Kupa X11 Windows Tablet With 128GB SSD Review – Convenience of a Tablet With The Power of a PC

 

KUPA X11 DISASSEMBLY AND COMPONENTS

A great characteristic of the Kupa X11 tablet, that is so different from other tablets we see, is that it contains a mSATA interface and the storage is not integrated into the board itself.  This will allow our removal of the included KingSpec mSATA SSD and testing of other SSDs within the tablet.

To get to the mSATA SSD, removal of seven hex screws from around the outside edge is necessary before the rear panel will lift off.

Once inside, we get a better look at the battery which is primarily responsible for the 2.1lb weight of the tablet, fan,WiFi, mobile broadband, mSATA SSD and integrated NAND flash memory.

SOLID STATE DRIVE TESTING

It just wouldn’t seem to be right if we didn’t put the X11 to the test with some mSATA SSDs now, would it?  As well, I have to concede that I am curious as to whether the present Intel Oaktrail Z670 platform will bottleneck the SSDs being tested as we have seen in past Atom netbook testing.  For todays test, we will be testing with the included Kingspec 128GB SSD, the Renice X3 120GB ‘SandForce Driven’ SSD, as well as the Kingston mS100 SSD, all of course being mSATA form factors.

To ensure test validity, all three mSATA SSDs were migrated with the exact OS, originally installed on the KingSpec SSD, and subject to the exact same tests.  Our original review of the Renice X3 returned speeds of 281MB/s read and 271MB/s write while the Kingston mS100 has been tested with results of 277MB/s read and 227MB/s right.  The KingSpec came with the system and we tested it on our main bench at 155MB/s read and 131MB/s write disk transfer speeds.

BENCHMARK SOFTWARE

Software used for testing for these specific tests consists of ATTO Disk Benchmark and Crystal DiskMark.  We chose this software for this specific review in order to emphasize the difference between the high sequential results of both programs as well as to highlight the low 4k random transfer speed results.

Benchmark software used by The SSD Review can be obtained by clicking on the title of each application as all may be downloaded without cost to the consumer.

SSD COMPRESSION AND TESTING FLUCTUATIONS

All SSDs are not created equal and many new SSD enthusiasts realize that when they test their new drive to confirm specifications and ensure all is in order. SandForce controlled SSDs, such as the Renice X3 mSATA,  use compression techniques in storage whereas many others do not. This creates a bit of confusion when enthusiasts test the drive with random data through benchmarking programs such as AS SSD and Crystal DiskMark (random data sample). The results seem to be lower than the listed specifications.

The results actually present a false portrayal of the drives ability when compared to other drives such as the Kingston mS100 64GB and KingSpec 128GB mSATA SSD that we have included in this review.  For our purposes here, our testing comprises of compressible data samples only as seen in ATTO Disk Benchmark and Crystal DiskMark when testing in oFill mode.