Western Digital WD Blue 512GB M.2 NVMe SSD Review

Pricing and Final Thoughts

I meantioned a few times earlier that the WD Blue SN500 won’t break your budget. So let us get to the price point. At the time of this review, the 500GB version can be yours for $77.99 and £66.99 through Amazon. The smaller 250GB model can be yours for $54.99 and £46.99.

Final Thoughts

The terms entry-level and budget have changed and gotten a new meaning since NVMe drives entered the market. We get very well-performing drives for relatively little money. At least when we compare it to what it was not long ago.

Western Digital created an amazing drive with the WD Blue SN500. It meets all the requirements of a great drive for your entry into this new world of even faster drives. Sure, it doesn’t break any records, but it wasn’t built to do so.

With its 2 PCIe lanes, it has some natural limitations. It still performs as advertised with good speeds; over 3 times with that of an SATA-based drive.

The design is clean and simple. It is a 1-sided design for maximum compatibility. Even in the tightest notebooks with M.2 2280 slot will easily fit the WD Blue SN500.

Two bonuses we always welcome is a long warranty and good support software. WD has this covered with a 5-year warranty and their WD SSD Dashboard.

Should I Purchase One?

If you’re building a £3 grand high-end gaming system, then probably not. But, if you’re building a small office workstation, casual gaming system, surf station, or similar, then you might want to conside the WD Blue SN500. It will deliver fast boot times, quick application loading, fast data access, and enough capacity to satisfy.

Pros

• Good Performance for Entry-Level NVMe
• Good looking
• Large heatsink
• Up to 2TB capacity
• High Endurance Rating

Cons

• None

“Western Digital WD Blue SN500 delivers a solid performance for casual gaming rigs as well as office systems.”

Thank you Western Digital for providing us with this sample.