One-minute overview
Essential has had two of the most well-liked exterior SSDs within the X8 and X6, making up the X-Sequence exterior SSDs. Their success was as a consequence of stable engineering, wonderful specification, and aggressive pricing.
Now Essential goals to repeat that recipe with the X9 Professional and X10 Professional, providing even higher construct high quality, enhanced options equivalent to {hardware} encryption and assist for USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 within the X10 Professional.
Because the flagship of the X sequence, the X10 Professional is the pure alternative for the X8, offering the identical 1TB, 2TB and 4TB capacities whereas probably delivering 2000MB/s transfers, double that of its predecessor.
So what’s the catch? When in comparison with the X6 and X8, it’s the worth. For precisely the identical capability, the X10 Professional is roughly 80% greater than the X8.
That’s a stark differential should you don’t have USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 or use {hardware} encryption, and many purchasers will vote with their wallets. That prime pricing isn’t unique to the USA both, as in different areas, the X10 Professional may be even much less aggressive.
To chop to the chase, the X10 Professional is a well-made and designed exterior SSD that may carry out impressively nicely when related to the right kind of USB interface, however the pricing is unrealistic, and we’d suggest you get an X8 or X6 as an alternative.
Essential X10 Professional: Pricing and availability
- How a lot does it value? $119.99/124.79/€149.26
- When is it out? It’s beginning to be accessible now
- The place are you able to get it? Direct from Essential or by means of on-line retailers like Amazon.
When the X9 Professional and X10 Professional launched in August, US costs have been $119.99 (1TB), $169.99 (2TB) and $289.99 (4TB), and these stay at these ranges straight from Essential on the time of writing.
Nonetheless, UK and European launch pricing was a lot increased, as much as 40% greater than the US costs on the present change charge.
The UK official pricing direct from Essential is £124.79 (1TB), £230.39 (2TB), £383.99 (4TB), and within the EU, the Euro costs are €149.26 (1TB), €270.64 (2TB), €447.95 (4TB).
The one optimistic information we will unfold is that within the UK, some retailers are concerned in a promotional deal till the thirtieth of September 2023, providing the X10 Professional at £107.99 (1TB), £194.99 (2TB) and £357.99 (4TB). These offers are at Ebuyer, Field, CCL and Amazon. However we don’t anticipate these reductions to stay over the supply interval.
Regardless of geographic location, the earlier Essential X8 and X6 designs are significantly cheaper should you solely need a particular capability and don’t care about Gen 2×2 or {hardware} encryption.
For those who particularly need Gen 2×2 efficiency, the alternatives are the Corsair EX100U, Kingston XS2000, SanDisk Excessive PRO V2, ADATA Elite SE880 and the Sabrent Rocket Nano.
At 1TB capability, the Essential X10 is the costliest, the identical worth because the SanDisk Excessive PRO V2. At 2TB, it’s cheaper than the Kingston XS2000 and SanDisk Excessive PRO V2 within the USA, and in Europe, it’s the costliest.
And eventually, at 4TB, it is likely one of the cheaper drives for US prospects however the costliest for UK and EU patrons.
I am unsure if the US costs of the X10 Professional may be justified for this drive, however for Europeans, they’ll’t be rationalised.
It could be that Essential is trying to throttle demand outdoors of the USA whereas they ramp up manufacturing, however because of this, they may persuade these prospects in Europe that the X9 Professional and X10 Professional aren’t nice worth like their predecessors.
Essential X10 Professional: Specs
| Mannequin No.: | CT2000X10PROSSD9 | Row 0 – Cell 2 |
| Capacities: | 4TB/2TB/1TB | Row 1 – Cell 2 |
| Capability examined: | 2TB | Row 2 – Cell 2 |
| Examined sequential efficiency (Learn/Write): | 2057/1834 MB/s | Row 3 – Cell 2 |
| Connection: | USB 3.2 Gen 2 utilizing Kind-C | Row 4 – Cell 2 |
| Encryption: | {Hardware} | Row 5 – Cell 2 |
| Dimensions: | 65 x 50 x 10mm (WxHxD) | Row 6 – Cell 2 |
| Weight: | 38g | Row 7 – Cell 2 |
| Guarantee: | 5 years | Row 8 – Cell 2 |
Essential X10 Professional: Design
- X6 Developed
- Solely USB-C
- IP rated
The dimensions of the X9 Professional and X10 Professional, is way nearer to the X6 in scale than the unique X8, and it might have been the designer’s start line for this new era.
When positioned alongside the X6, the X10 Professional is nearly the identical width throughout however a lot shorter and thinner.
The place the X8 used M.2 2280 sized NVMe drives in its enclosure, and the X9 Professional and 10 Professional are most likely constructed round M.2 2230 kind issue modules, is our greatest guess. However the engineers at Essential have additionally gone a lot additional in making this 65 x 50 x 10mm (WxHxD) enclosure appear rather more stable and in a position to take extra abuse.
The highest looks like a stable block of aluminium milled to make room inside for the SSD, whereas the underside is a rubberised TPU end that stops it from sliding round.
The styling and end are a definite enchancment from the X8 and X6, though a relatively curious function is within the high proper nook.
Initially, this gap seems designed to hold the drive on a belt or lanyard, and certainly, the outlet goes right through. Nonetheless, in testing, I found that Essential positioned the exercise LED on this pocket, even should you can solely see it from acute angles.
The outlet wanted a extra important slope on the facet with the LED for this to work as meant extra usually than it does.
