The Plextor M6V (256GB) SSD Review
by Billy Tallis on October 12, 2015 8:00 AM ESTFinal Words
The value-oriented segment of the SSD market has a lot of great options at the moment for drives that don't have any critical weaknesses or major compromises relative to high-end SATA drives. This means that buying decisions will be driven almost entirely by the pricing of the moment. If priced properly, the Plextor M6V can be a great choice for general-purpose consumer use and especially for mobile use.
From a technical perspective, the most interesting aspect of the M6V is its Toshiba 15nm MLC NAND, as this is the only SM2246EN-based drive using it. Toshiba's 15nm MLC NAND seems to be a bit slower than the Micron 16nm MLC used in its closest relatives/competitors, but at the same time the M6V uses a bit less power. These differences are measurable, but probably not meaningful in the real world. The Plextor M6V and Crucial BX100 are about as close to interchangeable as drives can be without being clones that differ by only their label. The BX100's partial power loss protection may be important to some consumers but it's usually not a requirement in this market segment, and SM2246EN drives have not had any notable reliability issues.
| Amazon Price Comparison (10/12/2015) | ||||
| Drive | 120/128GB | 240/250/256GB | 500/512GB | 960GB/1TB |
| ADATA Premier SP610 | $49.99 | $84.99 | $223.44 | $379.99 |
| Transcend SSD 370 | $57.99 | $89.99 | $169.99 | $328.46 |
| Mushkin Reactor | - | - | - | $353.99 |
| Crucial BX100 | $61.99 | $79.99 | $159.99 | $314.99 |
| Plextor M6V | $65.99 | $99.99 | $189.99 | - |
| OCZ Trion 100 | $59.95 | $75.00 | $158.99 | $349.90 |
| Samsung 850 EVO | $64.00 | $89.24 | $168.63 | $343.24 |
Unfortunately, the current pricing on the Plextor M6V is simply too high in a crowded market. It's undercut by the Crucial BX100 and Samsung 850 EVO at every capacity point, and even the older SM2246EN drives using 20nm MLC are cheaper. Crucial and Samsung have the advantage of in-house NAND manufacturing, but the other competitors are just as much at the mercy of their NAND supplier as Plextor. In the long run the Toshiba 15nm MLC in the M6V ought to allow Plextor to beat ADATA and Transcend on price thanks to its greater density, but at these prices Toshiba and Plextor aren't there yet.
Ultimately if the high price is due to limited supply of the 15nm MLC, there may be significant price cuts further down the road as they get production ironed out. For now, although the M6V is as solid as any of the other SM2246EN drives, overall the BX100 remains the better value. Otherwise Plextor still has a hand to play in the market for smaller form factors; if the mSATA and M.2 variants of the M6V show up along with more reasonable pricing, they'll be very compelling for power-sensitive uses, as the BX100 is only available in the 2.5" form factor.
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eek2121 - Tuesday, October 13, 2015 - link
PCIE SSDs? Can you find me one with 500 gb storage for $169? The market isn't there yet. PCIE SSDs are in the minority and the price premium is still too high. The performance difference is minimal, especially for casual users.Denithor - Tuesday, October 13, 2015 - link
How's $173? Amazon has the Crucial MX200 500GB drive at this price point. And if you had asked yesterday, it was on sale for $140.http://www.amazon.com/Crucial-MX200-500GB-Internal...
coolhardware - Tuesday, October 13, 2015 - link
I believe he was referring to any type of PCIe SSDs such as http://amzn.to/1Naj0E2 (Intel 400GB) or a M.2 drive, not a SATA drive as per your link (Crucial 500GB).Luke212 - Tuesday, October 13, 2015 - link
You mean in your circumstances. Most laptops dont support M.2 PCIe. So we are stuck buying M.2 Sata or 2.5" Sata.SmokingCrop - Tuesday, October 13, 2015 - link
HDD is too slow for OS/programs and PCIe is too expensive.SATA SSD's is the sweet spot in between.
usernametaken76 - Thursday, October 15, 2015 - link
Some people have older systems and would like to freshen them without replacing the thing, you know? Not everyone can utilize PCIe storage (laptops for instance) and not everyone wants the drawbacks of spinning HDD storage. That's the nice thing about choice, dj_aris doesn't get to make the choice for everyone.Denithor - Monday, October 12, 2015 - link
And today only (10/12) the Crucial BX100 250GB drive is on sale at Amazon for $64. So this could make the whole question of best value for price moot, if you move quickly.:)
coolhardware - Tuesday, October 13, 2015 - link
Ordered one myself! Currently Amazon's #1 selling SSD. http://amzn.to/1VPK7vk The 500GB drives are a nice price too.Just imagine, in a few years we should be able to get 2TB and 4TB+ for a fairly low price. That will be AWESOME.
nmm - Monday, October 12, 2015 - link
I guess I can understand the compulsion to build a better SATA SSD if you're not already the market leader in SATA SSD's. It's much cheaper than plunging into uncharted territory. I do find it a little puzzling that there isn't more movement in the M.2/U.2 market. Seems like it would get tiresome constantly bumping up against the limits of the protocol for years on end.Gigaplex - Monday, October 12, 2015 - link
If these lower end SSD manufacturers targeted a faster protocol using tech that can't fully utilise SATA3, it's likely to be an uncompetitive product.