This small form factor 2TB Corsair MP600 Core Mini SSD is down to ?162 from Amazon
An ideal choice for a handheld games console.
We just updated our rankings of the best Steam Deck SSDs out there with some new prices and brand new releases, and this latest release from Corsair, the MP600 Core Mini 2TB, adds the fun of a larger capacity option into the mix, while also looking to be more affordable than the standard Mini model with this deal in mind from Amazon.
As a 'Core' product in Corsair's lineup, the MP600 Core Mini is designed with affordability in mind, as it comes with QLC NAND as opposed to TLC, which is part of the reason why it has a lower MTBF, or mean time between failures. Don't get me wrong, the MP600 Core Mini should still be a durable drive, and its 250TBW rating is reasonable amongst its contemporaries from Sabrent and Western Digital.
Nonetheless, the fact remains that the MP600 Core Mini is going to be a more than reasonable upgrade for your Steam Deck or ROG Ally on both the front of speeds and capacity. Its rated speeds of up to 5000MB/s reads and 3800MB/s writes are more than brisk enough for Steam Deck, especially considering the drive will be inherently limited by the PCIe 3.0 interface offered by the Steam Deck with speeds of up to 3500MB/s. It still represents a useful upgrade over the internal SSD in the Steam Deck with its 2500MB/s speeds, and an even bigger upgrade over the older 64GB Steam Deck LCD base model and its 300MB/s of eMMC storage.
As for capacity, adding a 2TB drive at the very least doubles your capacity compared to the biggest 1TB OLED model, and for the smaller 512GB choice, it's a near-fourfold increase. And, if you've got an option with smaller capacity options, then a 2TB drive is going to give you lots more space for games. Installing it is a little bit of a fiddly process, but stick to this handy iFixit guide, and you'll be fine. In short, you need to access the internals, remove a heatsink, disconnect the Steam Deck's battery and swap the drive over. From here, you can use a USB flash drive to reinstall SteamOS. If you've worked on a desktop computer or laptop before, then this isn't any more difficult - it's just a bit fiddlier due to the smaller size.
If you're after quite a large capacity drive for your Steam Deck or ROG Ally, this Corsair MP600 Core Mini deal from Amazon is quite a good one.