The M.2 2280 format of the Crucial MX300 525GB SSD is also featuring 3D TLC NAND, but comes with higher capacity packages. The same Marvell 88SS1074 quad-channel controller can be spotted on the PCB, along with a 512MB LPDDR3 RAM chip which acts as cache. The product does have thermal protection and thanks to the onboard capacitors it also sports power loss protection; thanks to the controller, MX300 also incorporates Dynamic Write Acceleration, Data Defense and RAIN technologies, AES 256-bit disk encryption but also DEVSLP power mode which saves power when installed on battery-powered devices.

As the 2.5’’ format version, the drive is able to deliver good performances for mainstream systems while the newer firmware versions do show a slight improvement regarding writes, even after the buffers have been filled:

Unlike NVMe SSD models, the MX300 M.2 2280 SSD barely gets warm during regular use, which means that it can be also used in systems where we do not have a very good airflow such as laptops, tiny HTPCs, 2-in-1 convertibles and so on.

The MX300 M.2 2280 SSD is reasonably priced, so we can find the 525GB version online at the moment of the review for about 128.48 Euros. The 275GB model can be had for about 82 Euros, while the 1TB one is the most expensive and can be had for about 266.46 Euros.

Crucial MX300 M.2 525GB SSD is Recommended for:

We would like to thank again to Crucial for making this review possible!