A new budget friendly SSD was launched by Apacer, but can this Panther provide a speedy performance?

Nowadays the SSD has become one of the essential components for PCs, as it can provide faster loading speeds. But with the SSD being a new component, prices are higher than a conventional hard disk drive, but the flaw of the SSD is that it has less capacity. But now with newer SSDs coming out, some are providing bigger space and prices are becoming cheaper than before. Now Apacer has launched their newest line of SSD, which includes the AS340 Panther that is aimed for entry-level consumers with a tight budget. But can the Panther give a very impressive performance for its price tag?

Here is the specifications of the AS340 Panther:

• Interface: SATA III 6Gb/s
• NAND Flash Type: TLC
• Sustained Read Performance(MB/sec):
  • 120GB: Up to 500MB/s
  • 240GB: Up to 505MB/s
• Sustained Write Performance(MB/sec):
  • 120GB: Up to 375MB/s
  • 240GB: Up to 410MB/s
• ECC Support: Up to 72bit/1KB
• Shock: 1500G
• Vibration: 7~800Hz, 3.08Grms
• Low Power Consumption: 350mA (max.)
• MTBF: 1,500,000 Hours
• Humidity: 5% to 95%
• Standard Operating Temperature: 0 ℃ to +70 ℃
• Storage Temperature: -40°C to +85°C
• Dimensions: (L)100 x (W)69.9 x (H)7mm

As for the design, the AS340 Panther has nothing fancy in it, just the usual SSD design and with a leopard-like texture on the top panel along with the Panther logo in gold. It has three holes for screws to be place when placed to be mounted inside the PC.

As for the performance, we conducted a series of tests on the Panther and see how well it performs. After conducting some tests with the CrystalDiskMark, so far the results were really good, it’s reading and writing speed can go around 220MB/s and 170MB/s. Then we tested with another benchmark tool called HD Tune to find out its transfer speeds, and it still provide great results as it maintained an average of 180 MB/s.

When tested for loading speeds, it can load the Adobe Photoshop in just 3 seconds and loading a Windows 8.1 from boot up to the windows screen was just at around 4-5 seconds. Loading speed on games are also faster when compared to HDDs, as it can provide around 40% faster loading speeds.

Overall, the Apacer AS340 Panther is a decent SSD that can provide great performance with a less expensive price tag. Users who are considering to shift to an SSD for their operating systems may prefer on getting this as their first SSD and even to those who are looking for an entry level drive.