Crucial M4 512 GB

Crucial m4 - with data transfer kit (512GB)

Sharing the same design and interface with most of the other SSDs we've reviewed, the Crucial m4 stands out where it matters most: the price. It's still much more expensive than traditional hard drives, but the m4 is the most affordable SSD on the market, especially its top 512GB version. In fact, its cost per gigabyte is low enough for us to look past its comparatively slow performance and the fact that it doesn't include a drive-bay converter to fit in a desktop computer. If you're looking for an SSD to upgrade your system, be it a laptop or desktop, at the street price of around $440 for 256GB (or $220 for 128GB and $800 for 512GB), the Crucial m4 will make a totally worthwhile investment. Like the rest of the SSDs we've reviewed, the Crucial m4 shares the same shape, dimensions, and port design as a standard SATA 2.5-inch laptop hard drive, so it will work in any applications where these hard drives would be used. We tried the drive with a few different computers, different operating systems (Mac, Windows, and Linux), and the drive worked well with all of them. For desktop computers, we were able to use the drive while leaving it unscrewed in the drive bay, as it has no moving parts and is very light. It would be better, however, if it came with a drive-bay converter, like OCZ Vertex 3.