Specifications, Pricing and Availability

SanDisk Extreme 240GB

Before we dive into the numbers let's take a quick look at the specifications.

Here we see the SanDisk Extreme specs, today we're focusing on the 240GB drive with a claimed sequential read speed of 550MB/s and a sequential write speed of 520MB/s. IOPS is listed as up to 33K read and 83K write. The controller is from SandForce, the SF-2281 that we've seen in around 30 drives since 2010. The Extreme is different from all of the other, it uses 24nm SanDisk Toggle flash.

The SanDisk Extreme ships with a bare drive, quick install guide and a three year warranty. SanDisk is not shipping the Extreme with a desktop adapter bracket, software package or cables.

Plextor M3 Pro 256GB

The Plextor M3 Pro is the fastest model in the new M3 Series. We've already published a review of the M3 standard model and it achieved very good performance results. The 256GB Pro model we're looking at today uses a Marvell controller with beefed up programming and that increases write speed. Both the M3 and M3 Pro use the same 24nm Toshiba Toggle Mode flash.

The new M3P or M3 Pro as we are calling it is a new 7mm design, we'll talk more about that in our full review in a couple of days. It ships with a five year warranty, desktop adapter bracket, extensive software package and extensive documentation.

256GB / 240GB Pricing Comparison

Newegg lists both of the drives we are looking at the performance of today. The Plextor M3 Pro 256GB is listed at $389.99 and the SanDisk Extreme 240GB is now priced at $339.99.