Intel X25-M 160 GB Mainstream SATA II MLC 2.5-Inch Solid State Drive OEM
Review by A. Wiersch : Fantastic performance improvement

This review is for the product itself, not about stock or sellers!

This is a fantastic upgrade to a computer system. The Intel G2 drives support TRIM when upgraded with the latest firmware. Windows 7 automatically support TRIM. TRIM increases the drive's performance and efficiency.

Upgrading from an HD to a good SSD like an Intel SSD will result in a SIGNIFICANT performance improvement unlike make other upgrades you may make, like a bump in CPU performance, memory, or video card. An SSD is many times faster than an HD in many important ways and has a big impact on the responsiveness of a computer.

The Intel is even price competitive with other SSD offerings.

Pros:
* SPEED
* Significantly faster than a VelociRaptor 10,000 RPM hard drive
* Superior controller design vs other manufacturers
* Windows 7 scores this drive a 7.8 (highest possible is 7.9)
* Low power consumption, great for notebooks especially (but also good for desktops)
* Works just like a regular 2.5 inch drive so works great in SATA notebooks
* Retail version comes with a metal 2.5" to 3.5" adapter for desktop use
* Supports TRIM with latest firmware (G2 - second generation drives)
* Latest firmware upgrades sequential write speed to about 100MB/s from 80MB/s (160GB version only)
* Can download "Intel SSD Toolbox" to view drive information and optimize the drive

Cons:
* Expensive compared to HD's
* Slower sequential write speed than some competitors - but for many this does not significantly affect overall performance

Other:
* My suggestion: Use an SSD for OS and applications and an HD for storage (like a Western Digital green drive)
* See the photos I uploaded

Intel X25-M 160 GB Mainstream SATA II MLC 2.5-Inch Solid State Drive OEM
Review by C. Shurtliff : Very Happy

The speed is amazing. I am using in my laptop with Windows 7. It starts up and shutsdown very quickly and my applications come up almost immediately. It makes no noise when running. When I first boot up my laptop, I can't hear any sound coming from the laptop. Very cool!

Intel X25-M 160 GB Mainstream SATA II MLC 2.5-Inch Solid State Drive OEM
Review by Erik R. Carlseen : Holy #!$@ this is great.

Dropped it into my old ThinkPad T60 (I needed to reinstall Windows anyway) and the performance improvement is spectacular. Yes, it's expensive, but it completely removes the Achilles Heel of laptop usage - slow hard drive performance. I can now honestly say that for most of the stuff I do with it, my laptop is as fast (or faster) and responsive as my desktop.

Intel X25-M 160 GB Mainstream SATA II MLC 2.5-Inch Solid State Drive OEM
Review by Peter DeGregorio : Came bare OEM rather than in consumer box with stuff

This 160 GB drive works very nicely in my ThinkPad T61 running Windows 7 x64 as a hard drive replacement. Performance is remarkably good ... it extends the useful life of this computer. Also the battery now lasts longer.

Oddly, the drive came in a plain brown box with a single sheet of documentation. No 3.5" drive adapter plate and no CD, unlike the 80 GB drives I also bought. Since this was going into a laptop and not a desktop the adapter plate was not missed. Had to download and update the drive's firmware ... something also different from the 80GB drive which was already up to date.

So beware, if you ware putting this into a desktop PC that has standard 3.5 drive slots you may need to get an adapter. The customer-supplied pictures for this item show the adapter plate and also the consumer box but that's not what I got.

But the bottom line is this drive breathed new life into my 2 1/2 year old computer. Paid $429 for this.

Intel X25-M 160 GB Mainstream SATA II MLC 2.5-Inch Solid State Drive OEM
Review by David Bradford "David" : Blazing FAST on my 4X RAID 0 via Adaptec 5085

Blazingly fast. Hits Infiniband 1.2 MB/s envelope on sustained read of large iso files etc.... Other rates blindingly fast - write, random etc... Used HD Tune Pro. Very impressive drives. The X25E series with blow your mind but at a much higer cost per GB.