One-minute evaluation
The Netac Z Slim is a transportable strong state drive that’s light-weight, compact, moderately strong, inexpensive however gradual.
It has a full aluminum case which may scratch simply however doesn’t really feel cheesy given its black coloration and the shortage of any garish options. The Z Slim comes with the strict minimal in relation to equipment: simply USB cable, an adapter and a pouch and there’s no bundled software program. There’s an LED as nicely and is on the market in capacities starting from 250GB to 2TB. Simply keep in mind that it doesn’t carry any IP or MIL-STD rankings; so don’t drop it in a glass of water to impress your colleagues, this isn’t a waterproof system. It nonetheless feels moderately strong however pay attention to these limitations (even when it features a three-year guarantee).
Netac claims that the drive ought to attain learn/write speeds of as much as 500 MBps which is gradual by as we speak’s requirements. That’s as a result of the corporate selected to make use of SATA elements fairly than the extra frequent and sooner NVMe; I can not fathom; it appears – to me at the very least – as a technique to drive the invoice of fabric to as little as doable. However cut price basement, this one isn’t.
The Z Slim ranks amongst the most costly “gradual” (i.e. SATA based mostly) exterior SSDs in the marketplace proper now. To make issues worse, there’s even a handful of transportable SSD that provide twice the pace of the Z Slim with a lower cost tag.
Netac Z Slim: Pricing and availability
In a fiercely aggressive class, the Z Slim faces some robust competitors; with little to distinguish between the merchandise, it’s fairly often down to cost and on the time of writing, that’s a contest that the Z Slim has misplaced and one which in the end prevents it from coming into our greatest transportable SSD shopping for information.
Netac Z Slim: Benchmark
Given what I knew concerning the Z Slim, the take a look at outcomes are under no circumstances stunning. Netac says that it’s going to attain 550 MBps on learn and write and we obtained near these numbers throughout our artificial assessments. That quantity goes method down in actual life assessments, just below 400 MBps. The drive didn’t heat up even below load.
| Row 0 – Cell 0 | Learn (MBps) | Write (MBps) |
| AJA | 501 | 461 |
| CrystalDiskMark | 588 | 508 |
| ACT | 533 | 481 |
| AS SSD | 510 | 465 |
| Actual Life | 394 | 394 |
Netac Z Slim: Specs
| Row 0 – Cell 0 | Row 0 – Cell 1 |
| Capacities accessible | 250GB, 500GB, 1TB, 2TB |
| Dimension | 100 x 29 x 9mm |
| Weight | 30g |
| Enclosure materials | ABS plastic |
| Connector | USB-C |
| Expertise | USB 3.2 Gen 2 |
| Guarantee (in years) | 3 |
| Rated R/W speeds (MBps) | 550/550 |
| Software program bundle | No |
| Equipment | Sleeve, USB-A to USB-C cable and a USB-C adapter |
Ought to I purchase the Netac Z Slim?
Netac Z Slim options
| Row 0 – Cell 0 | SSK | Silicon Energy PC60 | Lexar SL200 |
| Capability | 1TB | 0.96TB | 1TB |
| Value | $59.99 | $49.99 | $44.88 |
| Velocity | USB 3.2 Gen 2 | USB 3.2 Gen 2 | USB 3.2 Gen 2 |
| IP rated | no | no | no |
| Guarantee (yrs) | 3 | 3 | 3 |
The SSK is the quickest of the inexpensive options with a rated learn/write pace of 1050/1000 MBps. It has a helpful carabiner and is a tad thicker than the Z Slim.
The Silicon Energy PC60 is bland, unassuming and common in the whole lot besides its value. It’s an entry-level, inexpensive and succesful system that’s far, far cheaper than the competitors.
The Lexar SL2000 transportable SSD is the most affordable 1TB transportable SSD proper now. Its chassis is principally plastic and it’s bulkier than the Z Slim however that shouldn’t trouble cut price hunters.
How I examined the Netac Z Slim
After having formatted the Z Slim to exFAT, I take a look at it the identical method I take a look at different storage elements (exterior HDD, microSD playing cards and so on). I exploit the newest variations of CrystalDiskMark, Atto, AS SSD and AJA benchmarks, noting the perfect scores achieved in every. They’re all free and might be downloaded by anybody. I additionally transferred a folder of random recordsdata, roughly 10GB in dimension, to get a tough concept of actual life efficiency.
