In March this year we started with our SSD price index where we monitor SSDs of well known SSD brands. Today, nearly four months later we publish the second version, showing the drop in price per GB is continuing and a clear winner when it comes to value for money. The data is compiled using Amazon of which we used today's pricing of new drives.
Samsung's 840 EVO 1 TB drive is currently the best drive to get if you want to the lowest price per GB. At $0.44 per GB it beats the previous number one on our chart, the Crucial M500 960 GB. Nevertheless all Crucial drives in our list are in the green area which means all drives go for below $0.50 per GB. This means that Crucial drives are excellent 'bang for your buck'. Crucial is part of Micron which makes it own NAND flash memory in a joint venture with Intel.
Also another large NAND manufacturer, Samsung is in the green area with two drives. We predict that we'll SSD brands that own NAND manufacturing fabs to dominate upcoming SSD price index releases. Owning NAND manufacturing fabs is a clear benefit in the competitive SSD market. Besides the ability to obtain NAND for decent prices it also provides the ability to secure NAND supplies. As NAND is also a component in smartphones and tablets, a steady supply of NAND chips is an important factor for SSD vendors.
Where Corsair drives were all in orange $0.50 - $0.60 area in March this year, they are now all in the grey $0.60+ area. It seems the brand only temporarily dropped its prices.
Although Toshiba is also a large NAND manufacturer, the acquisition of OCZ hasn't brought down the price per GB of the brand. Toshiba is in a joint venture with Sandisk but none of their drives are in the green area.
Nevertheless, for those who are in the market for a SSD, you can wait but price drops over four months have only been marginally. Also prices for specific drives don't necessarily go down, while the market trend is downwards some drives have become much more expensive.
