The Samsung 850 Pro is a logical progression from the drive it replaces in the Samsung line-up, the 840 Pro. It has faster read speeds and while our sample was inferior to the 840 Pro in terms of write performance in some benchmarks, we can only assume this is due to the lower capacity of the drive on our test bed. This great performance is due to both the Samsung 3-core MEX Controller and of course the new Samsung 32 layer 3D V-NAND flash memory. While it is not the revolutionary leap forward we were (somewhat naively) hoping for, it is certainly an evolutionary step in the right direction.

So, with performance right up there with the fastest drives on the market, a phenomenal 10 year warranty, additional software and security features the only thing left to discuss is the price. With the lower specced Samsung 840 EVO costing around £80, we would expect the 128GB Samsung 850 Pro to come in at around the £90-£100 mark. Much more and it would be venturing into 240GB territory. Any less and price reductions would have to be spread across the range to accommodate the 850 Pro.



All of the drives in the range feature AES 256-bit Full Disk Encryption (FDE) and TCG/Opal V2.0, which is nice to see and there have been some significant improvements in power consumption compared to the 840Pro with the 850 Pro consuming just 3W when under load which will certainly please notebook users. So all things considered, would we buy this drive? Our answer would have to be a definitive YES!

In summary
The Samsung 850 Pro is a very fast, sleek and well specified solid state drive that is deserving of commendation. It will no doubt surpass the popularity of the outgoing 840 Pro.