Sandisk recently revealed its latest line of SSDs for the PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 5 Pro. Obviously, these are designed to expand the console’s storage capacity. However, to expand is to expend higher-than-average funds, specifically the price of five PlayStation 5 consoles, going up to $2,960 (~RM11,989) a pop.
The Optimus GX PRO 850P SSD line-up consists of four SKUs ranging from 1TB to 8TB, with prices getting excruciatingly higher with every increase in capacity. That said, there is some good news (sort of): Sandisk is offering introductory discounts, as retail prices may be higher once promotions end.
What Does It Offer?
Appearance-wise, Sandisk states that the Optimus GX PRO 850P SSDs, being officially licensed for the Sony console, feature an exclusive heatsink design with the PS5 logo on top. Further, they are also optimised for the console’s internal M.2 expansion slot to ensure installation, making set-up and compatibility worry-free.
Additional specifications include average sequential read/write speeds up to 7,300/6,600 MB/s with an endurance ranging from 600 TBW to 4,800 TBW, with every SSD offering a limited 5-year warranty. So yeah, expect gameplay to feel smooth and seamless.
Sony also claims no more compromise, as it offers the ability to play directly from the drive without the hassle of transferring or deleting games to free up storage.
Why The Steep Pricing?
Optimus GX PRO 850P drives reflect the current state of the memory market. For context, demand for AI chips has driven up inflation in memory and storage prices globally. This, in turn, has forced companies such as Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo to raise the price of their products to cover components and manufacturing costs.
Although the 1TB model is considered “cheaper” than the console at US$380 (~RM1,573), the pricing for its 8TB variant is still pretty steep. As it stands, it looks like this crisis isn’t going away anytime soon. With component costs rising, consumers will have no choice but to adapt.
The new Sandisk SSDs are already available, although the official product page doesn’t outright list the price, and you’ll actually need to fill out a query form to get that information. At the time of writing, there is no word on local availability or pricing.
(Source: Sandisk, Techspot, Eurogamer)
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