Buffalo Microstation 128GB Internal SSD Review

The Buffalo Microstation 128GB SSD drive has impressed us today – it has TRIM support, we like the software bundle and  also appreciate the extra option of adding a USB 2 connector to the unit itself. This means that it can be easily carried around without the need for an external housing and adapter. We would however have liked to see a 3.5 inch bay supplied for easy fitting into a desktop PC, other makers such as Intel and Kingston supply this with many of their Solid State drives.

In regards to performance, we knew immediately that the JMicron JMF612 based Buffalo drive was going to struggle when compared against the latest Indilinx and Sandforce based controllers. Unfortunately for Buffalo this has been borne out with all of our testing.

This basically means it is down to price and unfortunately this is the kicker … the recommended retail price of around £280 inc vat is placing it directly against drives such as the OCZ Vertex 2E which has a rated 285MB/s-250MB/s read and write – much faster than the 240 MB/s-155MB/s JMicron JMF612 based drive.

We like the Buffalo SSD, it performs well and delivers a great all round experience, I just feel that they will need to drop the price to remain competitive as the controller just doesn't compete with the latest Indilinx and Sandforce based units from other manufacturers.

KitGuru says: Recommended, but only if the price drops.

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