Lexar has an extended historical past of serving the flash-based shopper storage market within the type of SSDs, reminiscence playing cards, and USB flash drives. After having began out as a Micron model, the corporate was acquired in 2017 by Longsys which has diversified its product lineup with common introduction of latest merchandise. Recently, the corporate introduced numerous transportable SSDs concentrating on totally different market segments. The Lexar ARMOR 700 Portable SSD makes its entry as the brand new flagship within the 20 Gbps PSSD phase.
Despite its flagship positioning and rugged nature, the ARMOR 700 is fairly priced due to the usage of a local USB flash controller – the Silicon Motion SM2320. Similar to the SL500, the product makes use of YMTC 3D TLC NAND (in comparison with the same old Micron or BiCS NAND that we have now seen in SM2320-based PSSDs from different distributors). This evaluate takes an in depth have a look at the ARMOR 700, together with an evaluation of its internals and analysis of its efficiency consistency, energy consumption, and thermal profile.
Introduction and Product Impressions
External bus-powered storage units have been rising in storage capability in addition to entry speeds over the past decade. Advancements in flash expertise (corresponding to the appearance of 3D NAND and NVMe) and the evolution of sooner host interfaces (corresponding to Thunderbolt Three and USB 3.x / USB4). As a outcome, we have now been seeing palm-sized flash-based storage units able to delivering 3GBps+ speeds. While these speeds might be achieved with Thunderbolt 4, mass-market units should depend on USB. Within the USB ecosystem, USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) is quick turning into the entry stage for thumb drives and transportable SSDs. USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 (20 Gbps) obtained off to a gradual begin, however current computing platforms from each Intel and AMD have began to assist it on the host aspect. The introduction of native USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 flash controllers such because the Phison U18 and Silicon Motion SM2320 has enabled PSSD distributors to carry low-cost power-efficient 20 Gbps exterior drives to the market.
Broadly talking, there are at present 5 distinct efficiency ranges within the PSSD market:
- 2GBps+ drives with Thunderbolt Three or USB4, utilizing NVMe SSDs
- 2GBps drives with USB 3.2 Gen 2×2, utilizing NVMe SSDs or direct USB flash drive (UFD) controllers
- 1GBps drives with USB 3.2 Gen 2, utilizing NVMe SSDs or direct UFD controllers
- 500MBps drives with USB 3.2 Gen 1 (or, Gen 2, in some instances), utilizing SATA SSDs
- Sub-400MBps drives with USB 3.2 Gen 1, utilizing UFD controllers
Within every of those ranges, there’s additional segmentation into entry-level, mid-range, and premium primarily based on the selection of inner elements. The Lexar ARMOR 700 we’re as we speak falls beneath the second class. Lexar touts the rugged nature (IP66 ranking) together with class-leading speeds as key promoting factors. The packaging itself is spartan – we have now a discrete Type-C to Type-C cable, together with an person information. The Type-C cable has a completely hooked up Type-C to Type-A adapter that may be put collectively (as proven within the image under) to be used with Type-A bunch ports.
While the casing is metallic, it comes with a rubber sleeve to impart the mandatory water and dirt resistance. Unlike the SL500, there are 4 screws hidden beneath the coverings on the aspect with the Type-C port and the one reverse to it. Removal of the screws permits the plastic trays holding the circuit board to be pulled out. While the SL500 opted to maintain the board in place beneath tabs within the tray, the ARMOR 700 makes use of 4 screws for this objective.
The elements on the board of the ARMOR 700 are similar to the one within the SL500, however the board itself is barely wider to embody the complete width of the body (and in addition present house for the screw holes). The gallery under presents some insights into the case…
