The biggest limitation to storage performance is the interface. Some can argue that the device itself can be slow or fast but, even the fastest device will be bottlenecked if it cannot transfer data quickly enough. This is on reason why RAID was an important feature back in the day and why PCI Express based SSD have become a faster alternative over SATA based drives. However if you happened to catch the Hardware Asylum Podcast episode about SSDs you’ll know that even M.2 drives can be slow because they are actually a SATA drive on a different form factor.

In this review I’ll be going over the Crucial P1. The P1 is a new drive from Crucial that has combined the Micron QLC NAND technology with a NVMe PCI Express based controller. The drive is M.2 form factor and comes in capacities of 500GB and 1000GB with sequential read/write speeds up to 2,000/1,700 MB/s. The P1 provides performance through hybrid-dynamic write acceleration and a unique SLC cache implementation. The Crucial P1 SSD leverages Micron quad-level cell (QLC) NAND technology and narrows the affordability gap between hard drives and flash storage, enabling increased speeds and capacities at a more affordable price point.