Laptops are thinner than ever, but that means the storage options are typically fixed, forcing you to external. Fortunately, they’re fast and small, too.
Expanding the storage your computer comes with isn’t the same as it used to be. While you might have grabbed a screwdriver and some spare time to upgrade an old laptop, improving the storage and speed at the same time, these days, it’s not necessarily that easy.
Laptops are quite slim these days, and part of how manufacturers get computer as thin as they are is by skipping the cables and connectors that you’d otherwise normally have access to. Instead of a slightly thicker computer that can be maintained and tweaked by the owner, you’ll instead get one that is smaller, sleeker, and slimmer, but can’t really be modified.
Storage and memory tends to be soldered into position, as opposed to plugged in, and this can make upgrades a little difficult.
Fortunately, we have external options, which can provide a way of expanding on features using a cable and a piece of hardware.
While memory (RAM) is a little difficult to do that with, storage is somewhat easier, and thanks to external hard drives, many of us are able to add more to our computers than we would without.
They’re not always the fastest drives in the world, but they tend to be spacious and capable of delivering size, which is what many are looking for.
However, if you’re looking to store apps and games on these external drives, there’s a good chance you need to look at something just as fast as the rest of your computer. There are a few of these out in the world, but this week, Seagate is adding to the selection for Australians, offering two external storage solutions focused on pros and gamers, plus something else that expands the port options for people looking for a new take on the laptop dock.
In the fast external storage world, that starts with Seagate’s Barracuda Fast SSD, a small external drive boasting a light-up green accent and compatibility between both PC and Mac, courtesy of the exFAT file system. That means you can plug it into either of the top operating systems, and it uses a USB Type C port, too, so should handle some ting new from either type of computer, too.
The Barracuda Fast SSD isn’t the fastest of all SSDs out there, and instead seem suited for files, supporting read and write speeds of up to 540MB per second, making it fast enough for many, but not for most.
Starting at a recommended retail price of $169 for 500GB and stretching to $289 for 1TB and $599 for 2TB, this isn’t going to be the SSD for all, and Seagate has something else planned for folks who plan to store more than just files, but also games and apps.
There are two of those gadgets coming from Seagate for its “FireCuda” brand, and they’re a little different.
On the one hand, there’s an external fast FireCuda Gaming SSD, providing a much faster 2000MB per second maximum for an external drive, complete with customisable LED lighting to make the drive glow with the rest of a gaming rig.
Available in May at $299 for 500GB, $399 for 1TB, and $759 for 2TB, you can think of it as an external drive made for folks who wished their internal drives were more spacious, and ideal for installing onto.
And on the other hand, Seagate has something for people who need more expansion offerings for their laptop, or even a desktop, but without needing as many screwdrivers.
The Seagate FireCuda Gaming Dock is an external drive sporting a 4TB hard drive, complete with a few other features, too, such as a Thunderbolt 3 port, Ethernet port, 3.5mm line in port, 3.5mm headset port, and a few USB ports for good measure, as well.
Seagate’s FireCuda Gaming Dock comes across more like a port replicator for gamers, complete with colourful LEDs that can be customised, and yet a hard drive on the inside, as well. That hard drive won’t offer quite the speed as the solid-state options in the FireCuda range, but it does include an NVMe solid-state storage slot if you’re game with a screwdriver and want to upgrade the dock to support faster storage overall.
At $599, Seagate FireCuda Gaming Dock appears focused on gamers looking for more storage without needing quite the same push for speed, but with expansion options later on. Kind of like owning a desktop PC, but made to work in a world of laptops.
It’s available later this month, with Seagate’s other gadgets arriving in the next few months alongside.
