Thunderbolt 5 is still fairly new, with the newest MacBook Pro bringing the cutting edge technology to the masses. Other World Computing just announced a new piece of hardware that takes advantage of Thunderbolt 5’s speed boost, offering external SSD performance that approaches built-in storage speeds.
Express 1M2 80G portable SSD enclosure
OWC’s new Express 1M2 80G portable SSD enclosure is designed for creators and professionals who need serious performance on the go. The bus-powered drive connects over Thunderbolt 5 but remains fully compatible with Thunderbolt 4 and USB4 Macs, making it a flexible option for current and future hardware.
Thunderbolt 5 is currently limited to Apple’s latest M4 Pro and M4 Max MacBook Pro models, the M4 Pro Mac mini, and the latest Mac Studio, so this drive is ready to take advantage of the cutting-edge ports while still supporting the vast majority of Macs in use today.
In terms of performance, OWC advertises impressive real-world speeds above 6,000 MB/s, putting the Express 1M2 80G in the ballpark of Apple’s internal SSDs on recent MacBook Pro models.
While internal drives are still faster in most sequential transfer tests, this Thunderbolt 5 portable solution comes surprisingly close. In some workflows, like random reads and writes, it can even hold an advantage.
For those reasons, it’s a compelling solution for offloading large video projects, running apps from external storage, or managing multi-terabyte photo libraries.
The all-aluminum chassis doubles as a heat sink to maintain sustained transfer speeds without the need for fans.
Beyond the Mac, OWC says the drive works seamlessly with PCs, iPad Pro, Chromebooks, and even Microsoft Surface devices.
Availability
Users can buy the $219 enclosure and install their own NVMe M.2 SSD up to 8TB, or order a pre-configured version from OWC starting at $349 for 1TB and scaling up to $1,299 for 8TB.
The OWC Express 1M2 80G is available now directly from OWC and Amazon.
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