Crucial M500 SSD Giveaway: Holiday 2013

I've been a huge fan of SSDs ever since I started looking into them back in 2008. The impact to the overall PC user experience is nothing short of tremendous. Honestly, whenever I use a system without an SSD I end up frustrated at just how slow it feels. I said it back in '08 and it's just as true today: moving to an SSD is the single biggest upgrade you can do for your machine. With all of that said, I'm very excited about today's continuation of our Holiday 2013 giveaway series. Crucial.com is providing us with two M500 SSDs to give away.

The M500 uses a Marvell 88SS9187 controller paired with Crucial's own firmware. The NAND comes courtesy of Crucial's parent company, Micron, and ships in a very unique 128Gbit configuration. The result is one of the best values in MLC SSDs, particularly at the highest 960GB capacity. The M500's performance is competitive, and it remains one of the only drives that supports Microsoft's eDrive standard. The M500's eDrive support allows Windows 8 users (on a properly enabled system) to allow Bitlocker to leverage the drive's hardware encryption engine rather than doing it all in software. The end result is virtually no additional CPU overhead for enabling Bitlocker in Windows 8, something you can't do without eDrive support.

Crucial.com sent us two high-capacity drives: a 480GB drive and a 960GB drive. We'll be drawing two winners at random, who will receive either a 480GB drive or a 960GB drive (prize distribution will also be at random). We'll be accepting entries until 12/12 at 9AM ET. To enter just leave a comment below (please only post once) and make sure you're a US resident with a US mailing address. For all entry details check out our official terms below. Good luck!

Entries will be accepted from 9:00 AM ET on 12/9/2013 through 9:00 AM ET on 12/12/2013. We will draw 2 winner(s) who will be selected by 12/15/2013.

Official Rules and Regulations for AnandTech Sweepstakes
No Purchase Required to Enter or Win

Upon entering any contest, sweepstakes, or promotion (a “Promotion”) offered by anandtech.com (the “Site”), a website owned and operated by AnandTech, Inc. (“AnandTech”), you must agree to the following Official Rules and Regulations (the “Rules”) as well as any additional rules governing a specific Promotion that AnandTech publishes on the Site.

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NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN.  PURCHASE DOES NOT INCREASE CHANCES OF WINNING.

1. Eligibility.  Promotions are open to entrants who are 18 years of age or older at time of entry, and a legal resident of the United States (excluding Puerto Rico).  Entries are limited to individuals only who are not presently banned from AnandTech’s website or comments section; commercial enterprises and business entities are not eligible.  Directors, officers, employees, contractors, and agents of AnandTech (excluding volunteer AnandTech forum moderators) and members of their immediate families (spouses, parents, siblings, and children) are not eligible.  Subject to all applicable federal, state, and local laws and regulations.  Void where prohibited.  Participation constitutes entrant’s full and unconditional agreement to these Rules and AnandTech’s decisions, which are final and binding in all matters relating to a Promotion.
    
2. Entry Period.  Each Promotion will contain a specific time period within which entries will be accepted (a “Promotion Period”).   The Promotion Period for this Promotion shall run from 9:00 AM ET on 12/9/2013 through 9:00 AM ET on 12/12/2013.  Only entries received during the Promotion Period will be accepted. 
    
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5. Prizes.  Winning a gift, prize, or other promotional item (a “Prize”) in a Promotion is contingent upon fulfilling all requirements in these Rules.  Winners will be selected in a random drawing of eligible entries received during the Promotion Period.  AnandTech will notify Prize winners using the contact information provided in the winning entry.  Failure to claim a Prize by the time or in the manner specified in the particular Promotion will invalidate any claim to the Prize.  Prizes are not transferable.  The odds of winning a Prize or the Grand Prize depend on the number of entries received by AnandTech.  TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, ALL PRIZES ARE PROVIDED “AS IS” AND ARE NOT EXCHANGEABLE FOR FAIR MARKET VALUE.  TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, ANANDTECH DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES WITH RESPECT TO THE PRIZES, INCLUDING THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. For this Promotion, 2 winner(s) will be selected by 12/15/2013 and will each receive a Crucial M500 SSD described above (“Grand Prize”).  The Total U.S. Retail Value of the Grand Prize is $600.  The Grand Prize may not be substituted for cash.  The Grand Prize winner will be solely responsible for all applicable taxes, fees, and surcharges associated with receipt and/or use of the Grand Prize.  After the Grand Prize winner has been notified and has complied with all applicable Rules, AnandTech will post the Grand Prize winner’s name on this website.
    
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