Conclusion, Pricing, and Final Thoughts
Conclusion:
PROS:
- Excellent performance
- Excellent cost/GB (see below)
CONS:
- Availability at MSRP?
Pricing and Availability:
For comparison, I'll first show the introductory MSRP's for the Vertex 450:
- 128GB – $130 ($1.02/GB)
- 256GB – $235 ($0.92/GB)
- 512GB – $500 ($0.98/GB)
And now the Vertex 460:
- 120GB – $100 ($0.83/GB)
- 240GB – $190 ($0.79/GB)
- 480GB – $360 ($0.75/GB)
This is the sort of agressive pricing we need to see if OCZ is to stay competitive against newer 19-22nm flash solutions. To this all I can say is I hope it ships at (or below) these prices.
Warranty:
Like the Vertex 450, the OCZ Vertex 460 line ships with a 3-Year warranty (@ 20GB/day). Those wanting 5-years (@ 50 GB/day) will have to go with the Vector 150.
Firmware:
We have seen no firmware issues with the Vertex 450, and considering the Vertex 460 is based on the same layout, we anticipate nothing significant here.
Final Thoughts:
Back when we reviewed the Vertex 450, I was happy to see OCZ's cost/GB finally coming down to expected levels. Despite this, the Vertex 450 didn't seem to take off. This may have been due to buyers shying away from a company on the verge of bankruptcy. With OCZ now backed by Toshiba, and armed with their flash memory, OCZ is able to solidify their future as well as introduce models at an even lower cost/GB. The Vertex 460 performed well in our testing and is launching at a very competitive cost, and that's exactly what is needed to gain back the trust of the community as well as the market share they once enjoyed.
Gold Awarded for OCZ's pursuit of lower cost/GB. With performance possibilities of SATA 6Gb/sec have been mostly capped out, it's good to see performance maintained on these smaller flash processes (and therefore lower costs).
i am going to say this
i am going to say this Toshiba can turn ocz back into a premium player in the ssd market hopefully with better customer support!
Once again you tout all sorts
Once again you tout all sorts of hyperbole about OCZ aggressive pricing. OCZ ssd’s continue to be priced higher than the competition, other than intel, despite having the worst overall review averages. In the past you gave them gold awards predicated on the possibility that they would release a firmware that would only then make the drive competitive and the possibility that the retail prices would actually be aggressive. Hard to understand your subjectivity with respect to OCZ. You need to remember that because you have the money to afford any hardware you seem to want, no matter how fringe, many of us still find $500 for a 480GB drive a lot of money. BTW, I have been using small ssd’s for the os since they were released unbranded by samsung and sold on ewiz, and want nothing more than ssd’s exclusively in my system; but storage drives at that price are out of my reach. Yeah, I am jealous.
You may want to check the
You may want to check the pricing of the 460, it is listed at $360 not $500, and yes granted that is more than most people can afford, but it is significantly less.
If Toshiba laptops are any
If Toshiba laptops are any indicator, crappy Toshiba system software, no graphics driver updates(For their customizied Intel HD graphics drivers) and overall crappy build quality! Just say NO to Toshiba, I am still waiting for a Graphics driver update for my first generation core i3 based laptop(Intel can not update OEM customizied HD graphics drivers), OH Toshiba wants me to buy a new laptop to get the latest drivers, It’s not going to happen Toshiba, and your other products are a NO BUY, until you update you first generation core i3 Modded Intel HD graphics drivers!
First gen i3 is dead, Jim.
First gen i3 is dead, Jim. The graphics were terrible to begin with.
you want better graphics then
you want better graphics then buy a better laptop nehalem had shit integrated graphics.
Yes the graphics are shit,
Yes the graphics are shit, but with driver updates a few more graphics programs would work on the Toshiba laptops, readers who game should Know to not purchase Toshiba, bcause with Toahiba if Your game needs a graphics driver update, no matter how new the laptop is, that laptop will never get a driver update, Intel can NOT update OEM modified HD graphics drivers, and If you purchase a brand new Toshiba and the game needs a Graphics Driver Update you are SOL! P.S. Nehalem is the code name for the desktop core i3 CPUs, Arrandale is the codename for first generation mobile core i3 CPUs! Intel has a terrible habit of letting OEMs customize and gimp their graphics drivers, one wonders what OEMs do to the Full advertised features of Intel’s graphics in their customization process, just to get the product out the door and sold to the unsuspecting public!
