Transcend’s new MTE850 is its first entry into the PCIe solid-state drive space

By Mark Coppock March 30, 2017

transcend introduces mte850 nvme ssd rc feature 02 1 header — Image used with permission by copyright holder

NVMe is the emerging standard for solid-state drives (SSDs), offering higher speed than the older SATA standard and serving as the standard means for connecting storage to the PCI Express bus. Suffice it to say that if you’re looking for a high-speed storage option, you will find NVMe as a likely solution.

Now, Transcend has joined the party, introducing its first entry in the NVMe SSD space. The new drive comes under the MTE850 moniker and brings some improvements that should provide for good performance, as Tom’s Hardware reports.

The Transcend MTE850 utilizes Micron 3D MLC NAND flash memory coupled with Silicon Motion’s SM2260 dual-core controller. As Tom’s Hardware points out, that particular combo isn’t known for providing the most consistent performance. According to Transcend, however, the MTE850 utilizes a writing feature dubbed “Direct-To-Die” that hopes to provide for higher sustained and more consistent write speeds.

Indeed, Transcend is promising up to 2.5GB per second sequential read and 1.1GBps sequential write speeds, which would make the MTE850 competitive with most SSDs in its price range. Transcend rates the drives, which are M.2 form factor SSDs and the company’s first utilizing a PCIe 3.0 x4 interface, at 110K IPS for random write and 270K IOPS for random read operations.

Finally, users can download Transcend’s Scope utility that provides a number of drive management capabilities. Scope provides the ability to view drive information, access SMART (Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology) diagnostic status and information, securely erase drives, enable TRIM for optimal write speeds, update drive firmware, and make cloning data from another drive easier and more efficient.

The Transcend MTE850 promises to enjoy midrange pricing, specifically $95 for the 128GB version, $160 for 256GB, and $300 for 512GB. Availability hasn’t yet been announced and the drives come with a three-year limited warranty that takes overall write volume into consideration.

Topics

Computing Writer

Mark has been a geek since MS-DOS gave way to Windows and the PalmPilot was a thing. He’s translated his love for…

Computing

Power up your tech game this summer with Dell’s top deals: Upgrade for a bargain

Dell Techfest and best tech on sale featured.

One of the best times to upgrade your tech stack, be it your desktop, a new laptop, or some high-resolution monitors, is when great deals are to be had. Well, I'm here to share that thanks to Dell's top deals, you can power up your tech game and have most of the summer to make it happen. Maybe you're happy with your current system or setup. That's excellent, but you're likely considering upgrading somewhere, and that's precisely what these deals are all about. Dell has a smorgasbord of deals on laptops, desktops, gaming desktops, monitors, accessories, and so much more. We'll call out a few of our favorite deals below, but for now, know that you should be shopping this sale if you're interested in anything tech-related.

What summer tech should you buy in Dell's top deals?

Computing

I love the MacBook Pro, but this Windows laptop came surprisingly close

Apple MacBook Pro 16 downward view showing keyboard and speaker.

There are some great machines in the 15-inch laptop category, which has recently been stretched to include the more common 16-inch laptop. The best among them is the Apple MacBook Pro 16, which offers fast performance for tasks like video editing and the longest battery life.

The Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i 16 is aimed not only at other 16-inch Windows laptops but also at the MacBook Pro 16. It offers many of the same benefits but at a lower price. Can it take a place at the top?
Specs and configurations

Computing

How to set an ‘Out of Office’ message in Microsoft Teams

Person using Windows 11 laptop on their lap by the window.

Many people use Microsoft Teams regularly to communicate with colleagues both inside of the office and remotely. It is considered one of the most efficient ways to ensure you can stay in contact with the people on your team, but what if you need to let people know you’re not readily available? Microsoft Teams has a method for you to set up an "Out of Office" status for your profile to let staff members know when you’ll be gone for the afternoon, for several days on vacation, or for an extended period.
Where do I go to set up my ‘Out of Office’ status for Teams?
It is important to note that your Microsoft Teams and Outlook calendars are synced. This includes your out-of-office status and automatic replies. So, whatever you set up in Microsoft Teams will reflect in Outlook. Similarly, you can set up your out-of-office status in Outlook, and it will be reflected in Teams; however, the former has a more straightforward instruction.

First, you can click on your profile icon in Teams and go directly to Schedule an out of office, as a shortcut. This will take you to the settings area where you can proceed. You can also click the three-dot icon next to your profile icon, then go to Settings > General, then scroll down to the bottom of the page. There, you'll find out-of-office settings and click Schedule.