WD SiliconEdge Blue 256GB SSD Review

Performance Summary: The Western Digital SiliconEdge Blue SSD performed relatively well throughout our testing, but after evaluating its performance, it's easy to see why WD chose to position the drive in the "Blue" product category, rather than the company's flagship "Black" series. While the SiliconEdge Blue offers strong performance, especially in comparison to any spinning hard drive, in light of competing solid state storage solutions, it performs a little on the average side. The closest competitor to the SiliconEdge Blue performance-wise, would have to be OCZ's standard Vertex series SSD. The OCZ and WD drives performed right on top of each other in many tests, with each drive trading victories depending on the application. The Micron C300 and Intel X25-M were measurably faster overall, however, with the exception of the WD's sustained write performance.  The SiliconEdge Blue is much faster than the X25-M in that category, as are many recent generation SSDs.

The WD SiliconEdge Blue 256GB SSD that we took you on a tour of today, drops into the market at a time when product differentiation is key, at least in terms of the end user segment.  Perhaps in the OEM space, where WD does so well with large volume agreements, the company will be able to capture some lost market share, where SSDs have started to nip at the heels at hard drive revenues. That said, we have to consider WD's new offering in light of dizzying array of product from competitors as fierce as Micron and Intel. It's a tough gig, as they say, to be sure.  If you do the math, WD is going to really have to sharpen their pencil to compete.  Intel's 160GB SSDs are selling for as little as $429 currently and Micron's 256GB C300 SSD is currently selling for $799.  With MSRPs of $529 for the 128GB variant and $999 for the 256GB model, the SiliconEdge Blue isn't going to turn many heads its way right out of the gate.  Although, we have been told that street prices of the drive will likely drift lower after launch. We'll have to see how things shake out over the next few weeks and WD notes the drives will be readily available in various channels as of today.

We have to hand it to Western Digital for making the bold move they needed to about a year ago now, that afforded them an entry into the burgeoning SSD market.  The SiliconEdge Blue is just the beginning we are certain and we're hopeful of bigger and better things to come from their not so fledgling Solid State Drive division.  There is no question the SiliconEdge Blue doesn't light up the benchmarks like some of the more recent SSDs we've tested, but it's a solid product from a well-respected brand name storage company.  If WD is able to get their prices in line better soon, we'd readily recommend it.  As it stands currently, based on its initial MSRP, we'd say there are some better values out there to be had right now.  Of course, WD branded this first SSD with their Blue label for a reason.  There is likely a Black edition (read high performance) drive coming in the future as well, though we're not yet privy to when exactly.  We'll look forward to that day and will be here to tell you all about it when that day comes.