This 1TB NVMe SSD is just £56.99, surely a new low-water mark for this spec
The Integral M-Series isn't the best known, but it's rare to see a TLC drive so cheap.
We started out today with a £300 SSD that somehow manages to be 'good value' (in some sense of the word, at least!) and we end it with the other side of the spectrum: the lowest price we've ever seen on a 1TB NVMe SSD. Box are asking just £57 for this Integral M-Series model, which supports 2000MB/s reads and 1600MB/s writes. Compare that to £75.99 for the same drive on Amazon, and you've got the makings of a great deal.
Compared to other NVMe drives - especially the fastest PCIe 4.0 models - this Integral drive isn't going to be winning any performance awards. However, the massive speed advantage provided by modern NAND, memory controllers and the NVMe interface means it still manages to be up to four times faster than a comparable SATA drive, which makes it a much better choice for handling large files - eg 4K videos and the like.
The random read/write spec is a bit below par though, topping out at up to 221K IOPS for reads and 244K IOPS for writes - about a quarter that of the WD SN850, one of the fastest NVMe SSDs. You are paying almost double for that drive though, so if you need the space more than you need the speed, this could still be a great choice.
Otherwise, the M-Series seems quite reasonable - it uses 3D TLC NAND rather than cheaper QLC, so sustained speeds should remain quite close to peak speeds. Likewise, the three year warranty and 450TBW (terabytes written) longevity rating is quite good for a budget drive. And finally, Integral themselves are well-known for their great value Micro SD cards, so I trust them when it comes to storage.
What's a good alternative to this drive if you want to spend a little more for faster speeds? I'd suggest the Crucial P3 we mentioned earlier, which is available in a 1TB size for £75, or perhaps something like the Samsung 980 or WD SN770 - all drives I've tested personally and can recommend at the £70 to £90 price envelope.
I hope this deals post was helpful! Thanks for reading once again, and I'l see you again with more deals next week. Cheers!