Plextor continues to set standards for budget drives, simply by delivering more than the average drive. Their drives don’t just deliver a strong performance, they also come with a great software bundle which can take the whole thing to a new level. Part of this is that you get the full NAND capacity. In today’s case, you get 512GB instead of the often seen 480GB. We will get to why that is further down the page.

Plextor’s new M8V series comes in two other capacity options besides today’s 512GB version. There’s also a 128GB and a 256GB capacity available. The 2280 (22mm by 80mm) NGFF M.2 module isn’t just compatible with most modern motherboards, it will also fit into a lot of notebooks, netbooks, and ultrabooks. By eliminating the need for a casing such as in the 2.5-inch version of the drive, you cut down even further on the weight. And in portable systems, every gram counts. And yes, there’s also a 2.5-inch 7mm version of the M8V series. We reviewed that recently.