Manufacturers reduce the cost of SSD configuration after launching the model

Manufacturers of SSD-drives Kingston, OCZ and PNY are caught in an ugly practice to change the specifications of devices after they enter the market. The scheme is simple: the model receives positive reviews in the media and high test results, then the package is cheaper - and cheaper products with degraded characteristics are sent to customers.

The first was Kingston, which first released a V300 SSD with synchronous flash memory (model V300 120S), but eventually replaced it with a cheaper asynchronous NAND (model V300 120A).


Performance Kingston V300 with synchronous and asynchronous NAND

Example Kingston followed by OCZ Technology with one of the older models SSD.

Now PNY should also be included in this unpleasant list. Browsers initially praised the high performance of PNY Optima drives equipped with a Silicon Motion controller.

But it turned out that only part of the drives is equipped with Silicon Motion controllers. Some are equipped with SandForce controllers.

PNY assures that SandForce is installed in a smaller part of the products, these drives "correspond to the minimum declared performance", and in some tests even overtake Silicon Motion. However, individual users indicate less performance compared to tests published in the media. The slogan “minimum declared performance” is just a tricky marketing trick when measuring results in specially selected synthetic tests.

They say that a similar practice to reduce the cost of bundling exists in the automotive industry and is called deconcentration .

Some food manufacturers are also seen in reducing the weight / volume of the goods without changing the price.