Page 11 - Conclusion
What exactly is progress? For most people, the definition of progress usually includes an improvement from the existing or the past. Of course, what exactly is considered an improvement may vary from person to person, and Crucial's MX300 is a product that makes you think about this very definition. In terms of performance, the MX300 came up just behind the MX200 in most tests. Although this sounds kind of bad, it is not necessarily a bad position to be in, considering the MX200 was one of the best mainstream performance drives last year. In terms of power consumption, nothing significant has changed compared to its predecessor; its DevSLP power went up slightly, slumber power went down slightly, and max power remained the same. However, in terms of technology, the MX300 is quite unique. This "limited edition" product is made to show off Micron's latest ultra-high density 3D TLC NAND flash chips, and as a precursor to what is to come, I am excited. I am excited because the new 384Gbit 32-layer ICs open the door for high capacity SSDs in the near future -- 10TB and beyond -- at more affordable prices than ever before. The MX300 750GB's rated write endurance of 220TB is pretty good, too. For about $185 at press time, or 24.7 cents per gigabyte, its price tag is also quite reasonable. Of course, it is hard to compare apples to apples with another SSD, considering the unique 750GB capacity. If you are willing to spend a little more money, the OCZ Trion 150 in 960GB form is slightly faster with a better warranty at a slightly lower price per gigabyte. On the other hand, the Crucial MX300, being a MX series drive and all, has things like power failure protection and native Microsoft eDrive encryption support, both of which the Trion 150 does not have. As far as progress is concerned, I think Crucial has made quite a bit with their 3D TLC flash ICs inside the MX300 750GB. While did not shatter any performance, price, or capacity records in our benchmarks, this is something that has to be made in order for progress to occur, and as a preview of what is to come. Whether you want to buy one today or not is a question you will need to answer with your wallet.
Crucial provided this product to APH Networks for the purpose of evaluation.
Since April 30, 2007, Number Ratings have been dropped for all CPUs, motherboards, RAM, SSD/HDDs, and graphics cards. This is to ensure the most appropriate ratings are reflected without the inherent limits of using numbers. Everything else will continue using the Number Rating System.
More information in our Review Focus.
The Crucial MX300 750GB is a mainstream SSD that aims to set no new records in speed, but it is an affordable solution with decent performance that serves as a promising preview of what is to come.
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Page Index
1. Introduction, Packaging, Specifications
2. A Closer Look, Test System
3. Benchmark: AIDA64 Disk Benchmark
4. Benchmark: ATTO Disk Benchmark
5. Benchmark: Crystal Disk Mark 3.0
6. Benchmark: HD Tach 3.0.1.0
7. Benchmark: HD Tune Pro 4.60
8. Benchmark: PassMark PerformanceTest 8.0
9. Benchmark: PCMark Vantage
10. Benchmark: PCMark 8
11. Conclusion
