If you’re in the market for an SSD that provides solid performance without a heavy cost, the Silicon Power A55 is one of the best SSD options on the list. This SSD review might reveal a new home for your operating system, video games, or as extra storage, especially if you want to improve the performance of your ultrabook.
Why We Like It – Silicon Power A55
The Silicon Power A55, otherwise known as the Silicon Power Ace A55, provides the perfect opportunity to beef up an ultrabook with a new SSD, thanks to its slim design and adequate transfer speeds.
- Form factor is great for ultrabooks
- Free performance software
- Very cheap pricing
- Inconsistent performance
- Looks and feels cheap
Performance
The Silicon Power A55 SSD has read speeds that are on par with its contemporaries, like the Samsung 860 EVO, however, its write speeds are much slower—sometimes as much as 20%. For example, the ADATA SU800 has write speeds of 520MB/s; the Ace A55 has peak write speeds of 450MB/s, which is about 13% below the SU800. That isn’t terrible, but its write speed would often drop to 370MB/s, which is about a 30% drop in performance compared to the SU800’s write speeds.
Even with the inconsistent performance at times, the Silicon Power Ace A55 is still way faster than most hard drives, and still outperforms the Fantom Drives SSHD. Read the Wd blue ssd 250gb review for an SSD with sequential 560MB/s read speeds and sequential 530MB/s write speeds up.
Design
As far as physical design is concerned, teh Silicon Power A55 looks very similar to most SSDs of its size. It’s a 2.5 inch SATA III SSD with a matte black finish. You’ll find a few threaded holes for mounting, along with a product sticker. However, this SSD looks and feels cheap. Sure, it’s only $34, but the ADATA SU800 is $30 and the build quality looks and feels way better.
Value
The Silicon Power A55 has a really tempting price tag. You’re paying about .13 cents per GB for a total of 256GB of storage. That isn’t a lot, not compared to today’s standards, but for running your operating system from, you’re getting an excellent deal—especially if you’re looking for a smaller form factor to fit an ultrabook. It’s going to outperform most hard drives these days, even with an aging SATA III interface. Its SLC Cache technology and TLC 3D NAND flash memory gives it the edge it needs. To have 4x boost times and 2x application load times, you need a good SSD like the one described in our Seagate 600 240gb solid state drive review.
Silicon Power A55 Wrap Up
The Silicon Power A55 performs well next to other SSDs in its bracket, but it does fall short in write speeds, often dipping below its peak. Take advantage of its SP Toolbox software to keep track of its performance and please try it for yourself. Yes, it does look and feel cheap, but for its price tag you are getting in return a decent SSD that will outperform most hard drives, even at its worst.
