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Crucial M4 256GB or Intel 320 series 300GB? Advice please

T

The-Pro

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Dec 2, 2010
1,453
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Germany
I'm looking into buying several SSD's for my systems. None of my current mac's have a SATA III port so the max speed of the M4 couldn't be used.

I can get the 256GB M4 for 320 Euros and the 300GB Intel for 385 Euros.

Which one would be the better choice?? I thought that if I get the M4 I could put it into my future systems which will have a SATA III port, and benefit from the full speed of the SSD. That way its more "future proof" but that isn't really an important factor for me.

Would the Intel last longer, people always say that Intel is very good quality, low failure rates. It pretty much comes down to quality and do I need the extra 50GB in the Intel.

I need SSD's in this capacity because I am not doing an optibay in my notebooks so i need a fairly large main internal drive.
For my Mac Pros I probably don't need this much capacity, so I was looking around and found the Xtreem S-1 SSD's by Team Group. Ive not seen anything about these on the forums but they seem pretty good. spec sheets sound promising. I found the 120GB for 160 euros. Are these a good choice?

Thanks guys, important right now is the SSD for my notebooks, my mac pros are quick enough at the moment actually

cheers
 
Last edited:
Well it would definitely be handy. However whats the quality difference like between the drives?
If i would pay 60 more for 50 more GB then i wouldn't do it, however if i would be paying 60 more for a overall better drive and 50 more GB then it would be worth it.
 
The-Pro said:
Well it would definitely be handy. However whats the quality difference like between the drives?
If i would pay 60 more for 50 more GB then i wouldn't do it, however if i would be paying 60 more for a overall better drive and 50 more GB then it would be worth it.
Click to expand...

Well, I'm knowledgeable in SSD so I can't tell you. Google maybe?
 
They are both very reliable drives, although the Intel drive would probably be better (granted the 8mb fix is stable).

Since you would not be able to utilize SATA III speeds, I don't see the point of getting the Crucial m4, unless you can get a good deal for it.

I say this to a lot of people: check out eBay for competitive prices. SSD prices go up and down daily, even hourly, on eBay, and you could get an amazing drive with a significant discount.
 
Fugue said:
They are both very reliable drives, although the Intel drive would probably be better (granted the 8mb fix is stable).

Since you would not be able to utilize SATA III speeds, I don't see the point of getting the Crucial m4, unless you can get a good deal for it.

I say this to a lot of people: check out eBay for competitive prices. SSD prices go up and down daily, even hourly, on eBay, and you could get an amazing drive with a significant discount.
Click to expand...

Thanks.
I was thinking about the M4 because then I could technically move it onto my future system with SATA III. Would that be worth it? If I would move the intel onto future systems would it feel noticeably slower then the M4 would?

I did find these offers from big sellers on ebay. 322€ for the 256GB M4, and 382€ for the 300GB Intel. Which one would you choose? My opinion both are good deals, considering that three other offers for the Intel 300GB 320 series on ebay all start at like 500.
 
Take you time

Be patient! It took a while but one month ago I got a 320 300GB on ebay for only 379€ new in box. I use it in my mid 2009 MBP and am very satisfied.
 
So you think i should get the 320 for 382?? I can wait technically, its not that urgent to get it.
 
The-Pro said:
Thanks.
I was thinking about the M4 because then I could technically move it onto my future system with SATA III. Would that be worth it? If I would move the intel onto future systems would it feel noticeably slower then the M4 would?

I did find these offers from big sellers on ebay. 322€ for the 256GB M4, and 382€ for the 300GB Intel. Which one would you choose? My opinion both are good deals, considering that three other offers for the Intel 300GB 320 series on ebay all start at like 500.
Click to expand...

Honestly, you won't see a difference in real-life speed. You can even opt to get the cheapest SSD and applications will launch at nearly the same speed. If you are working with video processing and other heavy duty tasks, you might notice a difference.

I would go with the m4 since you may upgrade in the future to a SATA III connection.
 
Fugue said:
Honestly, you won't see a difference in real-life speed. You can even opt to get the cheapest SSD and applications will launch at nearly the same speed. If you are working with video processing and other heavy duty tasks, you might notice a difference.

I would go with the m4 since you may upgrade in the future to a SATA III connection.
Click to expand...

Yeh thats what I keep telling myself :D

Cheers, taking into account your opinion :)

price of the 320 just dropped by 8 euros :D
 
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