Plextor M5S Now Available
by Kristian Vättö on July 27, 2012 3:03 PM ESTPlextor launched the M5S SSD about two weeks ago and we were among the first to review it. Plextor did not have a specific release date at the time of our review, with their press release saying mid-July (which obviously did not happen). Plextor now tells us that the M5S is available for pre-order at its own online store, with drives shipping on August 10th. Along with pre-order details come updated prices. In our review we only had MSRPs to go on. Below is an updated M5S specification table including current pre-order prices:
| Plextor M5S Specifications | |||
| Model | PX-64M5S | PX-128M5S | PX-256M5S |
| Raw NAND Capacity | 64GiB | 128GiB | 256GiB |
| Usable Capacity | 59.6GiB | 119.2GiB | 238.5GiB |
| Number of NAND Packages | 8 | 16 | 16 |
| Number of Die per Package | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| NAND | Micron 25nm synchronous MLC NAND | ||
| Controller | Marvell 88SS9174-BLD2 | ||
| Cache | 128MB DDR3 | 256MB DDR3 | 512MB DDR3 |
| Sequential Read | 520MB/s | 520MB/s | 520MB/s |
| Sequential Write | 90MB/s | 200MB/s | 390MB/s |
| 4K Random Read | 61K IOPS | 71K IOPS | 73K IOPS |
| 4K Random Write | 25K IOPS | 51K IOPS | 70K IOPS |
| Warranty | 3 years | ||
| MSRP | $100 | $160 | $300 |
| Plextor Online Store Price | $95 | $150 | $275 |
| Street Price | N/A | $130 (-$30 MIR) | N/A |
Plextor was able to accelerate the availability of the 128GB model, which is already available at TigerDirect at a special price of $100 with $30 mail-in rebate (Plextor's own store still says ships on August 10th and the drive is priced at $150). The retail pricing is what I expected it to be. 128GB Plextor M3 was selling for $130 before the M5S was launched, so it makes sense that the M5S will take its price spot. Once more retailers get the M5S in stock, it's possible that we'll see the price drop by $5-10, or at least more sales should be expected. I would estimate the 256GB M5S to retail for around $250, while the 64GB model will probably be a bit more expensive at ~$85-90.
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ImSpartacus - Friday, July 27, 2012 - link
The difference between an average SSD and a hard drive is the world, but the difference between high end SSDs and their more normal brethren is comparably minute.With SSDs like OCZ's 256GB Vertex 4 selling for $210, why should a typical power user spend ~$50 more for higher end SSDs?
ImSpartacus - Friday, July 27, 2012 - link
Nevermind, my comment isn't quite as relevant now that the 128GB M5S is going for $100 (after rebate). Let's hope for a matching ~$200 price tag for the 256GB version.JNo - Saturday, July 28, 2012 - link
This. Especially when the difference for consumers will be intangible (i.e. imperceivable except in benchmarks).Zak - Saturday, July 28, 2012 - link
Warranty is often the deciding factor for me. I simply refuse to buy any HD or SSD with less than 3 years of warranty. I had some really bad luck with SSDs, hard drives, motherboards and power supplies in the recent years so now I look carefully for items with better warranty.Beenthere - Friday, July 27, 2012 - link
For those who haven't done their homework, you should be aware that SSD tech per Anand is "immature tech" and as a result still has compatibility and reliability issues.Unless you enjoy being an unpaid beta tester... you might want to wait 6 months or so to see how many firmware updates are required to fix SSD issues with any new SSD release. If data security is unimportant and BSOD and RMAs don't bother you, jump in the water and see how many sharks you have for company. *LOL*
bill.rookard - Saturday, July 28, 2012 - link
I have to agree up to a point. I have a Centos 6 system running on a 1u webserver outfitted exclusively with SSDs'. Two twin 128Gb drives for mirrored data (the sites), and one 64Gb drive for the OS.The OS drive is a Crucial M4 - and it's had several firmware updates - the main and most notable problem was with the SMART reporting - after 5100 hours of 'power on' time, the drive would stop responding until it was rebooted. EVERY HOUR. Needless to say, on a webserver, that's just NOT an option to allow to continue.
Lo and behold, one day, server stopped responding, file system errors started cropping up, all kinds of garbage. Had to fix the damage, then take the server offline until I could update the firmware. Meanwhile (and interestingly enough) the other two drives (Kingston V+ series and a Samsung) have no issues at all in spite of the fact they were cheaper...
MrSpadge - Saturday, July 28, 2012 - link
You should have said: "SSD tech per Anand is "immature tech" and as a result CAN HAVE compatibility and reliability issues."HisDivineOrder - Saturday, July 28, 2012 - link
Use a Samsung 830 SSD. How many firmware updates have they had? How many widespread problems have you seen with those?The problem is not with the SSD's. The problem is with the QA of the companies that have made SSD's up till now. Sandforce and OCZ/Indilinx have given the whole product class a bad name.
Crucial just helped do its part in that. Once the "big" companies that are focused on reliability enter the picture (Intel, Samsung), this criticism about SSD's being immature hardware falls away.
semulw2485 - Saturday, July 28, 2012 - link
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