Samsung is rolling out a new line of portable SSDs, though unlike every previous model the company has ever announced, these new drives are based on fast NVMe storage.
How fast are we talking about? We haven't benchmarked these drives, but according to Samsung, its new SSD X5 family offers a read speed of up to 2,800MB/s and a write speed of up to 2,300MB/s. That translates into being able to transfer a 20GB 4K video in just 12 seconds.
By leveraging NVMe, these new drives are far and away faster than Samsung's Previous flagship portable storage option, the SSD T5. Those drives top out at 540MB/s, by way of USB 3.1 Gen2. In contrast, the SSD X5 connects to your PC via Thunderbolt 3.
The drive consists of a rugged, full-metal body with a glossy finish and non-slip bottom mat. It's also reinforced with a shock-resistant internal frame. According to Samsung, the X5 can withstand drops of up to 6.6 feet.
Samsung is primarily pitching these drives at content creators and IT professionals, as opposed to home consumers. Pricing reflects this as well. There are three capacity options: 500GB ($399.99), 1TB ($699.99), and 2TB ($1,399.99). To put pricing into perspective, an internal 970 Pro 512GB SSD sells for $229.99 on Amazon.
