“The SanDisk X400 is the flagship model of SanDisk’s business/OEM SSD lineup,” Billy Tallis writes for AnandTech. “As the successor to the X300 and X300s, the X400 continues the strategy of combining premium features like encryption and a 5-year warranty with the use of cheaper TLC NAND flash to hit mainstream price points.”
“Unlike most TLC product lines, the SanDisk X400 provides usable capacities at power of two increments: 128GB through 1024GB, rather than the more common 120GB through 960GB,” Tallis writes. “SanDisk hails the X400 line as including the first single-sided 1TB M.2 SSD.”
“In addition to raising the bar for planar TLC performance, the SanDisk X400 sets a new standard for power efficiency of drives using TLC NAND. It routinely ties or beats at least a few MLC SSDs for power efficiency, especially when its performance is not lagging far behind,” Tallis writes. “It is refreshing to see a TLC drive that provides progress on something other than price. The X400 is a credible mid-range SSD that achieves SanDisk’s goals and proves that even planar TLC NAND can compete for the mainstream segment.”
Tons more, including benchmarks, in the full review here.
MacDailyNews Take: At $229.97 for a 1TB M.2 SSD, the SanDisk X400 is mighty tempting.
I want to see a 6 or 7 TB Raid enclosure with SSD and a fast connection. I’d snap it up in a heartbeat. I no longer trust spinning HDDs after my Drobo failed and the company was unwilling to support it. Data lost.
You can put SSDs in a Drobo just fine. They aren’t responsible for your hard drive failure. Also, where was your backup?
It wasn’t a HDD failure, it was a power supply failure (2x!). HDDs are unreadable on other systems outside of buying another Drobo or giving your data files to a third party. And Drobo was supposed to be my backup in case a drive or two failed.
And yet Apple’s SSD upgrades cost? (sigh)
Are you referring to flash based SSDs or SATA based SSDs?
They are 100% different creatures and pricing is substantially different.
Prices like that are why I prefer SATA over Apple’s proprietary NVME connector. M.2 is fine for thin laptops, but AHCI should be an option so you can save a lot of money on Solid State Drives.
This is also why I prefer my late 2011 13” MacBook Pro over the Retina MacBook Pros; SATA allows for low-cost hard drive upgrades. Also, the optical drive provides a space for an extra hard drive if you’re ready and willing to part with your optical drive.