Specifications, Availability and Pricing

The Kingston SSDNow V+ is currently offered in four capacities ranging from 64GB to 512GB. Each of the four capacities is offered as a standard drive or in an easy to upgrade bundle that includes drive cloning software, external USB enclosure and drive rails, making it easier to install the 2.5" form factor drive in a 3.5" bay. There is an additional cost for the bundle, but hardly as much as you would think.

Diving right into the cost, we were able to find all of the latest second generation V+ drives at Newegg. The 64GB bare drive is available for 199.99 USD; oddly enough the bundle version is also available at Newegg for the same 199.99 price point. Our sample 512GB model with the bundle will reduce your wallet 1,439.00 USD with the bundle or 1,379.00 without. Obviously the 512GB model that we are reviewing today is the extreme end of the range, but we have been promised high capacity SSDs for far too long with little to show for it. Just a few months ago making a 512GB drive would have cost consumers 2000 USD, so no one was willing to take the gamble in actually making one. Now we have next gen hardware and while at the launch the price hasn't been cut in half, after the initial buzz subsides we could very well see sub 1200 Dollar 512GB drives!

Unlike the previous generation V and V+ Series products, the new second generation models bring the speeds that we are used to seeing on Indilinx Barefoot drives that are mainstream today. Essentially Kingston's Value Line of products now competes directly with other flagship models. The V+ Series now has a rated read speed of 230MB/s and a write speed of 180MB/s. When compared to platter drives, well, it really isn't a comparison; the fastest consumer drives really have nothing on solid state drives since the SSDs access times are so much lower due to the elimination of mechanical parts that add delay accessing data.

All of the other amenities of solid state are also found in the Kingston SSDNow V+ Series. The reduced power consumption is a big hit with notebook users since it gives more battery life. SSDs also are able to take more abuse than platter drives and the V+ has a shock rating of 20G while not operating.

Let's move on and take a look at the package.