Crucial's new BX200 SSD introduces Micron's new triple-layer-cell flash chips, which are more economic, but don't have nearly the write performance of the MLC chips used with Crucial's previous SSDs, such as the BX100 this drive succeeds.

Compared to the BX100, the BX200 is 4 percent slower, which isn't a lot, but is clearly noticeable in the benchmarks. Especially tests that require long sustained writes (which exhaust the 6 GB of SLC cache) will see a significant performance drop. In other tests, like ISO file copy, the drive does very well because the written data fits into the SSD's SLC cache, which operates at much higher performance. In case you're wondering, the drive uses a portion of its TLC NAND flash as SLC by deliberately storing just 1 bit per cell and juggling data in and out of this portion based on its "heat" (frequency of access).

The major selling point of the BX200 must be its price, though. With only $130 for the tested 480 GB version, the drive breaks through the 30 cents-per-GB barrier for an amazing 27 cents per gigabyte, which is the lowest price we've seen in this performance segment. The BX100, which is a bit faster and offers more consistent performance costs around $200, which isn't worth it at that price point. What I would currently recommend to nearly every user is the Crucial MX200. It's only $160 for the 500 GB version, a reasonable increase for which you get better performance, and you won't have to deal with TLC flash.

For a mom-and-pop office and Internet computer, the BX200 is a great option, though, as it will definitely provide the amazing HDD-to-SSD upgrade experience at an extremely competitive price point.