If you've been wanting to jump on the solid state drive bandwagon but the relative high price compared to spinning media has kept you on the sidelines, Crucial's newest line of SSDs might be right up your alley. The company recently announced the v4 line as a budget-minded product that offers plenty of speed at a price that won't break the bank.
The v4 line is aimed at SATA 3Gb/sec systems as a way to enhance start-up times, transfer speeds and storage durability. Drives are available in capacities of 32GB, 64GB, 128GB and 256GB with MSRPs set at $49.99, $69.99, $99.99, and $189.99, respectively.
The 32GB unit features sequential read speeds of 200MB/sec with up to 60MB/sec writes at 1,200 IOPS random writes. As is common with most SSDs, speeds get incrementally faster as you increase capacity. The 64GB unit is good for 230MB/sec reads, 100MB/sec writes and 2,400 IOPS. Doubling the capacity to 128GB nets 230MB/sec reads, 175MB/sec writes and 4,000 IOPS. Last but not least, the 256GB drive is good for 230MB/sec reads, 190MB/sec writes and 4,000 IOPS.
Performance-wise, the units aren't anything to write home about but the price certainly reflects that. Furthermore, since the drives don't utilize the SATA 6GB/sec interface, they would be perfect for older systems built before 2011 that might not support faster transfer rates.
Crucial notes that v4 drives are available immediately through select global channel partners or directly through their website.