On April 12th, the Mac and PC technology company Other World Computing (OWC) has pre-released its Mercury Extreme Pro 6G SSD to its four preferred benchmark websites that carry out Solid State Reviews, so its SATA3 SandForce SF-2281 processor based 120GB SSD has become the highlight of the week.
As OWC also focuses on the Mac market, it is not surprising to see two of the reviews carried out on a Macintosh, one by Bare Feats and the other by Mac Performance Guide. The SSD is available in capacities of 120GB, 240GB and 480GB and are available as of the 15th April, this day of writing. The drive performed very well in all reviews, although it would have been nice if some real world disk intensive timing comparisons were shown such as Windows start up timings, installing an office package, etc. rather than relying on simulations.
The following are the four reviews carried out on the OWC Mercury Pro 6G 120GB SSD:
- TweakTown – 14th April – (SATA3) (Sim) (TRIM)
- The SSD Review – 13th April – (SATA3) (Sim)
- Mac Performance Guide – 13th April - (SATA3) (Mac) (Short)
- Bare Feats – 12th April – (SATA3) (Mac) (Short)
OCZ’s reviews are still going strong, especially the Vertex 3 with another four reviews this week. Three Vertex 3 reviews were by C|Net alone testing the 120GB, 240GB and 480GB capacity models, with other review was by TechSpot. eTeknix carried out a review of the OCZ’s high end model, the RevoDrive X2.
The following are the latest SSD reviews published since our last Review Friday:
- Intel 320 Series 300GB @ Hardware Heaven- 15th April – (Real World+) (TRIM)
- OCZ Vertex 3 240GB SSD @ TechSpot – 14th April – (SATA3) (Real World)
- OCZ RevoDrive X2 240GB PCI-Express @ eTeknix – 13th April – (PCIe) (Sim)
- Plextor PX-256M2S 256GB – 12th April @ PC Advisor – (SATA3) (Short)
- Kingston HyperX Max 3.0 USB 3 128GB @ The SSD Review – 12th April – (USB3) (Sim)
- OCZ Vertex 3 Series 120 GB @ C|Net Reviews – 11th April – (SATA3) (Real World)
- OCZ Vertex 3 Series 240 GB @ C|Net Reviews – 11th April – (SATA3) (Real World)
- OCZ Vertex 3 Series 480 GB @ C|Net Reviews – 11th April – (SATA3) (Real World)
- Intel 320 Series 300GB @ Hexus – 11th April – (Sim)
Legend:
- Real World – Includes real world tests, such as boot, app launch, file copy, etc. timings.
- Real World+ – Extensive real world tests including software installation, upgrades, etc.
- TRIM – Review looks at the SSD’s TRIM performance.
- Sim – Simulated real world tests, such as replay of read/write traces.
- Mac – SSD review carried out on a Macintosh.
- Short – Brief review, similar to in a magazine.
- SATA3 – SSD features an SATA 3.0 6Gbps Interface.
- PCIe – SSD has a PCI Express interface.
- USB3 – SSD is an external USB3 drive.
If you came across an SSD review over the past week not listed, please let us know!
Please check back next Friday for the next round of reviews. 
