Final Thoughts
There is no question the Vertex 2 Pro will be the fastest MLC-based 2.5" SSD when it is released in March. Although we were unable to compare it to the Intel X25M G2 as we no longer have a drive in our possession, based on the results that we've seen today we can confidently say the Vertex 2 Pro is faster.
Therefore it is no longer a matter of performance as the Vertex 2 Pro has certainly proven itself in that regard, but we are more concerned about its price as OCZ has made it clear that this is an enterprise SSD and we believe it will be priced accordingly. Currently the Intel X25-E costs $800 for the 64GB model and we suspect the 100GB version of the OCZ Vertex 2 Pro could retail for around that price. If that's the case then the Vertex 2 Pro will be far out of reach for a majority of end users.
Still the OCZ Vertex 2 Pro has effectively demonstrated what the SandForce SF-1500 controller – and potentially the SF-1200 controller – is capable of. Make no mistake OCZ won't be alone in adopting the SandForce controllers. Already other SSD makers such as A-DATA and Super Talent have announced upcoming products based on them.
OCZ will continue to work with Indilinx on upcoming products and already stated there's a mainstream product set for release in February using the Indilinx Amigos controller with a suggested retail price of just $100 for a 32GB drive.
The Vertex 2 Pro is still over a month away from release and in the meantime we are sure OCZ and SandForce will be working hard on potential improvements. If you look at the various previews that have been published already, each use a different firmware version as the samples are continually maturing. The sample that we received used firmware 232A11F0 and as far as we can tell this is the latest version that anyone has tested with to this date.
Therefore once the Vertex 2 Pro is officially released and goes on sale we'll revisit it to see what's changed. We are also eager to check out the Vertex 2 as this really is the highly-anticipated follow-up to the original Vertex series that we have been waiting for.