250GB Samsung 840 Series 2.5" SATA III TLC Internal Solid State Drive SSD (MZ-7TD250BW) + Assassin's Creed 3 PC Game Coupon $150 + Free Shipping

B&H Photo has 250GB Samsung 840 Series 2.5" SATA III TLC Internal Solid State Drive SSD (MZ-7TD250BW) + Assassin's Creed 3 PC Game Coupon for $149.99 with free shipping. Thanks iconian

Uses TLC NAND, the only product on the market to use it. The benefits of TLC are lower lifespan, higher power usage, slower write speed, and potentially increasing power usage and slowdown over lifetime.

If you don't have AC3 and like the series, then this is a pretty good deal. If not, then the $150 price seems like the normal standard price nowaday for this SSD. Or maybe you can sell the game, but that might take a little bit of effort. =P

Quote from CheapBastardX10 : the $150 price seems like the normal standard price nowaday for this SSD.

$150 can get one an MLC drive. There is no reason to pay $150 for TLC NAND.

Quote from HardOCP : The 120GB version limps in at acceptable for some, but by our estimation falls far short of delivering performance that would be suitable for a normal consumer. Endurance does become a concern with this capacity point, falling in at 3.5-4 years of light usage. Users looking for a 120GB SSD would be best suited to stick with an MLC product, period. The worst aspect is the extreme amount of read degradation that this SSD suffers once it reaches steady state. The read speed of the 120GB 840 is supposed to be its most redeeming quality, but once in steady state it dropped to the bottom of our charts. Taking away the one advantage of this drive leaves us with nothing more to say.

Quote from superstition : Uses TLC NAND, the only product on the market to use it. The benefits of TLC are lower lifespan, higher power usage, slower write speed, and potentially increasing power usage and slowdown over lifetime.

I bought the Pro for $50 more, but honestly, I really don't feel like I got my money's worth. It's not any faster where you can actually notice it. It might be better for the battery on laptop, but not by much. As far as lasting longer, trust me, by the time people are done with this or sooner, there will be cheaper, faster, better SSD out there. For the average Joe out there, this is an excellent SSD as far as speed, reliability is concerned. Just have to decide if the price is right for you.

Just read your reply. Guess in the long run, the performance takes a hit. Guess I have to take back what I said as there are other options like Crucial and Plextor.

I "recycle" my HDs through computers so I use them for ~7-10 years, would this SSD last that long?

Quote from CheapBastardX10 : I bought the Pro for $50 more, but honestly, I really don't feel like I got my money's worth.

If you needed an SSD, then you did. If you didn't need an SSD but bought one anyway, then perhaps not. You could have saved some money with a budget MLC drive. The market for low-end SSDs is basically the market for people who don't really need an SSD but want one anyway.

Quote from CheapBastardX10 : It's not any faster where you can actually notice it.

Faster than what?

Quote from CheapBastardX10 : It might be better for the battery on laptop, but not by much.

That's not the case. That statement may have been true when comparing the 830 to the TLC 840, but the 840 Pro definitely uses less power than either of those.

Quote from CheapBastardX10 : As far as lasting longer, trust me, by the time people are done with this or sooner, there will be cheaper, faster, better SSD out there.

HardOCP projects that the 120 GB model will fail as soon as 3.5 years of light usage. Before it fails, its performance would have flatlined, even in read speed. There is simply no reason to take the risk on a TLC product at this time, given that there are budget MLC drives available.

Quote from CheapBastardX10 : For the average Joe out there, this is an excellent SSD as far as speed, reliability is concerned.

No, it isn't. It's an inferior drive that's using the momentum in the market MLC built.

Quote from CheapBastardX10 : Just have to decide if the price is right for you.

If the only choices were the ones you have laid out (840 "Series" versus 840 Pro) then you would be correct. Only, there are more choices than those. Budget MLC drives are a better choice for Joe.

Quote from aznalan15 : I "recycle" my HDs through computers so I use them for ~7-10 years, would this SSD last that long?

Good question, I still have two 250gb WD IDE drives in my i5-3570k system that I've used for about ten years, never a problem... current drives just don't really seem all that reliable regardless of technology.

Quote from vairox : current drives just don't really seem all that reliable regardless of technology.

NAND Flash lifespan continues to go down as the process nodes shrink. Now we are seeing Flash with just 19nm size. TLC makes this worse by being less reliable than MLC. It also has higher latency and higher power usage. The Samsung TLC is in the 2xnm range, which is just a bit larger than 19nm. There are also grades of MLC, but none of them are as low as TLC in terms of longevity.

TLC stinks. The only way I would consider using a TLC drive is the 512 GB model, in a desktop system, if it's at a considerably lower price than an MLC drive.

Ok, for everyone saying that 'average Joe' is better off with a budget MLC over this one, what is a good budget MLC to purchase?

Sent from the official Slickdeals App for iPhone & iPod Touch.

How long should a budget MLC drive last for anyways?

Right now using 320gb SATA hd... prolly 6-7 years old

Quote from superstition : Uses TLC NAND, the only product on the market to use it. The benefits of TLC are lower lifespan, higher power usage, slower write speed, and potentially increasing power usage and slowdown over lifetime.

These issues have been mitigated by Samsung through tweaks to its controller, extra NAND to level out overall wear, and DSP well enough that non-enterprise users don't really need to be concerned. You can expect these drives to last 10+ years for normal home use. Also, the benchmarks show that this model performs better than most MLC drives in a similar price range out there.

See:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/633...b-review/4

You would need to spend another $70 or so for the pro model. There's a good argument that you're better off saving your money and putting it towards a newer/faster model in a few years.

It was 140 yesterday on eBay without AC3 though, for anyone who wants to know.