Solid state drives offer much better performance than traditional mechanical hard drives, so they are ideal for those who want the best possible performance from their system. Today we are going to look at two 60 GB SSDs, the Kingston SSDNow V+200 and the Zalman F-Series. Which one should you buy? Read on.

Those who want to enjoy the performance benefits at the lowest possible cost will usually combine a low capacity 60 GB SSD for speed and a mechanical hard drive for storage. We wouldn’t recommend using a 60 GB unit in a laptop or desktop without a secondary storage, as it would have very little capacity left after the operating system and programs are installed.

Before proceeding, we highly suggest that you read our “Anatomy of SSD Units” tutorial, which provides all the background information you need to know about SSDs. Both of the SSDs featured in this review use MLC memory chips.

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Figure 1: The two SSDs on test

In the table below, we are comparing the Kingston SSDNow V+200 with the Zalman F-Series 60 GB.Both units use a SATA-600 interface and occupy the standard 2.5” form factor.

We researched the prices on the day that we published this review and observed the following:

• Our sample of the Kingston SSDNow V+200 is the “Upgrade Bundle Kit” version. The standalone drive is also available for the same price at Newegg.com should you not require the upgrade accessories.
• The Zalman F-Series isn’t yet available for sale in the U.S. The price was taken from QuietPC.com and converted directly to USD.

In the table below, we provide a more in-depth technical comparison between the two drives. Most chip manufacturers don’t detail the specifics of their chips on their websites, so we are only linking to what we found.