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

Quote from superstition, quoted from HardOCP : Endurance does become a concern with this capacity point, falling in at 3.5-4 years of light usage.

They were commenting specifically about the 120GB drive; this is a thread about the 250. At any defined GB/day write specification, the capacity of the drive (and write amplification factor) is critical to determining its durability. HardOCP seems to be assuming a near worst-case (and unrealistic) write amplification of 10 to get those figures on a 120GB drive. Anandtech's review and special statement on TLC endurance is probably more realistic, estimating just under 12 years of life for typical usage on the 120GB version (over 23 years on the 250GB) until the wearout indicator hits 0--which doesn't mean the drive is dead. Most drives far outlast the 0-life-remaining indication. Again, that's the 120GB version, but even HardOCP's review has the following sentence in the paragraph just after the one you quoted (emphasis mine):

Quote from HardOCP : We do continue to highly recommend the 250GB and 500GB TLC Samsung 841[sic] SSDs for typical consumer workloads.

With regard to power consumption for mobile applications, I wish HOCP had compared to mechanical drives--this thing would likely win by a landslide, while performing several orders of magnitude better as well. It's also worth pointing out that Anandtech's review of the 250GB version had it consuming less power at idle, sequential write, and sequential read than its 256GB 830 predecessor.

Nobody is suggesting that this is the best SSD on the market or that it is even in the upper tier. However, this drive will perform better in real-world usage than any mechanical and it only falters when compared to the latest generations of top tier SSDs. I'm not sure that you fully appreciate the point of this drive. What this SSD will do, eventually, is bring prices at its capacity points to levels unattainable by MLC. I believe that this drive represents the next phase in the push to finally bring solid state technology to the masses. It's still fairly new, and is already hitting price points as low or lower than even late runs of the last generation of drives. That is a very good sign.

You don't like this drive and that's entirely your right. Nobody is forcing you, or even asking you, to buy one. I simply ask that you stop making this drive out to be the boogieman for those looking to SSDs for the first time.

So,

Quote from superstition : No reason to choose TLC over MLC.

If you can get the 840 and the 840 Pro for the same price, then I certainly agree--the MLC 840 Pro is the better choice. I've purchased multiples myself. But if one is looking to stay under a budget or just wants a good price on a very decent SSD, there is no reason to categorically eliminate the 840 from consideration just because of its NAND heritage.