14 DAY TRIAL // Considering that Kingston has released pretty much every other type of memory product at Computex 2014, or at least brought something older but with reputation to show off, it would have been strange if an M.2 SSD wasn't part of the exhibition.
So here it is, the small, finger-sized (length-wise at least) storage drive, called M.2 2280 SATA SSD.
SATA because it's intended for M.2 slots wired through the SATA interface in the motherboard, rather than PCI Express.
It will limit performance to 6 Gbps, but that is, unfortunately, the case for all other M.2 drives on the market.
Well, except for that ADATA M.2 SSD wonder that reaches 1.8 GB/s because it is, in fact, designed for PCI Express-based M.2 slots.
Unfortunately, you're not likely to see more of those, because motherboard makers have mostly shied away from PCI Express-based M.2 interfaces for some reason. Maybe they're holding it in reserve.
Anyway, the Kingston M.2 2280 SATA SSD can read and write data on those 120 GB worth of NAND Flash chips at 550 MB/s and 520 MB/s, respectively.
Advanced garbage collection, wear leveling and TRIM support are part of its feature set, as is SATA DevSleep (minimal power draw in idle mode). Firmware-based power-loss protection was also implemented.
Sadly, as was the case for everything else that Kingston released today, arrival and pricing details are unknown. But considering that 240 GB and 480 GB are supposed “to follow in Q3,” we can assume that the 120 GB M.2 2280 SATA SSD will make it to retailers shortly.