Lexar NQ780 4TB PCIe 4.0 x4 NVMe M.2 2280

The Lexar NQ780 is a 4TB PCIe 4.0 drive with 7000 MB/s reads and 6000 MB/s writes, but it's DRAM-less and only carries a 1-year warranty. Pricing ranges from USD 500 to USD 655, with Best Buy offering the best deal at USD 500. It makes sense for thin laptops thanks to its single-sided design, but desktop users should look at the WD Black SN850X or Crucial T500 instead.

Sequential performance is the headline here, and it's legit. 7000 MB/s reads and 6000 MB/s writes put this drive in the 81st percentile for speed, which means it's faster than most PCIe 4.0 drives on the market. Loading a 100GB game folder or pulling in a batch of 4K footage will feel snappy. The PCIe 4.0 x4 interface gives it roughly double the bandwidth of older PCIe 3.0 drives, so if you're upgrading from something like a 970 EVO, you'll notice the difference immediately.

Random performance is where things get more average. The 62nd percentile for random operations tells you this drive is solid but not exceptional when it comes to the small, scattered reads and writes that dominate everyday use. That's the DRAM-less design showing up. HMB helps, but it can't fully replace a dedicated DRAM cache. For gaming and general productivity, you probably won't care. For database work or heavy multitasking with lots of small file access, a drive with DRAM like the SN850X or T500 will feel more responsive under pressure.

The WD Black SN850X is probably the most direct competitor, and it's a tough matchup for Lexar. The SN850X has a DRAM cache, a 5-year warranty, and consistently strong random performance. It's usually priced within USD 20-30 of the NQ780's low end, and for that small premium you get a meaningfully better drive. The Crucial T500 is another one to watch. It's often cheaper than the NQ780, has DRAM, and delivers similar sequential speeds with better sustained writes.

If you want to step up, the Samsung 9100 PRO is the current performance king in this category, but you'll pay for it. The Kingston FURY Renegade G5 and Seagate FireCuda 530R are also in the mix, both with DRAM and longer warranties. The NQ780's main advantage over all of these is the single-sided design, which genuinely matters in thin laptops where a double-sided drive won't physically fit. If that's your situation, the NQ780 becomes a lot more interesting. Otherwise, the competition is hard to ignore.

Here's where the NQ780 gets complicated. Lexar markets this as a value drive, but the affordability percentile says otherwise. At 16th percentile, this drive is priced worse than 84% of comparable products. The USD pricing spread is wide, from USD 500 to USD 655 across three listings, which means shopping around actually matters here. Best Buy has the lowest price at USD 500, and that's the one to grab if you're set on this drive.

At USD 500, you're paying about the same as a Crucial T500 4TB or a WD Black SN850X 4TB on sale, and both of those have DRAM caches and 5-year warranties. At USD 655, you're flirting with Samsung 9100 PRO territory, and that's a much better drive in every way that matters. The NQ780 only makes sense if you catch it at the low end of that range and you specifically need the single-sided design for a laptop.

The Lexar NQ780 is one of those drives that looks great on a spec sheet and then makes you squint a little when you dig into the details. You get a 4TB M.2 2280 drive with PCIe 4.0 x4 speeds, 7000 MB/s reads and 6000 MB/s writes, which puts it right up there with drives that cost a lot more. The capacity alone is a big deal, sitting in the 93rd percentile for this category. If you're tired of juggling game installs or offloading footage to external drives, 4TB solves a real problem.

But here's the thing. This is a DRAM-less drive with TLC NAND, and that matters more than the marketing copy wants you to think. DRAM-less designs have come a long way with HMB (Host Memory Buffer) support, but they still tend to stumble on sustained writes and heavy mixed workloads. For a laptop or a secondary game drive, that's probably fine. For a primary workstation drive getting hammered with video exports all day, you'll feel the difference.

The NQ780 is aimed at people who want a lot of fast storage without paying Samsung or WD flagship money. Lexar is positioning it as a value play, and on paper it mostly delivers. The single-sided design is genuinely nice for thin laptops, and the Intelligent Power Control should help with battery life. Just don't expect it to hang with the top-tier drives when the workload gets ugly.

If you're building a desktop gaming rig or workstation, skip this drive. The DRAM-less design will show its limits under sustained writes, and the 1-year warranty is a real red flag for a drive you'll probably keep for 3-5 years. At USD 500-655, you're paying flagship money for a drive that doesn't have flagship internals. The WD Black SN850X and Crucial T500 both offer DRAM caches, 5-year warranties, and better random performance for similar or lower prices.

Content creators doing heavy video editing should also look elsewhere. The random performance percentile of 62 and the portable score of just 18/100 suggest this drive isn't great for external enclosures or sustained write-heavy workflows. If you're regularly moving large files or editing directly off the drive, a DRAM-equipped alternative will serve you better. The NQ780 is really only compelling for thin laptop users who need the single-sided design and want 4TB of capacity without paying Samsung prices.

For laptop users with thin chassis, the NQ780 is worth a serious look. The single-sided design is a real differentiator, and the 4TB capacity means you won't be swapping drives or juggling external storage. The Intelligent Power Control is a nice touch for battery life too. Just make sure you're buying at the USD 500 end of the price range, because at USD 655 this drive stops making sense.

For desktop users, it's harder to recommend. The DRAM-less design and 1-year warranty are real compromises, and the competition at this price point is fierce. The SN850X and T500 both offer better overall performance and much longer warranties for similar money. If you're building a gaming rig or a workstation, spend your USD 500 on one of those instead. The NQ780 is a good drive in a specific niche, not a general-purpose winner.