Samsung 990 EVO Plus SSD 1TB vs WD Black SN7100 1TB NVMe SSD

Both are 1TB PCIe 4.0 TLC drives with 600 TBW endurance, so they are close. The WD_BLACK SN7100 is the faster drive on paper: up to 7,250 MB/s read and 6,900 MB/s write against 7,150 and 6,300 on the Samsung. The 990 EVO Plus is the safer pick for laptops and handhelds because it can also run on a PCIe Gen5 x2 link and has a long track record of Samsung reliability and software. Owners of both report steady speeds and no drama; the SN7100's higher rating count is smaller, so treat its 4.8 as less settled than the Samsung's 4.9 from 767 ratings.

• Choose the Samsung 990 EVO Plus if you want a proven drive for a laptop or handheld, value Samsung Magician software and AES 256-bit encryption, or have a slot that runs Gen5 x2.
• Choose the WD_BLACK SN7100 if raw sequential speed matters most and you want the fastest write figure of the two for large game installs and big file transfers.