Samsung 860 Evo 500GB

Www.samsung.com $90

The 850 Evo was the SATA SSD of choice for those that wanted a balance of performance and price. It’s this market that Samsung has aimed for again with the 860 Evo, but the competition is now much hotter.

In particular, the Crucial MX500 has muscled into this space, leaving very little wiggle room. The 860 Evo demands a higher price than Crucial’s offering, and yet only just creeps ahead in my sequential read and write tests. Meanwhile, it falls behind in random read and write tests.

However, there is one potentially critical area where this drive pulls ahead of the competition, which is write endurance. This drive boasts a whopping 300TBW with a five-year warranty.

You can also get this drive in both M.2 and SATA, as well as mSATA, form factors, with the SATA version topping out at a huge 4TB.

Samsung uses its own 3D TLC NAND and MJX controller in these drives, and it has proved to be very capable. The device also offers 256-bit AES hardware encryption.

The Samsung 860 Evo is still a great choice for those seeking a slightly more premium, longer-lasting SATA SSD, but for most, the Crucial MX500 will do the job.