Our article dedicated to the best SSDs to speed up your PC from last June hasn't lost its validity, and the prices of those models are more attractive than ever, but our original selection never passed 500 GB of capacity. There are many users out there who don't intend to make compromises: They want space and speed at an economical price. One of the SSDs that meets these three rules is the Western Digital Blue WDS100T2B0A in 2.5-inch format. One terabyte, it saturates the SATA 3 interface with ease, and today it sits just under 190 euros. What are you waiting for?
After browsing several forums and comparing some online recommendations, it's evident that prices of solid-state drives continue to fall. Personally, I'd like to see a similar drop in DDR4 memory, but it's not time to complain. 240 GB SSDs from recognized brands are quickly approaching the 40-euro mark, while 120 GB models have already broken through the 30-euro floor. If your budget is limited and you're looking for the most effective way to speed up your computer, both options are excellent; however, any gaming enthusiast will notice that the latest titles gobble up those small SSDs. Not to go too far, Shadow of the Tomb Raider recommends 40 GB, and Final Fantasy XV needs a base of 100 GB. Your Steam library requires a more robust alternative, and that's when the Western Digital Blue series manifests itself.
Western Digital Blue: Great balance between price and performance
Just like with their mechanical cousins, Western Digital Blue solid-state drives offer the user a good balance of capacity, performance, and final cost. The manufacturer reports sequential transfers of 545 MB/s read and 525 MB/s write, basically at the limit of what SATA 3 allows. If you need to save physical space inside the computer, Western Digital Blue drives are also available in M.2 2280 for a little more money, but the difference isn't that big. Another fundamental detail is the warranty. All Western Digital Blue drives come with three years (some boxes indicate five), or depending on the size, a specific amount of terabytes written. The one-terabyte SSD we're sharing today has the broadest warranty value, located at 400 terabytes written.
The one-terabyte Western Digital Blue SSD sells online for less than 190 euros. The only models that compete directly float at 960 gigabytes, and although the Samsung 860 EVO isn't far behind, it still crosses the 200-euro threshold. I understand that some users might prefer to redirect this investment to other components, say a graphics card (a GTX 1050 Ti costs less than 200 euros today), but we'll need space sooner or later, and the Western Digital Blue is a great candidate to take a place in our PC.
