🔹 SATA SSDs (2.5″)
Still great for older machines (e.g., ThinkPad T61, which only supports SATA II/3Gb/s anyway).
- Crucial MX500 – TLC NAND, DRAM, very reliable.
- Samsung 870 EVO – TLC NAND, DRAM, excellent endurance.
- WD Blue 3D NAND – Solid mainstream SATA drive.
- Kingston KC600 – TLC NAND, DRAM, strong option for SATA.
💡 Avoid Crucial BX500 unless it’s super cheap — it’s DRAM-less and slower under OS workloads.
🔹 NVMe SSDs (M.2)
For newer laptops/desktops.
Budget but solid (DRAM-less, OK for secondary storage/games):
- Crucial P3 / P3 Plus
- WD Blue SN350 / SN570
Better performance (TLC + DRAM, great for boot/system drive):
- Samsung 970 EVO Plus / 980 Pro
- WD Black SN770 / SN850X
- Crucial P5 Plus
- Kingston KC3000
🔹 General Rules
- Stick to Samsung, Crucial (Micron), WD/SanDisk, or Kingston for consumer drives.
- A “too-cheap” 1TB NVMe (like $20–30 new) = 🚩 run away.
- For old ThinkPads like the T61, the speed difference between a BX500 and an MX500 will be less dramatic (because SATA II bottlenecks at ~300 MB/s), but reliability and consistency still matter.