Verdict and Conclusion
First up, I like the new look. The case is cool looking and very solid. Steel protects rather better than plastic in most situations!
The thin form factor looks nice, but is awkward in drive bays / hotswap bays designed for the older, thicker, 2.5″ drives. Not a serious issue by any means.
The performance is amazing. None of the drives we’ve tested are even close. Scouring the internet turns up a single drive that is at in the same ballpark, but slower overall. OCZ and Indilinx did a very impressive job here.
The current price is right around $240 on average. Higher than the slower drives, but comparable with the only other drive in its speed range.
This is quite promising when you consider that the Vector was just launched recently and hasn’t had any price cuts yet. I call it a good value. The other drive in this ballpark (but slower on average) runs around $220 now that it has been discounted. That’s all that prevents this from being an excellent value.
OCZ’s inclusion of a 3.5″ mounting bracket and a plethora of screws is a nice touch, I appreciate that.
To summarize into bullet points, there are pros:
- Very, very, very fast.
- Looks great.
- Nice solid case.
- Good price.
- Comes with a 3.5″ mounting bracket and plenty of screws.
For the conssection, I really don’t have much:
- Thin form factor makes docks designed for older, thicker, SSDs awkward.
- Whacking $10-$20 off the price would make it an unbeatable value.
Final words: All told I am very, very impressed by OCZ’s Vector 256GB. It’s my new favorite SSD of all time, which is saying something. I give it a 9.7/10 score and highly recommend it if you’re in the market for a very fast SSD!
SCORE
9.7/10
