If you don’t mind SATA SSDs, the already-cheap Crucial BX500 is up to 43% off for Prime Big Deal Days
4TB of solid state speed for just £178 / $210
· Rock Paper ShotgunWould it be fair to say that we sometimes overlook SATA SSDs? With NVMe drives forming our future and mechanical hard disks increasingly consigned to the past, the 2.5in form factor is just kind of... there. In all of its middle groundedness.
Which is harsh, because they can provide heaps of capacity at relatively attainable prices, as the Crucial BX500 is currently demonstrating. Per Prime Big Deal Days, Amazon UK is running the 2TB version for just £92 (34% off) as well as 4TB for £178 (41% off). Meanwhile, Amazon US is lopping 43% off the 1GB model, bringing it down to $54, with the 4TB model shedding 13% to reach $210.
UK deals:
Crucial BX500 2TB
Crucial BX500 4TB
US deals:
Crucial BX500 1TB
Crucial BX500 4TB
Because SATA SSDs can only reach transfer speeds of about 560MB/s, the BX500 is never going to be as fast as a halfway decent NVMe drive which go into the quadruple digits and then some. Including, by the way, Crucial’s own P3 Plus, which appears to still be going cheap in the US. But the BX500 is also a damn sight better, for games and desktop work alike, than any sluggish old HDD, and the fact that these discounts are being applied to what was already a very affordable SSD make it a serious option if you’re looking to maximise gigs-per-coin. Just make sure that you’ve got space in your case to mount it, first.
You’ll also need an Amazon Prime account, or Prime’s free trial, to get the BX500 at these lowered prices. Such are the arcane ways of Prime Big Deal Days, which ends at midnight tonight.