Lexar SL200 Portable SSD

£140/$135 (1TB) www.lexar.com

Lexar is a brand usually associated with top-notch memory cards and card readers, but it also offers several portable SSDs. The SL200 is its latest offering, and measures a portable 86 x 60 x 10mm. Build quality feels solid, and the matte silver finish looks the part next to most modern laptops.

Lexar advertises maximum read/write speeds of 550/400MBps, which is fairly typical for a non-NVMe SSD. We clocked the drive at a peak of 448/289MBps while reading and writing a single large video file – a best-case real-world speed scenario. Transferring large quantities of small image files inevitably slows any SSD down, but the SL200 still managed a reasonable 384/267MBps read/write. These speeds are comparable with similar non-NVMe drives, but considering the modest price difference between this and the SanDisk drives, we’d recommend a faster model.

The Lexar SL200 can be had in the popular 512GB, 1TB and 2TB capacity options, and connects via a USB 3.1 Type-C port on the drive. USB Type-C to Type-C and Type-C to Type-A cables are included in the box. PROS Decent performance at a relatively low price; small and well-built CONS Not as quick as NVMe SSDs; not much cheaper than much faster NVMe drives