Overall and Final Verdict
An external SSD enclosure like the Viper VXD External SSD Enclosure isn’t going to be for everyone. Some people aren’t going to want to “build your own” external SSD but the other side of that coin is that because you pick your own SSD you can use the Viper VXD with a previously used SSD to give it more life or if you build it now and need a larger capacity in the future you don’t have to buy an entirely new external SSD, just the drive inside which will now be cheaper. The aluminum design that Viper went with is going to hold up long-term and I don’t see M.2 drives vanishing for a while now. The aluminum design also helped the Viper VXD run cool even after the P300 we used inside was under load for a half hour. The RGB lighting is going to be hit or miss depending on what you are into. But if you are an RGB fan, the Viper VXD lighting does look good and covers both sides and the top of the drive.
As far as installation is concerned, the Viper VXD is almost toolless, the one exception to that is the one screw you have to remove but they include the small torx screwdriver you need for that. I did have to shake it around to get the components to come out, but beyond that installing everything was easy. Finding the installation instructions on the other hand was a little bit of a challenge, but a lot of people aren’t going to need those at all. The enclosure comes with a short Type-C to Type-C cable which also has the Type-A adapter attached so you don’t lose that. Size wise it is similar in size to past external M.2 enclosures that I have taken a look at and with the angled corners it was easily pocketable. Your performance is going to be mostly limited by the USB 3.2 Gen 2 connection speed, Gen 2x2 would be nice, or Thunderbolt 3 but with speeds reaching 1000 MB/s with just about any drive you are still getting performance fast enough to use this to quickly transfer files when needed or to run games or applications.
As for its pricing, it has an MSRP of $39.99 which if we compare it with the ASUS external enclosure, the Arion is selling for $52.99 the VXD looks extremely cheap. But once you dive into some of the other RGB external drive-less enclosures you will start seeing them for $29.99 and $39.99, so the VXD is a touch on the high side but is in the mix with other similar enclosures.
Live Pricing:
Viper VXD External SSD Enclosure
