Crucial M500 CT240M500SSD1 2.5" 240GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) Crucial M500 CT240M500SSD1 2.5" 240GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

Pros: Cheap - Got it for 79.99
Fairly fast for the price
Lightweight and thin

Cons: None

Other Thoughts: This drive is running and performs well. With nothing on it, here are tested speeds from Crystal Disk Mark. It's formatted as GPT. It's around 223 GB formatted. All tests are 9 passes @ 4000MB.

Seq:
Read: 488.4 MB/s
Write: 278.4 MB/s
512K:
Read: 444.5 MB/s
Write: 278.5 MB/s
4K:
Read: 25.98 MB/s
Write: 109.9 MB/s
4K QD32:
Read: 260.3 MB/s
Write: 251.6 MB/s

I have this same drive in my laptop. It's about 9 months old now. Purchased 3/22/14. It has about 140 GB of stuff on it alongside Windows 8.1. It was running the older MU03 firmware. Here are the speeds on this drive:

MU03:
Seq:
Read: 470.9 MB/s
Write: 248.9 MB/s
512K:
Read: 423.1 MB/s
Write: 248.8 MB/s
4K:
Read: 23.44 MB/s
Write: 61.82 MB/s
4K QD32:
Read: 330.3 MB/s
Write: 232.0 MB/s

Laptop M500 updated to MU05:
Seq:
Read: 464.9 MB/s
Write: 254.6 MB/s
512K:
Read: 410.4 MB/s
Write: 250.4 MB/s
4K:
Read: 17.36 MB/s
Write: 30.81 MB/s
4K QD32:
Read: 332.7 MB/s
Write: 236.2 MB/s

Looking at the results, it appears the MU05 update caused all of the speeds to drop except for Seq Write and 4KQD32 Write. Definitely the blank new M500 has my laptop drive beat all across the board, even with the same firmware revision. I'd say expect a performance drop once you start loading up the SSD with stuff.

Note:
If you are updating to the latest revision using Windows 8 or 8.1 on the UEFI BIOS, the automated update program will not work. UEFI will not allow it to run properly. You have to download the ISO file and manually do it by burning it to a CD or mounting it to a USB drive. Then install the firmware from the ISO file. I could not do it without switching UEFI back to Legacy mode on my laptop though. UEFI would keep loading Windows 8 instead. I believe the automated firmware update program should work if you switch the BIOS back to legacy mode, but I haven't tried it myself since I used a mounted ISO of it instead.

Pros: Gosh, I've bought a hundred of these now... no sorry, just 31. Haven't ever had an issue with a Crucial SSD. I'll keep deploying them for as long as they keep making my job easier.
+GREAT Reliability.
+GREAT Price!
+GREAT Compatibility with odd chipsets/etc.
+Good enough speed for most users.

Cons: Can't think of any. OCZ cured me of going for 'benchmarking queen' SSDs. I stay away from TLC (Oh, sorry - they're calling it 3-bit MLC now. >_> ) and buy only drives with good quality MLC NAND.

Other Thoughts: -Intel-Micron NAND is good stuff.
-My eyes bulged when I saw these on for $94.99 on Black Friday. I'm in Canada, and we never get prices like that. I think the nearest competitor was at $119.99! I couldn't help but buy a few more.

Pros: Using this with an z87x mobo and linux Mint 17. Linux benchmark (Disk) shows 540 mb write @.05 access time. Can't do write becnmark on disk with data on it or I will forfiet data.

Cons: price
Crucial does not support linux, so firmware updates will have to be done with windbloes.

Other Thoughts: Love the speed, hate the price, otherwise works with no problems.
Crucial does not support linux, so firmware updates will have to be done with windbloes.
This will affect my decision as to what brand ssd I will buy next.

Pros: A great drive, have just at home 6 running , from the first made
and newer. DT and laptops.
Hints:
do not use most brands of free software for cloning OS.
even better is Farstone drive clone, (smartest of all, and i tried them all)

Do understand the rules for GPT if using that.
Do a fresh install. for best experience !

if not doing a fresh install (sure I too have 100s of apps)
Farstone wins.

Cons: none.
not one issue ever on all SSD I own or have installed.
but my PCs are virus clean, not overheating, as many are.
seen so many laptops over heat it makes me sick. (clean it )!
The GPT issues, really fool lots of folks.
If boot protect is on , the PC will not even see any added drive.
read up on how to solve that, its discussed on win 8 forums.

Other Thoughts: some PCs have bad bios that can not see the SSD, like Asus M2n early version. This is their problem....
Get your new drive recognized by BIOS first.
then use the MS install disk to format it as you see fit (gpt, or
if all this seems hard, go to the geeks, at you know where, and let them do it.

the maker of the drive has no idea what your are plugging it into.
so buy a cable and bracket, or if smart, get the Farstone (free)
they sell more expensive SSD with bundled stuff, but why?
buy it yourself and pick better products.
eg: on my DT I run top brand, SATA=III low noise, and locking cables.
you can even pick the color.

enjoy,

Pros: Very nice SSD. Got it on sale for 89 bucks. Not bad at all, huge upgrade for my laptop. Had an adapter for the proper size of my HD bay.

Cons: No issues so far

Pros: Fast drive used for OS, not storage. Boots up quick and programs open quickly. 7.9 windows experience rating.

Cons: Wish is has a larger capacity.

Pros: It is easy to install and use in my laptop. It improves the speed of my laptop. However, it still does not reach higher speed as sumsung pro or other famous series

Cons: it could meet the normal use in common life, but not professional

Pros: Boot times are so fast cant even believe it
Great upgrade
Everyone needs SSD.

Cons: none

Pros: Works just fine.

Cons: we assume that this SSD would perform as advertised if only we could find a USB 3.0 2.5" external enclosure that had a true SATA III controller chipset that can handle more than 300 MB/s, which our Orico with it's AMS 2105 cannot.

Other Thoughts: as far as we can tell, this SSD works as advertised, and it is a significant improvement over 2.0, but when paired with most external enclosures, be aware that performance is crippled.

Pros: Really good fast drive for the money. I have 3 of them and they work great.

Cons: None