SanDisk Extreme Pro 480GB review

We liked

The Extreme Pro is one of the fastest drives I've ever tested, with great sequential read and write speeds within a tiny margin of the Samsung 850 Pro.

The longevity is equally excellent, with enough writes to ensure the drive will function well unless put under extreme usage situations. Backing this up is an exceptional 10-year warranty.

Pricing is also more than competitive, with many retailers selling it for slightly less than the Samsung 850 Pro.

We disliked


It's a tad disappointing that the IOPS results didn't come out slightly better, as that was the only test where there was a clear difference between Samsung's offering and the Extreme Pro.

As with that drive, while SSD pricing is competitive, I do wish prices were even lower, and capacities even greater, for high-performance drives like the SanDisk Extreme Pro. Indeed, while this is a great drive, in real-world use the more affordable Crucial MX100 is likely to be an equally satisfying upgrade, if you're upgrading from a hard disk for your operating system.

And finally, one small criticism could be the lack of a few features. The lack of power-loss protection and drive encryption isn't a deal breaker, but some people might find them useful.


Final verdict

The Extreme Pro is a great performing SSD and it's fairly priced, so deserves a recommendation. The long warranty is another bonus, and the endurance is good too.

Although the drive's measured IOPS didn't quite hit the same level as some of Samsung's efforts, it was still alright in this department, and its sequential speeds compete with the very fastest SSDs.

If you're looking to buy an SSD, the Extreme Pro is worth considering.