sticks, but they come in various lengths up to 80mm long. (Such a stick usually has '2280' in the model name to denote its size). You can usually replace a longer M.2 SSD with a shorter one, but check with your manufacturer to be sure.Some laptops have space for both kinds of drives, and there's not much to be gained just from using an M.2 SSD over a 2.5-inch one. Most of the drives we tested in this guide come in both form factors and have the same 'speed limit' because of the SATA III standard—even M.2 versions. Just buy what you need and you should get roughly the same performance.There is a new, faster kind of SSD out called NVMe, however.
NVMe memory fits into an M.2 slot and can smash through that speed limit, but only if your laptop supports it. Since this is mostly limited to high-end machines and gaming laptops (and it's more expensive), we're leaving these for a future guide. Capacity: 250GB, 500GB, 1TB, 2TBFormats: 2.5-inchWarranty: 3-year warrantyThe SanDisk Ultra 3D NAND SSD comes in a wide variety of form factors and capacities, and it's very, very similar to the Western Digital WD Blue. That's not surprising, given SanDisk acquired Western Digital a few years ago and all these drives are limited by the SATA III interface.In our performance tests, the Ultra 3D SSD managed to slide right in among the middle of the pack, only narrowly behind our fastest SSD, the Samsung 860 EVO, and slightly ahead of our value pick. As with the others drives, it’ll be a very fast upgrade over a hard drive but you won’t notice a huge jump over other SATA III SSDs.Our only hangup with the SanDisk Ultra is its 3-year warranty, which is a bit behind the 5-year warranty that most of the competition offers. SanDisk does allow you to write to the drive significantly more frequently per day while still honoring the warranty, though, so certain applications that use the drive constantly (such as a security system), may find it to be better suited to their needs. Capacity: 250GB, 500GB, 1TB, 2TBFormats: 2.5-inch, M.2, mSATAWarranty: 5-year limited warrantyThe venerable Samsung 850 EVO has been considered the SSD to get for years now.
But at this point, it is just about off the market and the prices are fluctuating wildly. That said, if you can find it on deep discount for less than other current models, it’s worth picking up.For most people, we’d recommend getting the newer 860 EVO, especially as it’s faster and typically cheaper since the 850’s stocks are basically all but spent. But if you come across one at a clearance price, just know that you’re getting a drive that can still easily compete with the best on the market—especially if you're using the slower SATA III standard anyway. Capacity: 250GB, 500GB, 1TB, 2TBFormats: 2.5-inch, M.2, mSATAWarranty: 5-year limited warrantyIf one thing is clear from our testing, it's that most modern SSDs perform about the same when using the most common SATA III and M.2 connections. Outside of some newer high-performance NVMe drives that we'll test later this year, most people simply should find the cheapest drive that works for them and go with that—especially if that drive offers a 5-year warranty.The Crucial MX500 definitely checks those boxes, and at 250 and 500GB it was as cheap as any other drive we tested.
The one thing that held it back from our top value pick? The higher capacities were consistently more expensive.Still, if you want a great, affordable SSD at 250GB or 500GB, the Crucial MX500 is as good a pick as any. It did perform ever so slightly worse than the best drives, but not enough you'd notice with regular use. Capacity: 120GB, 240GB, 480GB, 960GBFormats: 2.5-inchWarranty: 3-year limited warrantyThe Kingston A400 SSD performed admirably in our round of testing, but it didn’t do enough to make up for the fact that it offered lower capacity and typically cost more than comparable drives in this round.
Though the capacity differences weren’t massive, an extra 20 to 40GB does make a difference.The Kingston A400 was the only drive we tested to come in a sub-240GB size, which is great if you have a limited need for storage capacity and want a great all-around SSD for under $50. We don’t recommend drives that small for PCs or game consoles (especially when you can get 250GB for just $25 more), but it’s a good option to have.The higher price, average performance, and shorter 3-year warranty period were enough to keep the Kingston A400 from threatening the top spot, but if you find it on a killer sale and it fits your needs there’s certainly no reason to avoid it.
I bought this SSD for my daughter in 2015 for use in her Macbook Pro. I was wondering whether it is compatible with MacOS High Sierra and the APFS file system that is used when this is installed.
Don't see any info on Samsung Support.Also wondering about whether a firmware update is possible/available and whether this is necessary for MacOS High Sierra. I saw an Amazon question where someone posted that you are supposed to use Samsung's Magician software for firmware updates but this does not run on Mac. They said that Samsung provides a workaround that lets you install and run the firmware update using a bootable DVD, but again, there is nothing I could find on Samsung's support page. Does anyone know if this is possible and where to find it?Thanks in advance,Vince.
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