First Impressions

When you first hold this amazing piece of kit in your hand the very first thing which pops out at you is how freakin’ light it is. Now, normal 2.5” hard drives do weigh a lot less than most 3.5” drives, but this product takes the idea of a featherweight hard drive to a whole new level. This little darling weighs in at about 75 grams (2.6 ounces), whereas a regular 2.5” drive weighs in at about 360’ish grams (or nearly 5 times more). I don’t know about you but having all that power in something which weighs about the same as a bag of salt and vinegar crisps is down right scary.


It is actually funny how when you hold it in your hands you expect it to undersized and when compared to a 3.5” hard drive it is down right diminutive but it really does comply with the normal industry standard 2.5” form factor ( approximately 70mm x 10mm x 100mm) so there is not any worries about it fitting in your laptop, heck even if you have one of those fancy paper thin bad boys this guy should just slide right in like it was designed for it!


The case of the G.Skill is quite flashy and attention getting in its brushed metal finish and its polished reflective edges. However these attention-getting looks do bring up an interesting point: this product looks alot like a rebadged Samsung SSD which you would find inside the expensive version (as if they make a cheap one) Apple Macbook Air. In fact, when you take a close look at the front of the this SSD, the label states it is indeed a Samsung drive (MCCOE64G5MPP-0VA). This Samsung drive is also used in some of OCZ’s SSD as well as a lot of others, so seeing that serial number tells us G.Skill didn’t mess around with second rate or el cheapo parts; but rather went for one of the best Solid State Drives out there.


The next thing which jumps out at you is there is no exposed circuit board on this “hard drive”. After seeing the ubiquitous controller board on the bottom of every platter based hard drive it really does look odd when its not there. Now don’t get us wrong, having an exposed circuit board is just asking for trouble as it is an additional point of failure, but it really feels odd not having one. In fact the only other hard drive we have ever seen that is also bare bottomed, is the recently released Velociraptor; and in that case its just because the 2.5” form factor drive is mounted on the IcePak heatsink, so it still has one, just one which is protected by a thick layer of armor.


This lack of external regalia sure makes this drive very sleek and sexy looking; but it also makes the power and SATA connectors port stick out like a sore thumb. Of course there is nothing which can be done about this, but maybe in the next revision can make the connectors blend in a little bit better by making them a similar colour? This is such a small thing which shouldn’t even be considered a annoyance, but it is funny when the connector ports are eye catching on a hard drive!


For all you eager to see just how small and sexy this SSD actually is, here are some photos showing it next to a Velociraptor. Yes, it really is this small and striking in real life as it is in those pictures.

For many reviewers this is as about as far they are willing to go; as this bad boy is a loaner and after three weeks if wasn’t returned in perfect condition everyone at HWC was going to turn into a pumpkin! Well, we like to live on the edge…’ish, so while we are going to void the warranty and crack this baby open we are going to resist temptation and not pop a couple of .44’s into to see if it meets military specs.