Seagate 600 SSD review: Ultrathin, versatile and fast

The Seagate 600 SSD is a major addition to the solid-state drive market. The drive is the first consumer-grade SSD to come from Seagate, which, prior to this, offered general consumers only regular platter-based storage solutions.

8.1

Seagate 600 SSD

The Good

The <b>Seagate 600</b> SSD offers fast performance and is available in the new ultrathin 5mm thickness.

The Bad

The new SSD requires the same power as a regular laptop hard drive, its current estimated cost is comparatively high, and there's no 3.5-inch drive-bay caddy included.

The Bottom Line

The Seagate 600 is an impressive first SSD outing from Seagate that offers basically all you want in a solid-state drive.

It's also the first SSD that's available in both 7mm and 5mm designs, making it the most versatile SSD option. The drive can fit in a whole range of applications, from regular desktops to laptops, to many ultrabooks, and possibly some future tablets.

In my testing, the new drive offered very fast performance, proving itself to be a great alternative to even the speediest hard drive, and even faster than many other SSDs on the market.

On the downside, the 600 SSD has the same power consumption as a regular 5,400rpm laptop hard drive and comes with very high suggested retail price of $330 for 240GB (or $600 for 480GB, and $200 for 120GB). As with most new SSDs, though, the actual street price should be much lower when the drive actually ships early next month.

If you can wait until then, the Seagate 600 SSD will surely make an excellent buy. Otherwise, check out the alternatives on this list, which are available now.