A value-first drive improving upon its popular predecessor. WD is one of the more conservative SSD manufacturers out there. Whilst many of the smaller guys have jumped on the PCIe 4.0 bandwagon for superior sequential speeds on AMD's latest platforms, WD's M.2 NVMe offerings number only three PCIe 3.0 models - the premier SN750, SanDisk Extreme Pro - practically identical to the WD Black - and the value Blue SN550 which we're taking a look at today.

Successor to the popular SN500, the Blue SN550 NVMe ups the specification ante whilst keeping a keen eye on pricing. It is useful comparing the two budget models to see exactly what WD has done from one generation to the next.