Review - Samsung 980 PRO PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD 250GB - Low capacity compensated by immense speed

A couple of weeks ago, we got a package from Samsung and to no one’s surprise, it is the brand’s 980 PRO PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD – the one SSD regarded as the top of the class.

At first, we thought that we finally get to experience some real good speeds out of the box but the hype somehow died a little bit when we realized its a 250GB model, and further investigating the drive’s info through Google revealed that it actually has a different performance sheet compared to the larger drives. Holding back our slight sadness but full of curiosity, we ran a couple of benchmarks to find out the real numbers.

Running the 4GB test on default settings, the drive actually performs quite close to its rated figures being 6,400 / 2,700 MBps reads and writes and the Samsung 980 PRO delivers just that with similar or higher reads while the write speed is just 2% off the maximum performance. And to make sure it’s not a fluke, we did the test 3 times in a row, and yeah, the results talk.

Why use an ultra-fast SSD

Perhaps you already owned and run an SSD on your desktop or laptop and you honestly can’t tell the difference between a budget variant and a premium model. But there are actually several reasons to get a PCIe 4.0 drive. For starters, if you work on things or use files that are a single large dataset like CSVs and high-resolution video, the extra speed will definitely shorten the time for loading those stuff. On top of that, just by paying a little bit more, you can acquire the assurance of performance consistency and better build quality which usually results in better longevity.

In fact, SSDs can also prolong your laptop’s battery life too – as files are loaded much faster and the CPU has fewer wasted cycles. Everything is snappy and quick with little to no delays.

Specifically for the case of this Samsung 980 PRO PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD 250GB drive, its low capacity may feel a bit “not enough” for a lot of people but if it checks your boxes of having a limited budget yet wanting to try out a high-speed drive, then this is your pick as it is suitable to be used as a boot drive too.