SA SSD price roundup

In this article we’ll be taking a look at the prices for various brands of Solid State Drives (SSD) from various retailers.

In 2008 the first SSDs were pretty expensive. The highest size you could get back then was 120GB and Intel’s first 80GB SSD went for about R5,000. The benefits massively outweighed the cost for people who needed that speed, but the drive sizes left most wanting.

Fast-forward through a few years of turmoil, price hikes and drops, and Sandforce dragging its feet – today’s SSD market is very different. We have good prices, a lot of competition between brands, read and write speeds that put HDD to shame, reliability, and power usage that can’t be matched. SSDs are here to stay so isn’t it time you looked at getting one yourself?

The table below shows the prices of various SSDs available from local retailers. The lowest prices are highlighted in Bold. If a product is listed as “Sold Out”, “Contact for availability”, or is out of stock, that price does not make it into the table.

Consumers in South Africa are not that all stuck for choice. We have twenty-four (24) drives here to choose from and they span a range of prices and storage points. Lets dig through some of the recommendations.

32-64GB: Just the OS and a few apps

Corsair Neutron 64GB

If you’re just installing the operating system, a few applications, and storing the rest of your stuff elsewhere, a 60GB SSD will be just fine for you. You’ll be able to fit one game on, but that’s about it.

The ADATA 32GB is a cheap fit for netbooks, because they don’t demand much local storage. If its performance you want, Corsair’s Neutron 64GB offers blistering performance at a great price.

128-180GB: The OS, apps and a few games

Samsung 840 SSD

Jumping up to 128GB makes using a SSD as your main drive more viable. You can fit in a few games that may benefit from the extra speed, but you may still need to keep an eye on how much storage space you’re using. A 180GB drive is better, but it is much more expensive.

All the drives here are equally capable, although the Corsair Neutron and OCZ Vertex 4 are the faster drives. Intel and Samsung are great picks for value-seekers, although Kingston has consistently low pricing.

256-480GB: The OS, apps, all your current games and more

Crucial M500 960GB

256GB drives are the sweet-spot, the turning point where you don’t have to watch your usage that much and you can install most of the games you’re currently playing. You’ll have to fork out an average of R2,500, but its well worth it. The 480GB drives are twice as big, but cost twice as much.

The Crucial and Samsung drives have to be noted for their cheap price and great performance, although the performance crown goes to the OCZ Vector and Corsair’s Neutron GTX drives. The Vertex 4 512GB deserves an honorary mention – it’s a beast, but that price is terribly high (R6,700 – R7,000).

Closing off the roundup, high-end SSDs with more sensible pricing are on their way. You can already order Crucial’s M500 960GB from Wootware and I’d bet that this next year will be dominated by the rise of Haswell-powered Ultrabooks coupled with cheaper SSDs in the 256GB range. That will drive prices down nicely.

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