Review: LaCie Porsche Design P'9223 Slim SSD
Fast, slim, and stylish. These are the three words I would use to describe the new LaCie Porsche Design P’9223 Slim SSD. As you can probably gather from the name, this external drive sports a solid state drive, which means that its capacity is limited as compared to most other external drives which use traditional hard drives. But what this drive lacks in capacity it gains in speed.
The P’9223 Slim SSD is equipped with USB 3.0 (cable included) and has a 120GB SSD that LaCie advertises has read speeds of up to 425MB/s and write speeds up to 200MB/s. In our tests, the drive met and/or exceeded those numbers. When it came to transferring data, we tested all sorts of different scenarios. We transfered a 1GB file in literally the blink of an eye. We also were able to transfer a 10GB folder in just under 30 seconds.
In terms of actual numbers, we ran some tests with Aja System Test, a free benchmark tool that’s meant to see how fast any drive connected to your system is and how it would perform under different video-editing circumstances. It’s worth noting that I ran my tests using a MacBook Pro with Retina Display (2.6Ghz i7, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD).
With the 2GB File setting at 1920 x 1080, 10-bit, RGB frame sizes
Write: 292.8 MB/s
Read: 429.5 MB/s
With the 8GB File setting at 1920 x 1080, 10-bit, RGB frame sizes
Write: 318.3 MB/s
Read: 426.7 MB/s
With the 8GB File setting at 4096 x 2160, 10-bit, RGB frame sizes
Write: 317.6 MB/s
Read: 427.5 MB/s
As you can see, this external drive is very fast (and quiet) and would be an excellent choice to use for editing video, something that cannot be said for most other external drives. In terms of actual video editing, importing, applying effects, and rendering in Final Cut Pro X was seamless and fast, I felt like I could have been working on an internal drive.
The P’9223 Slim SSD comes pre-formatted with 111GB of space, however, you can easily format it using the LaCie software that is loaded onto the device right out of the box. You can choose how to partition the drive depending on how you plan to utilize it. For example, you can format it to work only with OS X or Windows or both (by setting up two separate partitions). I chose to make the drive OS X only, which actually gave me closer to 130GB of space.
As I mentioned the drive is very slim, with a thickness of just 11mm and weighing in at just 182g (6.4 oz) you wouldn’t even notice it if you it carried it around with you in a bag. One of my favorite aspects of the LaCie P’9223 Slim SSD is the anodized aluminium finish that not only looks high quality, it feels high quality. Overall, the build quality is incredible, as you would expect from a LaCie product.
The LaCie P’9223 Slim SSD retails for $150. If you purchase the drive, it also comes pre-loaded with software utilities for password protection, automatic backup and eco-friendly operation, as well as the option to sign up to its Wuala cloud backup service (all of which can be removed).
While a bit pricey in terms of what you get storage wise, the P’9223 Slim SSD is definitely worth buying if you’re after speed and style.
We’re giving away a LaCie Porsche Design P’9223 Slim SSD, click here to see how to be eligible to win!