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#911 - Kingwin Z1 Series External Enclosure |
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Written by Zach Jeffers
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Tuesday, 15 January 2008 |
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Page 4 of 4
Conclusion:
The Kingwin Z1 external SATA hard drive enclosure sure was a battle for me to review. On the one hand, it looks absolutely gorgeous. Each color is rich and vibrant at the same time. The matted-brushed aluminum created a very nice effect but I was a little let down that there was no activity LED included.
Performance wise, this enclosure is nothing to write home about. While not be a slug by any means, the 109.9mbps was nothing near the 192.8mbps of the AC Ryan TFX enclosure. Sure we tested that enclosure with a slightly faster Western Digital drive, but at almost 50% faster, there is something to be said for the external hard drive controller that is housed within.
Construction wise, this enclosure faired pretty well. The single piece aluminum shell was sturdy and light. The plastic end caps were thick enough to not feel like you would crack them if you tightened the screws down to tight. The internal drive cage was a disappointment with the drive holes not lining up correctly. This is an easy fix for even the beginner computer user as a simple file or utility knife will get you enough clearance for proper drive installation. The power connection on the back of the enclosure also had some issues with the soldering coming loose out of the box on the red sample and the other samples felt like power shorts were eminent.
I emailed Kingwin about these issues and while they assured me that they would take these problems up with their respective departments, I did not receive any reassurance that these issues would not crop up with other users.
As much as I would love to give the Kingwin Z1 enclosure a higher rating, there are too many things working against it. Great looks only get you so far and for that, I give this product a Needs Work rating. I would like to thank Kingwin for their supplying of these review samples and their continued support of 3dGameMan.com and hope that we can see better external storage solutions in the future.
> ADDITIONAL INFO/COMMENTS IN THE FORUMS <
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Pros |
Cons |
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- Great Colors
- Decent Build Quality
- eSATA and USB
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- No Sound Dampening
- Bad Drive Alignment
- No HDD Activity LED
- Cheap Base
- Power Connection Issues!
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