Storage prices

The new year has not seen major changes to the prices of spinning disks. However, on the SSD side, there are some interesting news, with Samsung really gearing up. Their 840 EVO and Pro series are now amongst the most affordable and reliable disks on the market.

The EVO series uses TLC memory, which stacks more bits per cell. This increases speed, but decreases reliability. The rule of thumb is 1000 writes for TLC memory, while MLC might be 10 times higher at 10k writes. It means that TLC disks will typically be for low to medium consumer use, while MLC is for higher pro use (as the series name also suggests). This is also reflected in Samsung's warranty: Three years on the TLC disks, which is good, and an impressive five years on the MLC Pro disks. By comparison, Western Digital's Red series has three years warranty, while the Green series has only two years.

Also notable is the fact that for the first time price per byte is lower for an SSD disk than a stack of 100 CD-Rs. That is of course because the 100 CD stack has stayed at about 30 Euros for the last six or more years. Never the less, it underlines the fact that 2014 will be the year when decent sized SSDs reach reasonable prices. Upgrading an older laptop with a 500 GB or 750 GB SSD is soon at a point where it makes sense, and will give good return on investment.

Exchange rate: 1 Euro = 1.220000 CHF.