CONCLUSION

   Samsung took the market by storm when they released the consumer oriented 830 SSD series a few years back since that line could easily match and in many cases even surpass the performance of competing SSD models without extra cost (the fact that it was a product manufactured by Samsung certainly helped as well). Well since then it seems to me that every time Samsung introduces a new consumer oriented model in the market it becomes an instant hit so just like with the 840 Pro and the 840 EVO models the brand new 850 Pro seems to have a bright future ahead of it. Certainly it's quite clear from our charts that it's not really that much better compared to the 840 EVO (and obviously the 840 Pro which unfortunately we haven't had the chance to test) but it is and so is when in RAPID Mode although i was surprised to see that it produced inferior numbers in some tests (compared to the 840 EVO with RAPID enabled). As for Samsung's 3D/V-NAND well it's not really a breakthrough but rather a different approach in the placement of cells which actually works quite well although since SATA III doesn't make full use of that technology i expect we will see it again in the near future with SSD models featuring the new SATA standard.

   Unlike most SSD manufacturers out there Samsung manufactures both their own NAND flash modules and their own NAND flash controller so they can afford to make something unique without spending more and that's obviously what happened in the case of the 850 Pro since just like the 840 Pro and the 840 EVO it comes at a very attractive price tag of USD399.99 in the USA (Amazon.com) and 370Euros in the EU (Amazon.co.uk) for the 512GB variant. That being said there are cheaper models in the market currently that may not offer the same exact read/write performance and may not support RAPID mode but should be far more appealing to regular consumers. However for enthusiasts and professionals alike the 850 Pro with its superior performance, the quite useful RAPID mode and the 10 year warranty and support only Samsung can offer is the obvious choice and that's why it grabs our Platinum Award.

PROS

- Build Quality
- Excellent Overall Performance
- Features (TurboWrite/RAPID Mode/eDrive Support)
- Samsung Magician Software
- 10 Year Warranty
- Available In 1TB

CONS

- Price (For Some)