The Best SSDs For MSATA Laptops

A solid state drive (SSD) is a flash memory-based storage device that uses no moving parts, making it quieter, more energy efficient and more reliable than an HDD. It's also less susceptible to failures, which makes it an ideal fit for power-constrained devices like tablets and laptops.

When it comes to the best SSDs for mSATA, there are several things you should look for: speed, capacity and form factor. First, you need to know if your computer supports the mSATA format. If it does, then you'll have to make a few adjustments to your system configuration before you can use an mSATA SSD.

Fast and Affordable

One of the most important things to consider when shopping for an SSD is how much it will cost per gigabyte. The average price for a 2.5-inch SSD today is under $1 per GB, meaning it's easy to work a few gigabytes into any desktop without breaking the bank.

Compact and Lightweight

Aside from being able to store more data, the biggest benefit of a solid state drive is its smaller size. They're typically 1/8 the size of a traditional hard disk drive, and they can be even thinner than that.

The mSATA SSDs we're testing here measure about 50mm x 30mm, and the physical connector is identical to a mini-PCIe slot. To connect it to your PC, you'll need a mini-PCIe port that supports a SATA channel.

mSATA SSDs can offer up to 1 TB of capacity, but it's not uncommon for these drives to fall in the 800GB to 1 TB range, especially if you're using them in a small device that doesn't have the space for a larger SSD.

Caching Performance

The Plextor M6M mSATA is a great option for cache applications because it can handle up to 99,000 IOPS of 4K random reads and 84,000 IOPS of 4K random writes with mixed workloads. This is more than enough for most modern laptops, and it's not far off from the numbers we saw with Intel's 310 Series 34nm SSDs in our last review.

High Endurance and Shock Resistance

The Crucial m4 mSATA has a rating of 1500G shock resistance, which is pretty typical for competing SSDs. It also boasts low power consumption, with 64GB and 128GB models consuming 150mW when idle and 160mW when active, which is much better than what you'll find on most other flash-based drives.

M4 mSATAs are also rated for endurance, which means they'll hold up under heavy load for as long as possible. Crucial says each model has a MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures) of 1.2 million hours, which is slightly lower than the 1.5 million hours that you'll find on most other SSDs.

These SSDs have an incredibly thin profile, measuring a mere 50mm x 30mm and weighing just 1.45 pounds. They're about as small and light as a credit card, which makes them an excellent choice for ultra-thin notebooks or other devices that don't have room for the bigger 2.5" mSATA SSDs available in the market today.