Silicon Power Thunder T11 review: Fast speed stunted by extreme heat
In need of an ultraportable drive to use with your Mac's Thunderbolt port? The Silicon Power Thunder T11 might just be what you're looking for, if you don't mind how hot it gets! Here's CNET's full review.
Tiny, lightweight, bus-powered, and fast, the Silicon Power Thunder T11 appears at first glance to be the ideal portable storage device for Thunderbolt Mac users.
The Good
The Bad
The Bottom Line
Plug it in, though, and it tells a different tale. In my testing, the drive runs very hot after only 10 to 15 minutes of use, and as its temperature rises, its performance drops dramatically. On top of that, the drive supports only Thunderbolt, and storage is capped at just 120GB.
That makes the new Thunder T11 suitable only for casual users who need to quickly copy data to share between computers, not as a backup drive. Make sure you consider that before spending $230 to buy one. For cooler choices in the portable drive sector, check out this list.
Palm size, bus-powered design
What's with the heat?
Fast but inconsistent performance
Other than the heat issue, the Thunder worked fine in my testing, and it was very quiet.
Conclusion
The Thunder T11 has a lot going for it, including its fast performance and its tiny physical size. Unfortunately, it's hard for me to recommend it due to the extreme amount of heat it generates during extended operation. It still makes a great drive if you just want to move data between different computers, but for heavy usage, you'd be better off with something that's bigger and much cooler, such as the new WD My Passport Pro .