Conclusion:

As mainstream solid state drives evolve, people have started to expect two things in particular; better performance and lower prices. These two generally don't go hand in hand, whether you're talking about computer components or anything else, but getting a sizable improvement on one can easily offset the other. Kingston's new V Series may be the lowest priced solid state drives on the market, but those looking for the ultimate in transfer rates will need to look elsewhere.



The V in Kingston's SSDNow V Series 128GB solid state drive stands for value, and that is definitely what it offers when compared to other solid state drives. Checking Newegg.com finds that the desktop kit including this drive is $239.99 with free shipping, making it the cheapest of the twenty six 128GB drives they list, and $25 less than the closest competitor's drive. You could pay hundreds of dollars more for a higher end drive, and what you will get are transfer rates that are perhaps more than double what the Kingston drive can provide.

Compared head-to-head with some traditional SATA drives, the review data showed that the V Series SSD is an appealing upgrade for a few reasons. It generally outperformed the hard drives, it used far less energy, generated less heat, and since it is silent it was obviously quieter. I would have been happy with a win in two out of four of those categories to convince me to replace the drive in my HTPC with an SSD, but a clean sweep makes the decision a no-brainer.

Kingston has a very attractive product on their hands. The price makes the switch to an SSD far more affordable, and while the performance isn't close to the best you can expect from some SSDs, it is still respectable. For all that it has to offer, the Kingston SSDNow V Series 128GB solid state drive earns the Bigbruin.com "Recommended" and "Good Value" awards.



Pros:

» "Desktop Kit" is an excellent upgrade for a desktop or HTPC system
» Consistent, respectable performance
» Well priced (as far as SSDs go)
» Minimal power consumption
» Minimal heat production
» Includes a bootable version of Acronis to make easy work of cloning your drive

Cons:

» Middle of the road transfer rates compared to higher priced SSDs
» Price still needs a big drop to compete with hard drives

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