Specifications, Pricing and Availability

You will need to click on the large chart in order to see the contents. Here we have the Crucial RealSSD C300 in both 128GB and 256GB capacity sizes. Both drives are the first to come with SATA 6G in an SSD, so the limits of SATA 3G are not in play, meaning no more 260MB/s ceiling. The read speeds are identical per Crucial's spec sheet, but the write speeds are a bit lower with the 128GB drive. Here we see a write speed rating of 140MB/s for the 128 and 215MB/s for the 256. The IOPS are also a bit lower on the 128GB drive, but in both read and write this time. The 128GB RealSSD C300 does take a lead in one category and that is power consumption. Aside from those performance differences, both RealSSD C300 drives are the same.

As far as we know at this time, Crucial is the first and only SSD manufacturer to use the new Marvell controller that is inside of the RealSSD C300. That gives Crucial a leg up on the competition that is still using hardware based on SATA II AKA SATA 3G technologies. Crucial is also the only group using Micron ONFI 2.1 rated MLC NAND Flash memory.

When it comes to availability and pricing, we have watched the Crucial RealSSD C300 drop in price ever since it was released. The 128GB drive launched at 500 USD, but just like we stated in our launch day review the price has come all the way down to 399 USD on Crucial's website and is also 399 at Newegg.

After looking around a bit I was able to find the Crucial RealSSD C300 128GB at My Digital Discount for the ultra low price of 369.90 and it is in stock at this time. You may have noticed that MDD has started to show up more in our SSD reviews; this is because they are starting to differentiate themselves from other e-tailers by offering SSDs at lower prices than the competition. We also personally know the team over there and are confident in their ability to support customers.