Crucial MX300 525GB and 1TB

Conclusion

As the second manufacturer with 3D NAND SSD, Crucial MX300 certainly delivers respectable performance. We are glad to see that the MX300 has delivered a balanced performance across the board that we have not seen from the company’s last couple of drives. Despite the fact it does not out-performs some of the current crops of the drive like the Samsung 850 Evo, it is at least able to keep up with other drives across the board. So Crucial is off to a good start with its 3D NAND. Granted, the drive still needs some improvement as there are areas where it is still slower such as write and its random read performance is also a tad slower than the planar drives. Though, taking as a whole, as a mainstream desktop client drive, there is really no major weak point for the MX300.

We are also glad to see the 525GB model and the 1TB performs nearly identical to each other except in a high queue depth write. Luckily, most desktop workloads are not going to stress the drive where the difference would become noticeable. So, as long as you pick a drive that is 525GB or larger, you should expect that you will be getting the best performance from the MX300. With an MSRP of $130, the 525GB MX300 is certainly a great option that offers plenty of storage and performance for its price.

Security conscious minded buyers would also be happy to hear that the MX300 is also able to support the same security protocol as the performance leader in the pack, ie the Samsung 850 Evo, which makes it one of the few drives on this price segment that can support all of the current protocols. Additionally, Crucial backs the MX300 with the same 3 year industry-standard warranty and sweetens the drive with the inclusion of Acronis True Image as a bonus.

Clearly, the MX300 is not going to take home any performance awards, but for its target market, it is competitive. It is a good all-around drive and packed with enough features and delivers a good performance to price ratio. Yes, it is not as fast as Samsung’s 850 EVO, but Crucial priced the drive accordingly so that it ends up giving you the best bang for the buck. Thus, all in all, the MX300 is definitely worth considering when shopping for a new SSD, and earns our Bjorn3D Seal of Approval.