Mach Xtreme MX-ES SLC 32GB Flash Drive Review

Final Thoughts

Pricing

The MX-ES retails for just over £40 (~$64 / ~€47), which for a drive of this capacity and performance, to me is a little over priced. Granted there is going to be a price hike for the use of SLC NAND instead of MLC, but the difference in price with respect to the overall performance that is seen is not quite in balance in my mind. If the drive was around £6-8 cheaper then I would be more obliged to award the drive.

Overview

When it comes to choosing the right flash drive, there are so many to pick that it’s ultimately going to be hard to rate them all. This also means that being able to say you’re the best drive for XYZ reason is going end up being advantage in one of the most heavily swarmed markets out there.

In the case of the MX-ES, having SLC NAND can be taken as both and advantage and disadvantage. In its favour, that SLC design means that the drive [on paper] will outlive other drives with a MLC design, however there is the downside as a flash drive which is size and cost. On the whole, drives are quickly becoming smaller, cheaper and more readily available, but as highlighted above, this is not cheapest option out there on the market as there are one or two slightly cheaper drives that offer similar performance. The other way to look at it is to consider if speed or capacity is the greater priority. If speed is, then by all means take this as one to put on the short-list, but if capacity is what you’re after, with less of a focus on having a blazing fast transfer speed then sadly this is not the drive for you.

I’m not going to leave this review saying the drive is not a choice item to buy, nor am I going to write it off saying that it’s overpriced and not worth the cost. How I’m going to leave this is with a simple two sided argument that only yourself as the end user will be able to settle. If you’re worried about price per GB (as many users are today), then there are better options, but if you want top speed and memory that will last longer, then the MX-ES with its SLC NAND is one to think about.

Pros

• 5 year warranty
• Stylish metal design
• SLC NAND
• USB3.0

Cons

• Cost when marked against other 32GB USB3.0 drives for capacity
  
• Not the fastest drive on the market

“On the lower end of the USB3.0 flash drive roadmap, smaller drives these days are a little restricted in performance, the MX-ES makes a bridge to this performance difference with its SLC NAND. Naturally there is a cost implication, but for some people this is worth the cost.”

Thank you to Overclockers UK for providing this review sample.