Crucial makes M4 msata SSDs available for ultrabooks

Crucial has released a compact version of its well-known M4 series solid state drives. The new drives have an msata format, making them much smaller than the previous M4 SSDs and suitable for ultrabooks, among other things.

The new, compact M4 SSDs from Crucial use the same parts as can be found in the large version. The msata SSDs use a Marvell 88SS9174 controller that drives Micron’s 25nm mlc flash chips. The flash memory is synchronous and read speeds of up to 500MB/s are possible according to the manufacturer’s specifications. Write speeds are a lot slower at up to 175MB/s, and the drives reach a maximum of 45,000iops read and 35,000iops write.

Crucial offers the drives in capacities of 32GB, 64GB, 128GB and 256GB, each with an msata connector. The smaller capacities could serve primarily as a caching drive for traditional disks; the small M4 SSDs are certified for Intel’s Smart Response technology. The larger ones could serve as storage drives in flat laptops like ultrabooks. The msata ssds require a smaller space than normal ssds; they are barely bigger than the chips. The msata drives measure approximately 51 by 30 millimeters.

The SSDs in the Crucial M4 msata series are available immediately and cost slightly more than their 2.5″ variants. Earlier, parent company Micron already released small msata variants of the C400 SSDs, but these were intended for manufacturers. is Micron’s consumer brand.