Kingston Launches KC100 Enterprise SSDs; Features 5-Year Warranty

[Rob Williams]

Just weeks after the launch of Kingston’s first SandForce SF-2281 solid-state drive with the HyperX series, the company is now announcing the launch of its SSDNow KC100 lineup targeted at business and enterprise solutions. KC100 is a 2.5" SSD powered by the latest generation of SandForce's award-winning controllers, and as such KC100 uses a native SATA 3.0 (6Gb/s) connection featuring some impressive performance metrics.

Read the rest of our post and then discuss it here!

 

[marfig]

Hmm... you guys agree the 240 GB is priced so it also appeals at some of the consumer market? For a little less than 200 USD you get nearly twice the read/write capabilities of the OCZ Agility 2.

Let's see, Tom's Hardware lists the Agility 2 in their last monthly sweep at roughly 350 USD. That's 1.45 USD/GB. This KC100 is asking 2.7 USD/GB. That's a bit heavy. But at twice the R/W performance, 10,000 more IOPS and 2 more years in the warranty. We all would like prices to go down, for sure. But at the current market prices, doesn't the KC100 240 GB actually make a stand in the consumer market?

... or maybe no so appealing if we consider the Agility 2 is more likely to go down in price?

 

[Kougar]

If you are referring to any 240GB drive in general, I'm not sure I agree the 240GB drives are priced well for the consumer market, but I will say that most SandForce 240GB drives will perform much better than the 120GB counterparts. So I would recommend them if they were within the budget of the consumer.

As for the KC100 drives, the prices are a rather high compared to consumer SandForce drives, almost double in fact. A top-end SF-2281 powered SSD starts at around $1.6 per GB, not counting rebates.

I'm confident enough in the regular drives that I don't feel the price increase is justified, for consumers at least. For corporate buyers that prize endurance, reliability, and data security above all else, it's a relative bargain compared to some other alternatives out there.

 

[marfig]

Hmm... I see your point. It has more to offer in terms of price to businesses than to consumers.