Sabrent has launched its Rocket Q 2230 SSDs to target owners of small form factor devices looking for storage upgrades. These new M.2 drives come in the 2230 form factor, as you would guess from the name, and Sabrent is making them available in up to 2TB capacity. Pre-orders for the 2TB drives are open now, with the direct price set at $219.99.
We know that Steam Deck users have found it difficult to source the highest capacity 2TB M.2 2230 form factor SSDs, so it is good to have another option come to market. The M.2 2230 form factor is also necessary for those who will be changing the storage device in the Asus ROG Ally handheld gaming PC. Those with the Aokzoe A1 Pro have more options, though, as that handheld can fit up to 8TB in its M.2 2280 slot.
Circling back to the Sabrent Rocket Q4 2230, let us have a closer look at the outline specifications that are currently available:
| Sabrent Rocket Q 2230 (SB-213Q-2TB) | |
|---|---|
|
Interface |
M.2 PCIe Gen4 x4 NVMe |
|
Controller |
Phison E21 |
|
NAND |
Micron N48R (QLC) |
|
Physical |
1.18-inch length, single-sided layout (just 2.15mm thick), 1.23oz weight |
|
Performance |
Up to 5 GB/s and 750K IOPs |
|
Warranty |
5 years with registration |
You can see above that we don’t have the usual depth of tech specs, but we assume Sabrent will be releasing them when the drives move from the pre-order to shipping status. We note that the ‘Q’ in the new product series name means that QLC NAND is used here, while the previous gen used TLC NAND. Some other small details include the fact that these drives are backwards compatible with Gen2 and Gen3 PCIe slots, and that they will not only fit in the handhelds we mentioned, but also the newest Microsoft Surface devices.
The 2TB device is up for pre-order at $219.99. Clicking through reveals that shipments are expected to begin in June. Sabrent says “other capacities” will be made available, and we can already see the promotional website (first link) mentions a 1TB drive in the model/specs area.
We reviewed the previous gen Sabrent Rocket (SB-2130) in its 1TB flavor back in January 2023.. The SB-2130 models use Micron 176-layer TLC NAND, but were only made available in capacities up to 1TB. At the time our only major gripes we had were over the capacity limitation, and the price premium vs M.2 2280 SSDs. The price premium clearly still exists, as a 2TB M.2 2280 NVMe Gen4 SSDs from big brands like Samsung with TLC NAND and DRAM cache can easily be grabbed for under $150.
