Kingston A400 960GB
Score: 62/100
SanDisk Extreme 500GB
Score: 35/100Rankings
The Kingston A400 960 GB SSD provides entry-level SATA performance with 500 MB/s reads and 450 MB/s writes, making it a solid, budget-friendly upgrade for users moving from HDDs.
The SanDisk Extreme Portable SSD 500 GB offers near-top-tier NVMe speeds in a rugged, IP55-rated case with built-in hardware encryption, making it ideal for creators on the move. Some users note a flimsy USB-A adapter, occasional early failures, and thermal warm-up under heavy use.
| Attribute | | |
|---|---|---|
960 GBbest | 500 GB | |
500 MB/s | 1,050 MB/sbest | |
450 MB/s | 1,000 MB/sbest | |
300 TBWbest | — | |
3 years | 5 yearsbest | |
| ↓ lower better | 0.279 Wbest | — |
| ↓ lower better | 0.195 Wbest | — |
1,000,000 hoursbest | — |
Click an attribute name to sort · Green = best, red = worst (relative to this comparison)
| Attribute | | |
|---|---|---|
Performance(3) | ||
Sequential Read Speed (MB/s) | 500 MB/s | 1050 MB/s |
Sequential Write Speed (MB/s) | 450 MB/s | 1000 MB/s |
Interface | SATA III | USB 3.2 Gen 2 |
Storage(2) | ||
Capacity (GB) | 960 GB | 500 GB |
Warranty Period (years) | 3 years | 5 years |
Design & Build(2) | ||
Weight (g) | 40.82 g | 52 g |
Thickness (mm) | 7.11 mm | 9.6 mm |
Products in the top-left offer the best value (high score, low price).
Professional reviewers view the Kingston A400 as a solid, budget-friendly upgrade that revives older systems with noticeable speed gains. They commend its reliability, shock resistance, and value, while noting the trade-off of a missing DRAM cache and its positioning away from high-performance or enterprise use cases.
Everyday users overwhelmingly praise the SSD for its fast boot and load times, excellent price-to-performance ratio, and the confidence that comes with the Kingston brand. The most common complaints revolve around occasional customer service delays and the need to buy extra accessories such as SATA cables.
“Fast boot, fast games”
“Great value for the price”
“Customer Support Delays: 3-week RMA wait time with minimal communication”
Professional reviewers commend the Extreme Portable SSD for delivering near-top tier performance (1050 MB/s) in a rugged, IP55-rated package, emphasizing its suitability for 4K video editing and secure data handling. They note the absence of a metal heatsink as the main drawback, but conclude that passive cooling is adequate for typical use cases.
Everyday users love the SSD's tiny footprint, durability, and speed for photo/video backups, often highlighting the handy carabiner loop. Complaints focus on occasional early failures, a flimsy USB-A adapter, the default exFAT format, and the device warming under heavy use.
