Best bang for buck SSD Externals right now?

I recently got a T7 last week to go with an M1 Mac mini. Love it - super fast. Could probably do with a T5.

Having said that, folks here would recommend an enclosure, internal SSD and heat sink, something that I’ve looked at but just didn’t have the time.

1) what is the purpose of getting SSD? Storage/Work/video editing/games?

2) what is your hardware stack? Thunderbolt, USD-C, USB-3.0?

savingsomemoney wrote: ↑ I recently got a T7 last week to go with an M1 Mac mini. Love it - super fast. Could probably do with a T5.

Having said that, folks here would recommend an enclosure, internal SSD and heat sink, something that I’ve looked at but just didn’t have the time.

1) what is the purpose of getting SSD? Storage/Work/video editing/games?

2) what is your hardware stack? Thunderbolt, USD-C, USB-3.0?

I do photography. I need the fast drives to read and write.. Sometimes I have over 500GB per image set.. before I can edit.. So having 1-2 1TB ones would probably be the most ideal..

I have Thunderbolt

If you go Thunderbolt you can get really fast but kiss bang for buck goodbye . The enclosures alone are well over $100. That's for like 2000+ MB/s with a fast nvme though. For a pre-made I noticed this Amazon Warehouse Deals for a Samsung Thunderbolt 3 1TB for under $350:
https://www.amazon.ca/Samsung-Portable- ... =8-11&th=1

Or a less popular brand but at least they show you what drive goes inside:
https://www.amazon.ca/FD-Extreme-Thunde ... 932&sr=8-6

If you're not in a hurry, this enclosure (still need to add your own nvme) from AliExpress was reported as working good by many Mac users (don't know if you're on a Mac) on a Mac forum:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/3295210 ... new_Detail

My memory is most recently filled with Thunderbolt stuff as I was just researching that option for external storage for Macs. I posted and some people suggested some cheaper USB-C stuff along with Thunderbolt 3. Samsung, Orico, OWC, were mentioned, if you wanna have a look:
fast-external-storage-m1-mac-mini-2476916/#p34723927