Reddit mentions of Crucial MX300 525GB 3D NAND SATA M.2 (2280) Internal SSD - CT525MX300SSD4

Lowest price ever on Amazon was $149 briefly last year. Since then not lower than $180. This is the M.2 form-factor SATA drive rather than the regular 2.5" SATA.

1. Just get the 6700HQ and save yourself some money. I have no idea why Lenovo charges an extra $230 for the tiny bump from the 6700HQ to the 6820HQ, whereas other manufacturers charge only a little extra.
   
   
2. The FHD panel you're getting has terrible color reproduction. If you are going to be watching movies, browsing the net, edit a few pictures, play some games, etc., a panel with a better color gamut is a must. You can upgrade to a better FHD panel as I've done myself. However, that will set you back about $70-$80 and you will have to take off the bezel -- something you might not be comfortable with or wouldn't want to do. If spending money is absolutely no issue, get the 4K panel, but keep in mind that Windows 10 scaling isn't perfect, and some things will look incredibly small.
   
   
3. I upgraded the RAM and SSD on the P50 myself. You can get an 8GB DDR4 stick for $30 and a 16GB stick for $60. I bought an extra 8GB stick and paired it with the 8GB stick that came with the laptop. I had to take off the keyboard and install the second 8GB stick side by side with the stock 8GB stick in order to enable dual channel configuration. That left me with 2 free RAM slots in a very accessible place for future upgrades. As for SSD, I decided to get a 525GB SATA M.2 SSD as NVMe's are about twice as expensive, and even though it's always nice to have 2 GB/s read speed, 500MB/s isn't bad and offers a major upgrade in performance compared to HDDs. Don't forget to buy the appropriate M.2 tray !!

The 960 EVO is a great choice for a boot drive, although unless you're working with very large files (e.g. CAD) you might not see a huge difference over a SATA III SSD. A 500-ish GB SATA m.2 drive will run you slightly more than the 250 GB 960 EVO, slower but double the space:

https://www.amazon.com/Crucial-MX300-525GB-NAND-Internal/dp/B01L80DH4G/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1520273599&sr=8-3&keywords=512+SATA+M.2

If you're just gaming and don't mind slightly longer load times (no affect on framerate) why not just grab a 7200 RPM HDD for additional storage beyond your SSD. 1TB WD Blue drives are usually under $50.

I reinstalled windows 10 when I first got mine. Make sure you know how to do it, because it does get confusing I followed this post. I also ran synaptics own drivers for the trackpad, not Dell's, which some people advise against. But it gives me smooth scrolling, and that's important to me. Wrote up instructions on that here.

I make sure that my laptop is set to turn the screen off within 5 minutes of inactivity. The brighter the screen is, and the longer it is on for, the more likely you are to get burn in. I have no signs of it so far. I play games at full brightness too. I also keep my desktop free of clutter. No hiding of the windows task bar, I like to keep an eye on the time and my battery level.

Take a look at running CPU tests with Prime 95 or OCCT. And look into HWMonitor for monitoring tests. Also undervolting with XTU and keeping it undervolted with a powershell command that is run automatically with task scheduler. One thing that I find is super important is to never let your battery hit 8% or lower. These are lithium polymer batteries, and if they go below that percentage they will incur battery wear instantly. My 13 R3 hit 5% when I left the room while watching a stream, and I went from 2% to 8% battery wear.

I personally would go with an MX300. I think anything over 500mb/s read write speed is ridiculous, if you already have a boot drive, this would be a great addition. Maybe save the Dell ePromo card for a graphics amp or put it towards a carrying case and something nice. I don't like buying peripherals from big retailers like that, they usually over charge you.

Opening up the computer is straight forward. You will see exactly where the SSD fits into the computer once it is open. There are 5 screws on the bottom you take off. Then the bottom panel comes off. Everything you need access to is right there. Here is a photo of it opened but it's opened further than you need to go. But the SSD location is in the same spot.

Ideally you would install an m.2 SSD because the laptop supports both an m.2 SSD and a 2.5" SATA HDD or SSD. Now keep in mind m.2 is just a type of connector so you can use either a PCI-E SSD over the m.2 port or a SATA SSD. PCI-E is generally significantly faster BUT there is no difference between the fastest PCI-E SSD and SATA SSD in boot times and game launch times. PCI-E drives are best used as "scratch" drives for something like video editing.

