Crucial M4 SSDs get mainstream pricing

Although Micron began shipping review samples of its RealSSD C400 (Crucial M4) a few weeks ago, the company has been quiet about pricing. Naturally, this made it difficult for hardware reviewers to depict the drive's value accurately. The RealSSD C400 represents a mild performance gain over last year's C300 during light workloads, but it's handily dispatched by competing drives from OCZ and Intel when it comes to heavy multitasking.

Obviously that's okay if the C400's price reflects its inferior performance -- there's nothing wrong with delivering an entry-level product. Fortunately, Micron seems to be taking that route, as the 128GB, 256GB and 512GB versions will sell later this month for $250, $500 and $1,000. That's on par with the existing C300 drives which are available for $255 (128GB) and $485 (256GB), as well as Intel's mainstream 320 Series SSDs.

As it stands, folks shopping for a high-end SSD should probably have their sights set on OCZ's Vertex 3 line, which has topped performance charts around the Web. The Vertex 3 is gradually appearing online in 120GB and 240GB flavors for $300 and $530, but it doesn't seem to be in stock anywhere at the moment. Meanwhile, Intel's performance 510 Series SSDs are available for $285 (120GB) and $615 (250GB) through Newegg.