Western Digital SiliconEdge Blue SSD (256GB)
The Western Digital SiliconEdge Blue is a fast solid-state drive, but will put a serious dent in your wallet
Pros
- Good file transfer performance
Cons
- Expensive, slightly more power hungry than alternatives
Bottom Line
Western Digital's first consumer-friendly SSD is fast and reasonably priced when compared to the competition, but it is still too expensive as a hard drive replacement in most PCs.
-
Price
$ 1,299.00 (AUD)
The two major internal hard drive manufacturers — Western Digital and Seagate — have traditionally been coy when it comes to solid-state drives, particularly in the consumer space. Western Digital has finally fired its first salvo with the SiliconEdge Blue SSD, which is available in 64GB, 128GB and 256GB capacities. While quick, it’s incredibly expensive and is unlikely to be affordable for the average consumer anytime soon.
The WD SiliconEdge Blue is only 9.5mm tall, which means it will easily replace your laptop’s current hard drive. Western Digital uses multi-level cell (MLC) technology in the SiliconEdge Blue, which is common for consumer SSDs. While cheaper than the alternative — single-level cell (SLC) memory — MLC drives aren’t as fast when it comes to the sustained throughput required of enterprise-level servers, and don’t have the same lifespan. Consumers won’t notice the performance disadvantage, though the drive is designed to have a five-year lifespan and is only covered by a three-year warranty.
The Western Digital SiliconEdge Blue consumes only 0.54 Watts when idle, and peaks at 2.6W when writing data. That means this SSD is slightly more power hungry than the Kingston SSDNow V+ but more power efficient than a conventional hard drive.
Performance
We conducted two file transfer tests with the SSD while connected to a testbed running a 300GB Western Digital Velociraptor system drive. The first test consisted of 3GB worth of 1MB files, which simulates installing applications and backing up system files. In the second test we use a 20GB folder of 3-4GB files; this is more akin to dealing with high-definition movies.
Small File (3GB) Transfer Test Results | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Model | Price | Storage Capacity | Memory type |
Read speed (MBps) |
Write speed (MBps) |
Read/write speed (MBps) | ||
Western Digital SiliconEdge Blue | $1299 | 256GB | MLC | 50 | 78.9 | 55.6 | ||
Solidata K6-32 SSD | $199 | 32GB | MLC | 46.9 | 38.9 | 25.4 | ||
Apacer A7 Turbo SSD | $309 | 64GB | MLC | 50 | 36.1 | 37.5 | ||
Solidata K5-32 SSD | $359 | 32GB | SLC | 50.6 | 34.1 | 26.8 | ||
Kingston SSDNow V+ SSD | $445 | 64GB | MLC | 49.2 | 50 | 56.6 | ||
Kingston SSDNow M Series | $855 | 80GB | MLC | 49.2 | 50 | 56.6 | ||
Intel X25-M SSD | N/A | 80GB | MLC | 49.2 | 49.2 | 66.7 |
Large File (20GB) Transfer Test Results | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Model | Price | Storage Capacity | Memory type |
Read speed (MBps) |
Write speed (MBps) |
Read/write speed (MBps) | ||
Western Digital SiliconEdge Blue | $1299 | 256GB | MLC | 90.7 | 70 | 67.6 | ||
Solidata K6-32 SSD | $199 | 32GB | MLC | 35.9 | 71.1 | 24.8 | ||
Seagate Momentus 7200.4 HDD | $217 | 500GB | Hard drive | 85.99 | 77.2 | 25.63 | ||
Apacer A7 Turbo SSD | $309 | 64GB | MLC | 77.9 | 64.7 | 68.3 | ||
Solidata K5-32 SSD | $359 | 32GB | SLC | 76.9 | 42.4 | 37.1 | ||
Kingston SSDNow V+ SSD | $445 | 64GB | MLC | 76.6 | 77.29 | 75.2 | ||
Kingston SSDNow M Series | $855 | 80GB | MLC | 73.09 | 71.04 | 52.49 | ||
Intel X25-M SSD | N/A | 80GB | MLC | 76.1 | 74 | 87.8 |
Our tests show that the SiliconEdge Blue solid-state drive is definitely fast. It had the fastest read and write speeds in our small file test, and the fastest read speeds by far when dealing with large files. As an overall performer, however, it still doesn’t meet the benchmark set by Intel’s consumer-targeted X25-M SSD, as it fell behind when performing simultaneous large file tasks.
Up against the lowly conventional hard drive, Western Digital’s SSD performed well but our tests show that magnetic storage has some competitive edge, particularly when writing data. While this solid-state drive isn’t a leader of the pack, it will boost start-up times and work well as a system drive in general.
Of course, that’s if you can afford it. The 256GB drive provides 238GB of usable space which, at current prices, means a cost per formatted gigabyte of $5.46. To put that in perspective, the 250GB version of the Momentus 7200.4 can be found for as cheap as $75, or 31.5c per formatted gigabyte. Given that solid-state drives can easily exceed $12 per GB, it's a reasonable cost. However even at this price it's hard to justify.
Stay up to date with the latest news, reviews and features. Sign up to PC World’s newsletters
Follow PC World Australia on Twitter: @PCWorldAu
Brand Post
Most Popular Reviews
- 1 Dell U3223QE review: A winning debut for an IPS Black monitor
- 2 HP Spectre x360 16 review: The right 2-in-1 at the wrong time
- 3 Acer K242HYL review: An affordable monitor for any occasion
- 4 GeForce Now review: You bring the games, Nvidia streams the hardware
- 5 Asus ProArt PA279CV monitor review: The go-to for content creators on a budget
Latest News Articles
- Want to go watch the WWDC keynote at Apple Park? Here’s how to apply
- Apple to support ‘passwordless’ iPhone logins on Android phones and PCs
- If you downloaded iOS 9 on an iPhone 4s, you may be entitled to a refund check
- Best wireless headphones
- An intrepid YouTuber made his own 5K Studio Display for just US$600
Resources
Macworld
What's new, plus best mac-related tips
and tricks
Business Centre
The latest business news, reviews, features and whitepapers
Videos
Watch our video news and reviews from around the world
Guides
Comprehensive buying guides, features, and step-by-step articles
PCW Evaluation Team
Pedro Peixoto
Aruba Instant On AP11D
Set up is effortless.
Cate Bacon
Aruba Instant On AP11D
The strength of the Aruba Instant On AP11D is that the design and feature set support the modern, flexible, and mobile way of working.
Dr Prabigya Shiwakoti
Aruba Instant On AP11D
Aruba backs the AP11D up with a two-year warranty and 24/7 phone support.
Tom Pope
Dynabook Portégé X30L-G
Ultimately this laptop has achieved everything I would hope for in a laptop for work, while fitting that into a form factor and weight that is remarkable.
Tom Sellers
MSI P65
This smart laptop was enjoyable to use and great to work on – creating content was super simple.
Lolita Wang
MSI GT76
It really doesn’t get more “gaming laptop” than this.
Featured Content
- Which Lenovo Laptop Should I Buy?
- Every TV in Samsung's 2022 line-up: OLED, Neo QLED and more!
- Top 10 best Android and Apple phones for under $600
- Everything you need to know about Smart TVs
- What's the difference between an Intel Core i3, i5 and i7?
- Laser vs. inkjet printers: which is better?