My advice is to go with this https://www.amazon.com/Crucial-MX300-525GB-Internal-CT525MX300SSD4/dp/B01L80DH4G/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1499912315&sr=8-7&keywords=m.2+sata+ssd

Any 2.5"(7 mm tall) SATA SSD will work if you want to replace the HDD. If money is no object samsung is considered to make the best SSD in the 850 evo. WD Blue and Crucial MX300 are both top of the line as well.

In my experience, most USB flash drives have the lowest grade memory out there, and just from that alone are more prone to failure, not to mention almost all of them overheat since they don't have a heatsink.

Consider getting an M.2 drive with an M.2 to USB 3 enclosure instead. These enclosures will be metal and can be used as a heatsink, and the performance will be well beyond what any conventional flash drive will be capable of. Below are a few recommendations:

USB 3.0/3.1 Enclosure: Amazon

SSD (128GB): Amazon

SSD (256GB): Amazon

SSD (525GB): Amazon

Similar price on amazon

Only 10 bucks more for 2 day shipping if u have prime :p

What about this one https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01L80DH4G/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1492720674&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=m2+ssd&dpPl=1&dpID=41dG7JYnGsL&ref=plSrch

Crucial MX300 525GB M.2 (2280) Internal Solid State Drive (CT525MX300SSD4) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01L80DH4G/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_EZ.mzb3GNJYQR

• 1TB HDD
  
  Or
  
  Crucial MX300 1TB M.2 (2280) Internal Solid State Drive (CT1050MX300SSD4) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01L80DH1Y/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_j0.mzbGBV27FQ

Looks good. You could also switch out the 850 EVO for an m.2 MX300. $20 cheaper, less cable clutter, and 25 GB bigger while being an equally capable performer.

Will my motherboard support this SSD: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01L80DH4G/ref=psdc_1292116011_t1_B01LXPD2WB

http://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/AB350%20Pro4/

It supports M.2 generally so I think I'm ok, but I don't know if it will support the 2 slots where the drive plugs in (the key?)?

Okay. You're confusing interface with protocol which is very common. The interface is the way you connect them-- M.2 goes straight on your mobo with a small form factor, while 2.5" are larger, easily portable, but require cables to connect.

nVME is a fast protocol that allows the SSD to make use of PCI slot speeds, meaning like way faster than SATA, which is the more mainstream SSD protocol. Here's where things get confusing: 2.5" SSDs (the bigger ones) only use SATA (slower), while M.2 SSDs come in both nVME (speedy and expensive) and SATA.

Of the two, go with the nVME. But tbh, if you don't specifically have an application for the extra speed you won't benefit from it. Boot times are like 7 seconds vs 8 seconds. Which is why I always say buy SSDs for price/gb!!!

For example, the MX300 comes in both 2.5" and M.2 form factors. It will be identical to these expensive samsungs for your purposes but you can get like twice the storage. There are many options to explore. I offer pcpartpicker.com as a good website to use.

I personally like both form factors, but M.2 is certainly easier to use.

https://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-480GB-SDSSDA-480G-G26-Newest-Version/dp/B01F9G46Q8/

random 2.5" i found 500gb

https://www.amazon.com/Crucial-MX300-525GB-Internal-CT525MX300SSD4/dp/B01L80DH4G/ random M.2 i found 500gb

Okay thanks man you have been a huge help! Last thing, is this a good choice for SSD or should I go with the Samsung ones.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01L80DH4G/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1503764155&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=500gb+m2+ssd&dpPl=1&dpID=51bJJy-muSL&ref=plSrch

I just bought this off amazon last night,

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01L80DH4G/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

oh and there's also this from crucial:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01L80DH4G/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

It looks like it works in a dell 9360. Anyone with any experience with it? Thanks!

Might get a better answer about what software is best from /r/techsupport or /r/buildapc.

How about this?

A non nvme M.2 is the same speed as any SATA SSD, because it actually is a SATA SSD just with a different connector. Here is an example of a SATA M.2 drive. Notice how it has 2 notches or cutouts in the connector, NVMe M.2 drives only have 1 notch.

Well here's a Crucial MX300 500GB m.2 SSD for $130 and an ELUTENG m.2 SSD enclosure with USB 3.0/3.1 for $15.

The 1TB m.2 SSD is more pricy at $290 but small means extra $$.

https://www.amazon.com/Crucial-MX300-525GB-Internal-CT525MX300SSD4/dp/B01L80DH4G/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1483052042&sr=8-1&keywords=mx300+m.2


525GB M.2 for $130.

