Mach Xtreme are giving nothing away when it comes to the packaging. The blister pack could be selling any thumb drive on the market, and belies its high performance characteristics. Anyone who has seen some of the more exotic packaging for Mach Xtreme’s SSDs would probably be quite surprised by the almost sober exterior - that is sober, except for the bright red thumb drive inside.
Whilst SLC memory may not be recognisable to some, the MX-ES makes it quite clear how important it is in offering ‘Extreme Performance’ and ‘Ultimate Endurance’; this is certainly no $5 Christmas Cracker gift. Thankfully they’ve also included the 32GB capacity plainly too, whereas for others it can be a little difficult to determine exactly what you’re purchasing.
Interestingly the packaging also makes note of being optimised for ASUS USB 3.0 mainboards. In the past we have briefly covered ASUS’s USB 3.0 Boost Technology, which makes use of a more efficient protocol for data transfers over USB. Although the MX-ES isn’t a UASP-capable drive, it’s likely compatible with ASUS’s Boost - Turbo tech., and hence would benefit somewhat when transferring smaller files over USB.
The back of the packaging contains much more detailed specifications including compatibility and durability information. No mention is made of actual speeds, so were you to come across it in store you’d likely need to look up the QR code online to get the full specs. The most critical information is all there though, and so there’s little chance that someone who buy the drive and discover it’s not suitable for them.
With the MX-ES what you see is what you get. There are no additional parts to the pack, making it clear that Mach Xtreme are trying to keep the drive as affordable as possible. Nonetheless the drive has a durable metal exterior and plastic cap, whilst the rear also has a loop for affixing to a keychain. The cap itself will no clip to the back of the drive, so you’ll need to marshal it accordingly.
Compared to other thumb drives the MX-ES is slimline, measuring only 70 x 17 x 8mm. With other high speed drives we’ve had difficulty with the housing obstructing adjacent USB ports, but with this there will be no such problem.
When inserted into a USB port a blue LED illuminates, and flashes during activity, providing important information of when it’s not suitable to remove beyond the say-so of Windows Explorer.
