Plextor M5S Now Available

Plextor M5S Now Available

Plextor launched the M5S SSD about two weeks ago and we were among the first to review it. Plextor did not have a specific release date at the time of our review, with their press release saying mid-July (which obviously did not happen). Plextor now tells us that the M5S is available for pre-order at its own online store, with drives shipping on August 10th. Along with pre-order details come updated prices. In our review we only had MSRPs to go on. Below is an updated M5S specification table including current pre-order prices:

Plextor M5S Specifications
Model	PX-64M5S	PX-128M5S	PX-256M5S
Raw NAND Capacity	64GiB	128GiB	256GiB
Usable Capacity	59.6GiB	119.2GiB	238.5GiB
Number of NAND Packages	8	16	16
Number of Die per Package	1	1	2
NAND	Micron 25nm synchronous MLC NAND
Controller	Marvell 88SS9174-BLD2
Cache	128MB DDR3	256MB DDR3	512MB DDR3
Sequential Read	520MB/s	520MB/s	520MB/s
Sequential Write	90MB/s	200MB/s	390MB/s
4K Random Read	61K IOPS	71K IOPS	73K IOPS
4K Random Write	25K IOPS	51K IOPS	70K IOPS
Warranty	3 years
MSRP	$100	$160	$300
Plextor Online Store Price	$95	$150	$275
Street Price	N/A	$130 (-$30 MIR)	N/A

Plextor was able to accelerate the availability of the 128GB model, which is already available at TigerDirect at a special price of $100 with $30 mail-in rebate (Plextor's own store still says ships on August 10th and the drive is priced at $150). The retail pricing is what I expected it to be. 128GB Plextor M3 was selling for $130 before the M5S was launched, so it makes sense that the M5S will take its price spot. Once more retailers get the M5S in stock, it's possible that we'll see the price drop by $5-10, or at least more sales should be expected. I would estimate the 256GB M5S to retail for around $250, while the 64GB model will probably be a bit more expensive at ~$85-90.