One disappointment within the X10 Professional bundle is that Essential solely consists of the USB-C cable, and at 23 cm, it’s a comparatively brief one. Whereas this is identical because the X6, the X8 at all times got here with a USB-A adapter. When you think about that for the 4TB fashions, some prospects might be paying practically $480 for the privilege of proudly owning one, that they couldn’t embrace an adapter which might value them lower than a greenback appears remarkably avaricious.
The place this design has improved over its predecessors is how far the enclosure goes to guard the contents. As compared, the X8 and X6 did supply a sturdy development however weren’t rated for any diploma of abuse or environmental assault.
The X10 Professional is IP55 rated in opposition to mud and water ingress, although that doesn’t lengthen to taking it swimming, simply gentle rain. Additionally it is specified to face up to a drop of 2M, however solely on a carpeted ground, not concrete. Most drives can deal with falling that distance onto a carpet, absolutely?
The stronger clue that the X10 Professional, and by affiliation the X9 Professional, can deal with extra abuse than the X8 and X6 is that these drives solely got here with a 3-year guarantee, whereas the brand new designs get a 5-year restricted protection.
Software program
- Software program trials
- Acronis True Picture
- MIA Hedge
On preliminary inspection, the X10 Professional appears to return with loads of software program, even when none of that’s on the drive, and all of it should be downloaded.
Two inclusions, Adobe’s Artistic Cloud All-apps plan and Mylio Images, are month-long trials aimed toward getting prospects to join costly instruments they might or could not use. A month’s entry to the Artistic Cloud All-apps plan is value 51.98 ($54.99), which you may save if you wish to begin utilizing this facility.
What’s free is the Essential Storage Government, a utility designed to handle and preserve SSDs. This instrument has been up to date for the reason that X10 Professional launched and now recognises it, and even supplied a firmware replace for this system once we ran it.
Homeowners may entry a Essential branded model of Acronis True Picture, which could be very helpful for cloning programs for an inside SSD improve utilizing the exterior SSD.
What’s much less helpful is a hyperlink on the drive that supposedly takes you to a Essential branded model of Hedge, a business dwell backup instrument. Presently, the hyperlink takes you to the X10 Professional assist web page, the place no additional point out is manufactured from Hedge.
Hopefully, in some unspecified time in the future, it’s going to seem and work with the X10 Professional, as backing up a laptop computer or desktop system is a use this drive is appropriate for.
Essential X10 Professional: Efficiency
- Nice efficiency
- {Hardware} encryption
| Header Cell – Column 0 | Learn (MBps) | Write (MBps) |
|---|---|---|
| AJA | 1882 | 1617 |
| CrystalDiskMark Default | 2057 | 1834 |
| CrystalDiskMark Actual World | 1645 | 1688 |
| ACT | 1920 | 1720 |
| AS SSD | 1875 | 1304 |
All our testing was finished utilizing a 2TB X10 Professional supplied by Essential, and in accordance with its data, no important pace distinction exists between this capability and the opposite X10 Professional fashions.
Essential quotes a pace of two,100MB/s reads and a couple of,000MB/s writes for this drive, nearly twice that of the X9 Professional and X8, which solely have Gen 2 interfaces.
Utilizing the default profile of CrystalDiskMark, we managed reads of 2057MB/s and writes of 1834MB/s, close to sufficient to be respectable. Utilizing the real-world profile on this benchmark, scores dropped to 1645Mb/s reads and 1688MB/s writes, predictably.
Whereas it doesn’t obtain the headline numbers, these outcomes are on the high finish of practical expectations for Gen 2×2 connected drives, above Gen 2 however beneath what a Thunderbolt related SSD can obtain.
Taking all of the benchmarks as an entire, the X10 Professional could be very akin to the Kingston XS2000 on the very high finish of those who assist Gen 2×2 mode.
What is particularly good in regards to the X10 Professional is that it could actually maintain its efficiency with giant information and doesn’t exhibit any thermal throttling points we’ve seen on different merchandise. That makes it appropriate for video file backups and different giant knowledge transfers.
That the drive additionally helps {hardware} encryption can also be a bonus, as lots of the cheaper drives don’t.
When you have a system with Gen 2×2 ports, then the X10 Professional makes good sense from a efficiency perspective.
Verdict
Within the current crop of USB Gen 2×2 embracing exterior SSDs, the X10 Professional might be probably the most elegant design with the perfect specification and quoted sturdiness.
Because the flagship within the subsequent era of X-Sequence design, the X10 Professional follows within the extremely revered footsteps of the X6 and the X8. However these prior merchandise grew to become shorthand for affordability and worth for cash, whereas the X10 Professional isn’t.
Not solely is the pricing of the X8 and X6 an issue for the X10 Professional, however its sibling, the X9 Professional, is one more.
The X9 Professional has all the identical development, {hardware} encryption and resilience. It lacks the Gen 2×2 connectivity, however critically, it prices round 33% much less for a similar capacities. Until you’ve solely machines with USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 ports, the X9 Professional is a patently more sensible choice.
And, should you don’t want {hardware} encryption, the X8 and X6 are nonetheless stable merchandise with good efficiency over the generally discovered USB 3.2 Gen 2 port.
Ought to I purchase the Essential X10 Professional
| Worth | Costly even by the requirements of Thunderbolt SSDs | 3 / 5 |
| Design | Elegant design however with a curious exercise LED placement | 4 / 5 |
| Software program | Some trials, some helpful software program and a few lacking in motion | 3 / 5 |
| Efficiency | Nice efficiency over the brief and lengthy haul, and doesn’t have thermal throttling points. However you want Gen 2×2 to get probably the most out of it. | 4.5 / 5 |
| Total | Fantastically made and a very good performer, the X10 Professional is barely let down by lacking software program and awkward pricing | 4 / 5 |
Purchase it if…
Do not buy it if…
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