Samsung 470 review: Samsung 470

Priced at a whopping $700 for the largest-capacity version, which caps at a mere 256GB (it's $280 for the 128GB version), the Samsung 470's top-notch performance only helps create a painful conundrum: you want it so badly yet at the same time you have many reasons not to want it. So think carefully: if you can afford it, and don't really need much data storage space, the drive will make an excellent replacement for your laptop computer. It's superfast, light, and, like all SSDs, designed to be durable and save energy, as it has no moving parts.

7.9

Samsung 470

The Good

Samsung's 470 solid-state drive (SSD) is light and good-looking, and offers great performance. The drive supports the traditional 2.5-inch design and works in any application where other SATA hard drives with the same design are used.

The Bad

The Samsung 470 SSD is significantly more expensive than traditional hard drives, and its storage capacity caps at only 256GB. The drive doesn't support the new SATA 6Gbps data transfer rate.

The Bottom Line

If you want something that's fast, energy-efficient, lightweight, and durable, and don't mind the hefty prices, the Samsung 470's outstanding performance will make it worth the investment.

Those who have financial constraints, however, might want to check out the hybrid-drive Seagate Momentus XT, which offers somewhat similar performance, has a cap capacity of 500GB, and costs only around $130.

Design and features