Although triple-layer-cell (TLC) NAND flash storage has for years been considered less suitable for consumer-class solid-state drives (SSDs) than multi-level-cell (MLC) NAND flash, it’s finally beginning to come into its own for the balance of performance and price it can offer. Crucial’s 750GB MX300 Limited Edition is the first internal SSD in the company’s higher-end MX family to use TLC and 3D NAND flash, which would make it notable in any event. But because it also comes at an eye-popping price of $199.99 (working out to a nearly unheard-of cost of $0.26 per gigabyte) and a worthy collection of features, it’s a compelling option if you’re in the market for an all-purpose SSD.

The MX300 is rated for sequential read speeds of 530MBps and sequential write speeds of 510MBps, and in terms of IOPS performance can reach 92,000 for read and 82,000 for write (just barely on the low side). Perhaps even more impressively is that it’s rated for 220TB of writes, making it unique in its class in terms of longevity.

It also features a number of familiar Crucial technologies aimed at improving data integrity and boosting performance, and support is included for AES 256-bit hardware encryption and Momentum Cache, which uses system DRAM as a cache. (This feature, and many other management tools, are available in the Storage Executive suite that may be downloaded from Crucial’s website.) A key for Acronis True Image is also included with the MX300, if you want to clone another drive onto this one.

The drive is hardly a speed demon; there are definitely faster drives out there by almost any metric. And it comes in only one storage capacity, which means you could be paying for either more space than you need or less than you want. But if value is your primary consideration, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a better drive than the Crucial MX300 Limited Edition.

For more details, see the Crucial MX300 Limited Edition review(Opens in a new window) at our sister site, ComputerShopper.com.