14 DAY TRIAL // Though solid state drives usually come in the 2.5-inch form factor, Kingston decided to use the even more compact 1.8-inch size when it designed the aptly named SSDNow V+ 180, a series of MLC-based drives aimed at consumers and and enterprise users alike.
As end-users may or may not know, solid state drives have several advantages over hard disks, such as better endurance, no noise output and, most importantly, much higher speeds.
Basically, the newcomers are compact Flash-based storage solutions that aim to impress through both data density and transfer rates.
Available in three storage capacities, namely 64 GB, 128 GB and 256 GB, the products are constructed out of MLC (multi-level cell) NAND Flash memory chips.
All of them have 128 MB of cache memory and communicate with the motherboard via the SATA 3.0 Gbps interface, which means they will be compatible with most existing motherboards.
Of course, like all self-respecting SSDs, the Kingston SSDNow V+ 180 have full support for the TRIM command, which keeps cleaning up deleted sectors and preserves performance over time.
As for the actual transfer rates, the company states that reading can be accomplished at 230 MB/s, whereas writing is done at 180 MB/s.
As for endurance, the drives have a MTBF of 1 million hours, reliability mirrored in the three-year warranty plan that their maker offers.
Other specifications include a weight of 48 grams and a power draw of only 2.9 W.
Kingston has already priced its newest creations, at 180 Euro for the 64 GB drive, 312 Euro for the 128 GB model and 737 Euro for the 256 GB SSD.
All of them will soon start shipping in Europe. Meanwhile, those interested in a first-hand view of their specifications, or any other information, need only visit the official product page that Kingston has added to its website.