OWC Upgrades SATA 3 6G SSD Line To Toshiba Flash and SandForce SF-2282 Processor (240GB only) – Final Thoughts

THE COMPANY

I will precede this these final thoughts by stating right off that OWC is an advertiser on The SSD Review (look right) and they understand that reviews and editorials are completely independent of that.

Myself and their Founder and President, Larry O’Connor, have met personally and he will be the first to admit that I speak my mind and no price could ever be set for my opinion.

They are the only company that I am aware of who keep a very tight ‘return spring’ on all sample media which is to their disadvantage in many situations as reviewers enjoy SSD comparisons and ‘Round Ups’ and the media that could have been included has been returned.

I  first learned about Other World Computing just under 2 yrs ago and flat out believed they hadn’t a chance in the PC world as they were primarily a Mac based company.  (Mac YUK! right?) In fact, I stated to them in our first introduction that they had immense hurdles to cross whereas so many others hadn’t simply because the others were PC based.

Nobody will deny the fact that uncountable people have visited their site only to discredit their SSD completely on learning that it was Mac based.  Something has changed however.

CUSTOMER SERVICE, WARRANTY & SATISFACTION GUARANTEE

Today, OWC has become a fierce competitor in the SSD arena regardless of whether you own a PC or a Mac.  They cater to both and their SSDs have a proven track record with very happy customers.  To attract the PC world, they were one of the first to support their SSDs with a 3 year warranty which has now become standard across the board, only to see OWC now upgrade its 6G premium series to a 5 year warranty.  To add to this, they have something that no other SSD manufacturer on the planet yet has, a 21 and 30 day ‘100% Refund’ Satisfaction Guarantee.  Simply put, if you don’t like their SSD, you get 100% of your money back and there is no hidden ‘15% restocking fee’ tied into this.  You get to try an SSD for free!!!

Two other qualities stand out though and that is the fact that their failure rate seems to be almost impossible to find and their customer service is apparently incomparable.  These statements are based on information receive through forums, e-mails and PM’s here from happy customers and the opinions I form through the SSD community.

OWC MERCURY EXTREME PRO SATA 3 6g 120GB AND 240GB SSDs

The upgrades to the 120 and 240GB versions of the 6G lines of SSDs were totally unexpected in the SSD community and, what’s more, the lack of price premium for this totally unexpected.  It shows of a company that is trying continuously to engineer and market a great SSD.  The fact that the 240GB version contains the SandForce SF-2282 processor, which is geared towards primarily for enterprise use, is nice to see, especially since we are going to be placing it in just such an environment in the near future.  That’s right.  Watch closely in upcoming weeks as we place 8 of these SSDs on a LSI 9265 6Gbps MegaRAID card which just might set a record or two.

In speaking to many regarding any performance difference between the SF-2281 and the Sf-2282, the community seems to be mixed where some will state that it is intended to ensure similar performance in larger capacities and others state that a increase should be realized.  We did see a performance increase which was consistent in multiple repeats of both ATTO Disk Benchmark as well as PCMark Vantage HDD Suite which was beneficial.  All in all, it’s great to see SSD technology step forward with introduction of the SF-2282 into consumer SSDs, albeit a small step.

Thanks for sending along the update OWC!

Pg1 – OWC Changes SSD Components

Pg2 – Benchmarks

Pg3 – Final Thoughts
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