I have this Motherboard, which didn't support my Crucial Sata M.2 so I just put it in an enclosure and connected it to via Sata cables. I also recently bought an HDD for storage and forgot I didn't have an extra Sata power connection available.

I will be upgrading my CPU/Mobo sometime before April and am considering getting a compatible M.2 SSD (250gb or 500gb) and upgrading my fathers laptop's HDD with my current Crucial drive.

The Motherboard I will likely go with is the X570 Aorus Elite so I just wanted to know what terms to look for when buying an M.2

It seems like it will need to be PCIe 3.0 x 4 compatible but will getting a PCIe 4.0 x4 SSD be an issue for my current motherboard?

Would any PCIe version x 4 be good for both motherboards?

> I wonder why the normal firefox has this issue, because of kabylake as a new processor or something?

Unsure, I don't have a Kaby Lake processor to check to see if there's any difference.


> Regarding M2 SSD you won't notice a difference between it and normal SATA SSD in real work load,

I'm leaning towards M2 as I don't want to replace my 3TB HDD so I can just clone Windows to the M2 and format and use the HDD as storage. I'm just looking for Windows to run at peak speed with an SSD. My Asus only has one HDD/SSD slot and an M2 SSD slot. Thanks for tips on manufacturer's. I was going to get a Crucial M2 as I've yet to encounters any issues with them.

I'd get this $160 525gb m.2 SSD you can always add in a second one if you need another 500gb of fast storage down the road. But it'll take some time to fill that up especially if your using that 4tb hdd for slower storage.

Buy a 1070 when they're instock at a reasonable price. A used 980ti would also probably serve you well. But you really should be sure you'll benefit from the cuda hardware acceleration before you dive in.

What program are you crunching the data with? If you just Google the program name and"gpu hardware acceleration" you should find some results on what gpu architecture better supports your work load if it supports it at all.

My bud works with radar data building 3D graphical illustrations from the data and needed twin 970ti's which at the time were the best cuda cards outside of truely enterprise solutions.

Installing a grpahics card is pretty trivial they're almost hot swappable if you already have the sata power cable run. (You definitely need to shut the computer down and flip the psu switch)

Personally, I'd go with the Crucial MX300 525GB M.2 model. Couple bucks cheaper, and you get a few more gigs. Crucial makes a solid product. No pun intended

Again - you won't notice that level of performance versus this guy which is $60 cheaper and has an additional 45 GB of space.

I have one of these I'm looking to sell. It's brand new (although out of the packaging) asking $120 shipped

I just bought this off amazon, it has a nice price IMO https://www.amazon.com/Crucial-MX300-525GB-Internal-CT525MX300SSD4/dp/B01L80DH4G/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1486511937&sr=8-1&keywords=m2+2280

Also, I have this M.2 SSD and it hasn't given me much problem. Similar pricepoint, double the memory!

https://www.amazon.com/Crucial-MX300-525GB-Internal-CT525MX300SSD4/dp/B01L80DH4G/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1485974364&sr=8-1&keywords=crucial+m2

Unless you need the speed of a NVMe drive like that (do you regularly work with large files? Video rendering, etc.) then you won't notice the difference from day to day with a regular SATA M.2 SSD like this one. $100 less and 25 more GB too.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01L80DH4G/?tag=pcpapi-20

I'm thinking of getting the Acer Aspire E15. I heard that an M.2 can be installed on it. I'm considering getting this and I'm wondering if someone can help me get the standoffs and screws for the M.2

I have a 525 gb Crucial MX300 m.2 SSD drive

I just purchased a ThinkCentre m93p Tiny i5-4570T. (detailed specs)

I'd like to replace the 2.5" HDD with the above drive, using an m.2 to 2.5" SATA adapter (such as this one or any other one). Do you think it'll boot?

I saw that the Intel Q87 chipset doesn't support booting from an m.2 NVMe drive. However, this drive is not NVMe I don't think, it's just m.2 SATA.

What do you think? Give it a try? Don't bother? Suck it up and get a regular SATA SSD?

Oh godammit. I am not out of ports, I just wanted (significantly) better speed as compared to regular SATA SSDs.

For clarities sake, i would need a drive like this to work in that PCI-e adapter, correct?


Good eye, and thanks for the help.