SOLVED SSD Pricing

[Dan99]

I see a 1TB internal SSD (SATA III) is over $300 but a 1TB external SSD (USB 3.0) is about $100. Is there some good reason for the huge difference in price? If not, I am thinking a 1TB internal drives price will be less than $100 next year.

 

[clifford_cooley]

but a 1TB external SSD (USB 3.0) is about $100.

Are you sure that is not a hybrid (HDD and SSD combination)?

 

[Tim Locke]

1 TB SSDs (Samsung 840/840 pro ) in Canada are between $400 and $500 Cdn so I'd expect them to be $300-350 in the USA. So I could imagine a Black Friday loss leader at $100 in limited quantities. "after mail in rebate" which never arrives.,

 

[Dan99]

Are you sure that is not a hybrid (HDD and SSD combination)?

After a closer look, I see the external drive I was looking at is not a SSD. Thanks for clearing that up. The external SSD 1TB USB 3.0 drives are also over $300.

 

[Digerati]

Is there some good reason for the huge difference in price?

Yes. SSDs are that much better!!!! They consume less energy, the generate less heat, they have no moving parts so are much more durable, and they are incredibly fast.

Yes, they are still expensive but prices have and are dropping rapidly and will continue so as more and more computers are coming with SSDs and more and more users are buying SSDs to replace their HDs.

When you factor in the longer life and savings in energy and spread that and the extra cost over the life of the computer, the extra cost is really insignificant.

 

[Dan99]

The Sata II internal drives are much more inexpensive than the Sata III drives, I get 120 GB SSD drives for just $42 and they are incredibly fast; link below.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009GG06F8?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o08_s00

The spinners are even less expensive now. For example, a 120 GB Seagate internal hard drive is less than $20 now; link below.

http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-ST312...18&sr=1-6&keywords=120+GB+internal+hard+drive

Of course, for you old school folks who must store all your stuff on your main drive or on a second internal drive, a 1TB internal hard drive (spinner) is now about $50 (same for external drives); link below.

http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Deskt...449332605&sr=1-7&keywords=internal+hard+drive

 

[Digerati]

SATA II?

I would not buy an old SSD even if the price is good. Early generation SSDs suffered from limited write cycles. Not a problem with the latest generations.

 

[Tim Locke]

^^ I agree. I suggest that anyone interested in SSDs , the way they work and HOW LONG THEY LAST
should go to Arstechnica.com and search for 'ssd life' where you will find several good articles including one on the results of long term comparison testing.
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015...rked-to-death-and-last-far-longer-than-rated/

http://arstechnica.com/information-...volution-how-solid-state-disks-really-work/4/

 

[clifford_cooley]

a 1TB internal hard drive (spinner) is now about $50

And with current rates, you can double the storage for an additional $20. Tripple the storage for twice the price, or better yet quadruple the storage for little over twice the price.

Looking at price per TB, I can't bring myself to look at the value of a 1TB. The thought of needing to double capacity sooner or later will push for the higher capacity at a lower cost now.

 

[Digerati]

Most people don't need anything near 1TB - they just want it.

As for longevity of SSDs, I note many SSDs, like many of the new Samsungs, are warrantied for 10 years!

 

[clifford_cooley]

Yeah that's the thing people who don't need storage can live without a storage drive and manage with only an SSD. My father is perfectly content with his Samsung EVO 250GB and a few thumb drives. My mother on the other hand has more storage needs than I do. When it comes to storage there is usually a large contrast between how much people need.

 

[Dan99]

SATA II?

I would not buy an old SSD even if the price is good. Early generation SSDs suffered from limited write cycles. Not a problem with the latest generations.

Sata III is new but so are SATA II drives which are being produced right now. My SATA II drive from two years ago had some trouble upgrading to Windows 10 but is now a Windows 10 drive and operating flawlessly. The current SATA II drives I own have given no hint of any limitation although I have done no benchmark testing.

 

[Digerati]

SATA II drives which are being produced right now.

Oh? Got a link to a product currently in production showing that it is SATA II?

I am not saying there are not any, but I sure cannot find any from any major maker currently in production. That, frankly, would make no sense. SATA II would bottleneck the drive significantly. And SATA III is backwards compatible with SATA II so again, it would make no sense, to limit sales like that.

I just looked at every Samsung, SanDisk, and every Crucial SSD on their respective websites and every internal SSD is either M.2 or 6GB/s (which is SATA III). I can find none that use SATA II.

 

[Dan99]

Oh? Got a link to a product currently in production showing that it is SATA II?

I am not saying there are not any, but I sure cannot find any from any major maker currently in production. That, frankly, would make no sense. SATA II would bottleneck the drive significantly. And SATA III is backwards compatible with SATA II so again, it would make no sense, to limit sales like that.

I just looked at every Samsung, SanDisk, and every Crucial SSD on their respective websites and every internal SSD is either M.2 or 6GB/s (which is SATA III). I can find none that use SATA II.

Once again you are right. The 120 GB SSD drives I recently purchased for $42 are in fact SATA III. I guess they were so inexpensive I assumed that they could not be SATA III.

 

[Digerati]

Sata III is new...

That's just it. Remember Google is your friend. SATA is NOT new. It is pushing 7 years old!

SATA III release date

Once again you are right. The 120 GB SSD drives I recently purchased for $42 are in fact SATA III. I guess they were so inexpensive I assumed that they could not be SATA III.

Yeah, prices are dropping fast. I suspect like legacy RAM and other "obsolete devices, older generation versions of products will soon, if not already, cost more than the latest generation simply because the older is no longer in production and therefore harder to find.