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RunCore 7mm Pro-V SSD review: Pretty good deal

CNET editor Dong Ngo reviews RunCore's first SSD that comes in the new 7mm thickness and finds it a good deal for those who want to use it as a replacement drive for their computers.

Dong Ngo SF Labs Manager, Editor / Reviews
CNET editor Dong Ngo has been involved with technology since 2000, starting with testing gadgets and writing code for CNET Labs' benchmarks. He now manages CNET San Francisco Labs, reviews 3D printers, networking/storage devices, and also writes about other topics from online security to new gadgets and how technology impacts the life of people around the world.
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Dong Ngo
2 min read
The new RunCore Pro V 2.5" 7mm Ultra SSD is significantly thinner than its brother, the RunCore Pro-V Max (left).
The new RunCore Pro V 2.5" 7mm Ultra SSD is significantly thinner than its brother, the RunCore Pro-V Max (left). Dong Ngo/CNET

While there have been many new 2.5-inch-standard solid-state drives (SSDs) being introduced to the market in the last two years, it's not every day that you run into one that comes in the new low-profile 7mm thickness. The first one was introduced a few months back by Intel, the 520 series, and now we have the second: The RunCore Pro V 2.5" 7mm Ultra SSD.

The purpose of the new 7mm thickness is so that the drive can fit in an ultrabook, or other ultraportable laptop, without changing the standard SATA port configuration. This means that when needed, the drive can still be used with regular notebook and desktop computers.

And the RunCore meets that purpose almost perfectly. It comes with a drive-bay converter for it to fit in a desktop computer but doesn't offer any extra padding for it to firmly fit in a regular laptop drive bay. This is not a big problem since most laptops comes with a drive tray of their own.

In my testing, the drive offered the most important thing about a storage device: performance. In fact it outdid the Intel 520 series by a small margin. The drive is budget-friendly, too, with the suggested price of just around $1.50 per gigabyte for all of its capacities, ranging from 120GB to 480GB. This means that street pricing will likely get even lower.

For more information on how the drive will make an excellent replacement drive for your system, check out the full review of the RunCore Pro V 2.5" 7mm Ultra SSD.