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The OCZ comes with a drive-bay converter to make it fit in the 3.5-inch type of drive bay found inside a desktop computer. Just by itself, the drive can fit easily inside a laptop computer, even an ultrabook. Though there's no software included, it also comes with a registration key for Acronis True Image HD cloning software, which helps with the process of trading your computer's existing hard drive for an SSD.
Cost per gigabyte
Currently you can get an OCZ Vector for somewhere between $1.05 to $1.17 per gigabyte depending on the capacity of the drive. Ideally, SSDs should cost less than $1 per gigabyte to qualify as bargains. However, the OCZ Vector comes with software and accessories that add to its value. Plus, the drive has just been released; its price will likely go down in the next couple of months. Considering what it has to offer in terms of performance and its full five-year warranty, the OCZ Vector is in no way overpriced.
Performance
The OCZ Vector is fast. In fact it's the fastest in my tests, in terms of data transfer. When used as a secondary drive on our test machine, the drive offered 287MBps for writing and about 279MBps for reading. When used as the main drive that hosts the OS -- which is the most popular usage of SSDs -- and performing both writing and reading at the same time, the OCZ Vector reached an impressive 174MBps, topping the chart.
The new drive also helped the test machine boot up and shut down very fast, taking about 13 seconds and about 5 seconds, respectively. Note that 13 seconds is actually quite long, relatively speaking, since there are SSDs that have done it in just 10 seconds. But most will not notice this difference in real-world usage. There was no delay when the computer resumed from sleep mode. All applications I tried opened noticeably faster.
The OCZ Vector worked very smoothly, with everything behaving as expected. It also works with computers that only support the older SATA 2 standard.
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)
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Shutdown | |
Boot time |
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
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As secondary drive | |
As OS drive |
Conclusion
With very fast performance, accessories, and a great look, the OCZ Vector would make an excellent gift for those looking to upgrade their computer from a standard hard drive.
What You'll Pay
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CNET editor Dong Ngo has been involved with technology since 2000, starting with testing gadgets and writing code for CNET Labs' benchmarks. He now covers networking and storage, and also writes about other topics from online security to new gadgets and how technology impacts the life of people around the world. Full Bio
