I installed this into a new Alienware 17 r4 laptop. The startup speeds are not so different than a much cheaper ordinary SATA SSD, but I find it very satisfactory. A cold boot to desktop takes 17-18 seconds on my laptop with an Intel i7 7700 cpu. Copying large files within itself feel instant, and this is where an NVMe shines over a SATA SSD.
However, if you are copying files between this drive into a spinning HDD or a SATA SSD, the process would be bottle-necked by the other drive read and write speeds, therefore, you would get little real benefit from the experience. The speed benefit you will experience from game or other application load times is also limited compared to a cheaper SATA based SSD option.
I still recommend this product. This is an entry level NVMe, and it is substantially cheaper than a Samsung NVMe, which is faster. Due to the fact that I do not constantly need to copy extremely large files within the same drive over and over, I did not want to spend more money on a more expensive NVMe, but also, I did not want to keep using SATA SSD drives when a newer technology is affordably available. This is a very good value for a fast enough M.2 SSD experience. It is not the best , but at this price point, very good. If you want to spend much more money for a very little real life benefit, get a Samsung NVMe.
| Brand | Western Digital |
|---|---|
| Product Dimensions | 8 x 2.18 x 0.2 cm; 4.54 Grams |
| Batteries | 1 Lithium ion batteries required. |
| Item model number | WDS256G1X0C |
| Manufacturer | WESBX |
| Series | Western Digital Black |
| Color | Black |
| Form Factor | Tower |
| Hard Drive Interface | NVMe |
| Are Batteries Included | No |
| Lithium Battery Energy Content | 1 Milliampere Hour (mAh) |
| Lithium Battery Packaging | Batteries packed with equipment |
| Lithium Battery Weight | 0.5 Kilograms |
| Number Of Lithium Ion Cells | 1 |
| Number of Lithium Metal Cells | 1 |
| Item Weight | 4.54 g |
