Force, M-ore P-lease
Corsair's Force MP500 has but one problem: its price! There's no getting around the fact that the 480GB model tested here costs slightly more per gigabyte than the incredibly fast and seemingly bulletproof Samsung SSD 960 Pro.
Worse still, the more affordable 960 Evo is a tad faster despite using TLC memory, in fact quite often it was considerably faster. Yes, TLC memory isn't as good, but when you get the same three-year warranty with both products and the less expensive drive is also quicker, it becomes what we call a no-brainer.
It's a shame really as the MP500 is a great product in the sense that it's plenty quick and it has a high TBW rating thanks to using MLC memory. The device itself doesn't suffer any apparent weaknesses that we could find, apart from unpolished software perhaps.
As usual, everything comes back to the price and until the MP500 starts selling for less than the 960 Pro, it's going to be hard to recommend. Still, it's one to keep an eye on, especially if a discount is applied.
It's also worth pointing out that as of writing the SSD 960 Pro is out of stock everywhere, while the MP500 can be purchased from multiple sources, so the drive also has availability going for it.
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Overall, the Force MP500 is a solid offering from Corsair, it's just unfortunate that their fastest SSD to date has come hot on the heels of Samsung's competition-crushing 960 series.
score
Pros: All-around great performance. High TBW rating courtesy of MLC NAND. It's actually available.
Cons: Barebones software. Bad value next to Samsung's 960 Pro/Evo.