The WD Black² has given me quite a ride these past few weeks, boosting up the speed of the boot up of my PC from 53.6 seconds to an outstanding 5 seconds flat using Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit. That is however, what is expected to having an SSD as a boot up drive. The WD Black²'s SSD also exceeded WD’s stated sequential read speeds of 350 MB/s which is a good point to ponder. These figures are impressive compared to existing hybrid HDDs on the market. Another thing to point out is its design. For me, the design makes it stand out from the other SSDs on the market giving that prestigious feeling of having one. The hardware is also compatible with most computers we have today with its 2.5” 9.5mm form factor, but some thinner laptops nowadays have drive bays that could only fit 7mm drives so be sure to check your laptop's drive bay specifications first before buying this one as it cost $200-$300 USD. A pretty big number for the performance it gives, as you could buy a better performing SSD with 250GB capacity and a 1TB 7200 rpm HDD for LESS the price or a 512GB SSD for almost the same price. Some of you may agree to what I've said but WD isn't targeting all the PC enthusiast out there, WD is keying on the laptop/notebook owners with single 2.5” drive bays that wants a snappy system with a large storage capacity in one single drive.
The WD Black² is surely an innovation bringing 2 drives into one however, the price is what makes potential customers stay away from it. As the latest notebooks/laptops now have dual 2.5” drive bays or a single 2.5" drive and an mSATA SSD, it's much cheaper to go that route. Another limiting factor is the lack of Mac support which would lead to an even narrower market as it is already now. If WD insisted on a 250gb SSD at the same price, it would have a huge impact to its market as well as the potential consumers it would bring. Fairly enough, There are its ups and downs on the WD Black² but still,it did its job and actually gave more than what it was stated and also comes with a 5 year warranty which goes to show how much WD has given to this product. Thumbs up to Western Digital for the innovation of the WD Black², world's first 2.5” SSD+HDD dual drive !