With its rather unique form-factor, the Lexar Portable SSD certainly will not be right for everyone and every scenario. This is not necessarily a bad thing, as instead of being the typical ‘jack of all trades, master of none’ external storage device the Portable SSD has been designed to be a master a few key areas, areas which somewhat overlap with the needs of the common consumer. This is however secondary, as form strictly follows function with this model and this has far reaching consequences, some good, some bad.
First and foremost, this model has been designed from the ground up to be 100% compatible with the Workflow Hub models. Put simply this model will fit anywhere any of the other workflow card readers will fit, and can go anywhere they can go. For professionals this is a great boon, but for the average consumer this unique design may or may not be such a great fit. On the one hand it is chunkier than a flash drive, but slimmer than a Hard Drive based model. As such it really will depend on your needs and usage scenarios if you will consider the Portable SSD to be overly ‘portable’.
The same holds true for the performance and capacity this model offers consumers. Compared to the typical flash drive the Portable SSD series is downright massive and faster than most. Conversely, compared to the usual hard drive based external drive most consumers use, the capacity is only decent but the performance is fantastic. Once again this duality means it will come down to what you prize the most: performance or capacity.
In either case, this model is meant to be used mainly by professionals and here it excels. So much so that it truly is a force multiplier for professional photographers. Simply combine this plus three card readers (say CompactFlash, QXD, and either miniSD or SD workflow reader) in a Lexar Workflow Hub and the end result is a simple, if not cheap, solution that allows professionals the luxury of taking a lot of photographs without needing either a lot of empty cards, or a lot of internal storage on their Mac Book Air or other Ultrabooks. On its own however this model is still rather potent and can make life easier for professionals, so much so that some many not find the Hub’s benefits outweigh its negatives.
This brings us to overall value and it is here that consumers will once again be split over the Portable SSD. For common consumers it really will come down to what they need an external storage solution to do. Some will love the speed it brings, while others who do not have an internal Solid State Drive will find its capacity lacking. On the other hand if you have bought into the Workflow idea this model darn near demands to be part of your setup. It will act as a force multiplier and will make getting on with the serious business of photography a lot simpler. As you can see consumers will need to think long and hard about their wants, their needs, and their desires before purchasing this model. Put another way, not everyone will like it but those who do, will like it a lot.
