Best Budget SSDs for Upgrading Old Laptops
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The summary table provides the characteristics of the best budget SSDs for upgrading laptops and PCs, and the general catalog contains a large number of solid-state drives for home, office, video surveillance, and other tasks.
Patriot P220 is one of the most affordable terabyte solid-state drives. And it is a full 1024 GB, not a cut-down 960 GB, where part of the space is reserved for service tasks. It is made in a classic 2.5-inch format and, unlike most plastic competitors, is dressed in a metal case.
This contributes to efficient cooling, especially if you install the SSD in a tight laptop. However, the Patriot P220 heats up relatively little, because it uses a modern SATA 3 controller. It is also backward compatible with SATA 2, which makes this SSD suitable even for upgrading older computers.
The exact controller model is not reported, it may vary: Phison, Silicon Motion or Maxio. In any case, controllers with an integrated operational buffer are used, instead of a separate RAM chip, which has a positive effect on the cost. The sequential read and write speed is 550 and 500 MB/s, respectively. And random processing of small files is 50 thousand IOPS.
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SSD Silicon Power Slim S55 SP960GBSS3S55S25 960 GB is a budget solution for upgrading outdated laptops, as well as for assembling entry-level home and office PCs. The manufacturer offers an honest 960 GB of memory built on the modern 3D NAND architecture, which allows you to achieve large volumes while maintaining compact dimensions. All commands are processed by the old Phison PS3108-S8 controller, released back in 2012. However, it supports the SATA 3 interface with a throughput of up to 6 Gbps and provides sufficient performance for all tasks. The presence of SLC cache guarantees good reading (500 MB/s) and writing (450 MB/s) for about the first 5 GB of data, and then the usual speed drop appears. The SSD is optimized for working with small files, can significantly increase performance and reduce OS boot time.
All popular features are implemented for efficient and long-term operation of the solid-state drive. Silicon Power Slim S55 SP960GBSS3S55S25 960 GB supports the TRIM function, which monitors the relevance of data in cells and optimizes the processes of writing to memory, as well as ECC for automatic error correction during operation. Thanks to the SMART system, the state of the SSD is monitored in real time, and the proprietary SP Toolbox utility allows you to receive all the necessary information in a convenient and understandable format. The mechanism for managing bad blocks (BBM) eliminates data loss in damaged memory sectors by transferring them. Thus, the model is capable of lasting about one and a half million hours before any problems occur.
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Amazon.co.uk | £44.99 | To Store |
Box.co.uk | £46.99 | To Store |
Awd-it.co.uk | £58.99 | To Store |
Clove.co.uk | £59.44 | To Store |
ComputersDeal.com | £55.18 | To Store |
Since its release in 2017, the Kingston A400 has literally never fallen out of the sales charts. Even when the prices of fast M.2 SSDs have dropped significantly. The reason for its success was the record low cost per gigabyte and constant improvements to the device. When the A400 first went on sale, it was an unbuffered solid-state drive based on TLC 3D NAND memory.
In 2023, it uses four-bit memory, a small DRAM buffer appeared, and all this goodness is controlled by the Phison PS3111-S11 controller, which, unlike the old Marvell controllers, connects to PCs and laptops running MacOS without any problems. The sequential read and write speed of large files is standard for SATA 3 SSD - 500 and 450 MB / s, respectively. The manufacturer does not specify the speed of processing small 4K files. According to benchmark measurements, we got a figure of about 90 thousand IOPS, like the Kingston A400 model with a volume of 480 GB.
Despite the presence of a buffer, its volume is only 32 MB, and about 6% of the total volume is allocated for the SLC mode, so when writing a very large amount of data at one time, the virtual array eventually overflows and the write speed drops several times to 80 - 100 Mb/s. Considering all of the above, this model will be an excellent choice for undemanding users who want to get the basic benefits of switching from HDD to SSD.
GOODRAM CX400 GEN.2 is an affordable but productive 1000 GB SSD drive, which, according to the manufacturer, is an excellent option for the role of a system drive in old laptops, ultrabooks, office PCs and inexpensive gaming systems that lack a more modern M.2 slot and do not support the NVMe protocol. In its production, the Polish manufacturer used 64-layer TLC 3D NAND memory and a dual-channel Phison PS3111-S11 controller. It is equipped with 32 MB of buffer memory, supports ECC error correction using LDPC, which increases the endurance of TLC memory.
Since this is the second generation of the drive, we need to start with what has changed in it. The manufacturer claims read and write speeds of 550 and 500 MB/s. The first version had 550 and 490 MB/s, respectively. The IOPS figures have changed a little, but this difference does not affect the overall picture. The front panel design has changed a little. However, the work on optimizing the controller and memory is much more important, which allowed the drive to more confidently maintain its rated speed and not fall as low when the cache is full, as the CX400 did.
In addition, the manufacturer added support for the proprietary Optimum software, with which the user can clone data, test performance, assess the degree of disk wear and update the firmware. In fact, this is a full-fledged hub for optimizing and configuring SSD, allowing you to extend its service life. In general, GOODRAM has done a high-quality job of correcting errors and released a rather interesting option for upgrading an old laptop or HDD in a gaming PC.
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Amazon.co.uk | £58.99 | To Store |
Box.co.uk | £69.99 | To Store |
Overclockers.co.uk | £63.95 | To Store |
Tradeinn.com | £55.49 | To Store |
Scan.co.uk | £58.99 | To Store |
The WD Blue SA510 WDS100T3B0A 1 TB SSD stands out for its high read (560 MB/s) and write (520 MB/s) performance, which not every budget drive can boast of. The use of multilayer 3D NAND architecture when placing TLC memory contributes to fast access to data, reduced heating and maintaining the compact size of the device. The model is made in a 2.5” form factor and is compatible with laptops, new and old generation PCs. The SSD allows you to assemble a work or home machine or upgrade an outdated assembly to achieve maximum performance when performing standard tasks: web surfing, processing documents, media files, running specialized programs, watching movies in 4K. It is also worth noting the fairly high reliability - the mean time between failures is 1.75 million hours, which is confirmed by a 5-year warranty.
The company has taken care of the security of user data and the system. The package includes Acronis True Image software, which allows you to create backup copies of individual files, partitions or completely clone a disk. In the event of a cyber threat or hardware failure, you can quickly restore the functionality of a PC or laptop without losing data. Among other things, standard mechanisms for monitoring the operation of SSD are implemented - ECC, SMART Information about the state of the disk is provided by the proprietary utility Western Digital SSD Dashboard.
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