TeamGroup MP44L - M.2 PCIe Gen4 NVMe SSD - 500GB

The TeamGroup MP44L is a budget Gen4 NVMe drive positioned below the MP44 in TeamGroup's lineup. It uses a Maxio MAP1602A controller with TLC NAND and no DRAM (HMB instead), resulting in lower speeds: 5,000/4,500 MB/s read/write on the 1TB, dropping to 4,650/1,900 MB/s on the 250GB. The single-sided 2.25mm PCB design fits thin laptops and compact builds.

Budget Positioning

The MP44L sits in the mid-range Gen4 speed tier, well below the 7,000 MB/s drives but still significantly faster than Gen3. Performance varies considerably by capacity. The 250GB model's 1,900 MB/s write speed is barely faster than a high-end SATA SSD. The 1TB hits a more reasonable 4,500 MB/s. The 2TB model reads at 4,800 MB/s and writes at 4,400 MB/s.

Where It Fits

This is a drive for builds where NVMe connectivity matters but peak Gen4 performance doesn't. Secondary storage drives, Linux home server boot drives, and systems where the budget is better spent on RAM or CPU than on SSD speed.

Endurance

80 TBW (250GB), 160 TBW (500GB), 320 TBW (1TB), 640 TBW (2TB). Five-year limited warranty.

Best for: Budget Gen4 builds where any NVMe is better than SATA but peak speeds aren't worth the premium. The 1TB model offers a decent balance of speed and cost. Secondary storage in multi-drive setups.

Avoid if: You can stretch the budget to the MP44, which is dramatically faster (7,000 vs 5,000 MB/s reads, 6,000 vs 4,500 MB/s writes) at the 1TB tier with higher endurance (500 vs 320 TBW). Skip the 250GB entirely unless it's the only thing that fits your budget.