No amount of software is
No amount of software is going to fix what is plainly missing in most iGPU chips put out by Intel. Sure percentage wise you would be looking at large improvements, up to possibly a 50% increase… but even 1,000,000x performance of nothing is still nothing. Moving frame rates from 10fps to 15fps is just as unplayable, and it was never intended for gaming use to begin with.
Now I am not defending Tosh’s laptop lines. Personally I have not used or seen a Tosh laptop in the wild in over 10 years. They are not exactly a relevant player in that field. But your argument against their driver issues are a big flawed.
Besides, aren’t 1st gen i3 machines getting on 4 years old now? And they were hardly top of the line 4 years ago. Sounds to me like you need to get a new machine that is realistically capable of the workloads you are throwing at it. You might be able to play games with a desktop i3… but I would have my doubts of even a new i3 laptop being very game worthy.
However in the realm of HDDs Toshiba is quite respectable. They are not quite as popular as WD or Seagate in aftermarket purchases, but they work just fine, and do a fair amount of OEM business. I refurbish a lot of drives, and while Toshiba drives are fewer and further between than others, they pretty much never test out as bad. I am hoping that they bring this same level of quality to OCz who has always been a bit hit-or-miss in the quality department, which is a lot of what caused their demise.
There are two graphics
There are two graphics software programs that do not work properly, and have never worked properly on the “4 years old now?” laptop, it is not an issue with the graphics ability of the “arrandale” core i3 first generation Intel CPU or the performence ability of the integrated GPU, as these two graphics programs worked fine on a laptop with a single core celeron M “dothan” CPU! The openGL/other drivers on the Core i3 based laprop were then gimped by Toshiba, and not properly written in the first place, leaving one of the graphics programs unable to highlite a face/faces on a selected poloygon mesh model, ever try editing a mesh in face select mode (A mesh with more than 50,000 individual faces) not knowing which faces are selected and which fases are not! Toshiba gimped the drivers, in a rushed attempt to get the laptop with the then, latest intel core i3 cpu, to the market, and toshiba being the poor quality lowball hardware/software company that they are, never intended to keep their laptops updated! Intel did not care, as they are in the business of selling the CPUs, and Intel does offer updates to the Intel generic HD graphics drivers, but Intel can Not update OEM customizied HD graphics drivers! Intel should have required all laptop OEM to use the generic HD graphics drivers, or require the OEMs to keep the OEM customizied graphics drivers updated, but again Intel only cares about selling CPUs, and not about the end users ability to update the graphics drivers on the CPUs that Intel sells. Intel and graphics should always come with a big asterisk “*” when it come to the question of graphics driver updates!
Toshiba HDD respectablility in not in question, the money I spent on the laptop is, and Toshiba Brand loyalty is in question here, as their laptops are not recieving the proper service after the sale! I will not buy Toshiba, and any laptop gamers relying on Intel graphics, who more often than not, will require Intel HD graphics drivers updates, should not also!
Satellite A100 from 2006,
Satellite A100 from 2006, working fine on Windows 8.1
Just saying.
Looking forward I am happy
Looking forward I am happy that OCZ is able to be competitive going forward, as they have shown a lot of promise with their use of custom controllers. I personally own an old mid range drive from them, and have found their support to be amazing in the past, and hope that continues under Toshiba.
I am also glad that they are able to compete somewhat on price still, as I think that is the biggest hold up when comparing most drives with Samsung drives.
Some pb with my old
Some pb with my old generation of SSD. (OCZ 285 60GB VERTEX 2 SERIES SATA II 2.5″ SSD 5000)
RMA service is very overall. They gave me this one for remplacement.(VTX460-25SAT3-120G OCZ)