256 GB SSDs for $250 anytime soon?

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groberts101

Golden Member
Mar 17, 2011
1,390
0
0
understood. not everyone cares as much about time and is fine with leaving the computer to "think" or run scans while they get coffee or take a break.

With SSD you casn do it all at once and still not miss a beat. Hard to do with even the fastest HDD though, was the main point.

And not all is about money of course.. time is often in short supply and that's exactly what you pay for with SSD. You're buying some time back in the end.

As for the original question from the OP?.. it will be about 12 more months before those larger capacity models reach 1$ per GB. It's not so much about the actual cost for those sized drives(though chip density does play a role).. but far more about "product placement" than anything else. When we finally see more mainstream SSD's in the 512GB range?.. then the 256GB models will become more of an intermeidiate drive like the current 120GB models and the prices will fall. Just like anything else though.. you will always pay the premium for the fastest/largest capacity of just about anything memory/tech related.
 
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Vdubchaos

Lifer
Nov 11, 2009
10,408
10
0
Correct, like I said if it came down to productivity on a PC...I would have one (a year ago).

I apply the same analogy to Raid and RPM speed. With raid (although performance gain is questionable) it's not worth my time configuring for little benefit and RPM speed (at least used to ) have significant cost attached to it.

Patience will save me a lot of money.

Once SSD go down in price to something reasonable, I'm sure I will upgrade all 4 of my PCs. For now, I'm willing to wait extra few seconds....no big deal.
 

Blain

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
23,643
3
81
I find it funny how much people are willing to spend on a graphics setup but how cheap we are when it comes to the biggest bottleneck in our systems...
Yep, that's how it plays out many times.
Are they the same people that want to run $1500-$2000 worth of components behind a $23.99 1000W PS?
 

Sunburn74

Diamond Member
Oct 5, 2009
5,037
2,615
136
Correct, like I said if it came down to productivity on a PC...I would have one (a year ago).

I apply the same analogy to Raid and RPM speed. With raid (although performance gain is questionable) it's not worth my time configuring for little benefit and RPM speed (at least used to ) have significant cost attached to it.

Patience will save me a lot of money.

Once SSD go down in price to something reasonable, I'm sure I will upgrade all 4 of my PCs. For now, I'm willing to wait extra few seconds....no big deal.

How much is "a lot of money"?
 

KingFatty

Diamond Member
Dec 29, 2010
3,034
1
81
There is a recent press release by OCZ about their new line of SSD that are supposed to be close to the $1 per GB pricing when they come out? Should be out around the time that the Samsung SATA III drives hit, so hopefully some nice pricing competition for black Friday.
 

groberts101

Golden Member
Mar 17, 2011
1,390
0
0
now if we can just get 512 giger's down to 300 bucks or less.. things will really start hopping for this industry.
 

frostedflakes

Diamond Member
Mar 1, 2005
7,925
1
81
I honestly don't even know what I'd do with a 512GB SSD, 128GB is more than enough for me currently for OS/programs/half a dozen to a dozen games. Everything else can go on an HDD, which is much cheaper per GB.

Would be nice I guess for laptops where there usually isn't room for a secondary HDD. Or for desktop users who don't want to mess around with having two drives and want the convenience of just putting everything on an SSD.
 

Avalon

Diamond Member
Jul 16, 2001
7,567
156
106
Prices for 256GB drives have gotten to the point where I'm close to biting.
 

bleucharm28

Senior member
Sep 27, 2008
494
1
81
I'm so glad I actually missed the Samsung 256G for like $269.99, it was sold by the time I got home.
This morning, I bought 2 Crucial M4 256g, 199.99 each at Newegg. I can't wait to try these out.
 
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bryanW1995

Lifer
May 22, 2007
11,144
32
91
Yes, I was happy to pay $430 the other day for 2, now it's $400. Down to .78/gb right now on the 256gb m4's, how much lower will they go??
 

Engineer

Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
39,230
701
126
Forget 256 gb, look at the prices of some 512 gb right now o_O

You can get a 512GB Crucial M4 with data transfer kit (USB to SATA + software) for $337.99 after $15 new customer coupon @ Buy.com today.

I'm tempted....very. $0.66 per GB!

Edit: As ZAP stated below, get 5% back using ShopDiscover. Could be as low as $321.xx after shop discover.
 
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Zap

Elite Member
Oct 13, 1999
22,377
2
81
You can get a 512GB Crucial M4 with data transfer kit (USB to SATA + software) for $337.99 after $15 new customer coupon @ Buy.com today.

I'm tempted....very. $0.66 per GB!

I bit, around 1AM PST. Didn't bother creating a new account to use the coupon, but I did go through Shop Discover for 5% cashback.
 

ericloewe

Senior member
Dec 14, 2011
260
0
76
You can get a 512GB Crucial M4 with data transfer kit (USB to SATA + software) for $337.99 after $15 new customer coupon @ Buy.com today.

I'm tempted....very. $0.66 per GB!

Edit: As ZAP stated below, get 5% back using ShopDiscover. Could be as low as $321.xx after shop discover.

I almost regret getting my Samsung 830 256GB for 180€ a few weeks ago...
 

Engineer

Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
39,230
701
126
512GB Crucial M4's can be $319.99 (with transfer kit) @ Newegg Business with 10% coupon today. 512GB's without transfer kit can be as low as $308.74 @ Buy.com after $15 new customer coupon and 5% cash back via Discover card. See hot deals for details.
 

Dark Shroud

Golden Member
Mar 26, 2010
1,576
1
0
Even at $1 per Gig it's still too expensive in my book.

I will wait extra 5-10 seconds for windows boot up or game loading....not that big of a deal.

Also, stability/reliability issues scare me. I will let others take the $$$ hit and risk.

:cool:

For me my boot time took over a minute, that was after I used software to delay the auto-running of various programs that I actually use.

I was also worried about reliability so I went with a Samsung 830 instead of a Sandforce drive.

Platter drives are no more reliable than NAND, the only difference can be counted in the controller.

Now my system boots in seconds and everything feels more responsive. Eventually I'm going to get one of those fat 512GB SSDs to use as a gaming drive. Otherwise my OS and software all fit on my 128GB Samsung 830 with all my media & data folders running on my 2TB WD Black drive.

I would love to buy a OCZ Revo drive, but OCZ's drivers stink so I couldn't risk using it as a boot drive.
 

rsutoratosu

Platinum Member
Feb 18, 2011
2,716
4
81
its insane, im down to like 80gb on my 256gb ssd, this thing is getting cheaper every day, i can replace all my 256s with 512s now