Following its annual tradition, Seagate has announced a new collection of stylish, premium-priced drives in time for the 2016 CES, most now featuring USB-C and USB 3.1 connectors. Three of the drives carry Seagate’s LaCie branding; one is a handsome but Seagate-branded model.
The apparent flagship in the series is the LaCie Chromé ($1,100, shown above left), a 1TB SSD featuring a 10GB USB 3.1 interface with “up to 940MB/second speeds for intensive applications.” Described as “a trophy for tech connoisseurs,” Chromé is a Neil Poulton design that holds a boxy chrome SSD enclosure on an angle atop a circular pedestal. Additional models are discussed below…
Two more affordable options are the LaCie Porsche Design Mobile Drive ($110 and up) and Porsche Design Desktop Drive ($210 and up). Using traditional hard drive mechanisms, the silver all-aluminum Porsche Design drives recall the look of LaCie’s Mirror, but feature larger storage capacities: Mobile Drive can be had in 1TB, 2TB, or 4TB capacities, while Desktop Drive comes in 4TB, 5TB, or 8TB capacities, each with USB-C connectors and USB 3.0 speeds. The Desktop Drive promises to charge a USB-C laptop’s battery while connected.
Last up is the Seagate Backup Plus Ultra Slim (price TBD), which will be offered in 1TB and 2TB capacities, with gold or platinum dimpled enclosures. Measuring 9.6mm thick, the Ultra Slim is claimed to be “the world’s thinnest 2TB mobile hard drive,” over 50% thinner than competing 2TB drives; Seagate has not provided information on its speed or interface, making standard USB 3.0 most likely. Planned for release this quarter, Ultra Slim does not yet have pricing.
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