In the China market only, Lenovo has released the SL7000 50E, a PCIe 5.0 SSD that can compete with the best SSDs. Rated for speeds up to 12.4 GB/s, the SL7000 50Ecan hang with the fastest PCIe 5.0 drives.
The SL7000 50E sticks to the conventional M.2 2280 form factor. It only comes in a bare drive presentation with a plain sticker, lacking the bulky heatsinks we've grown accustomed to on PCIe 5.0 SSDs. But that doesn't mean you should run the SL7000 50E without a heatsink. Lenovo probably didn't include a heatsink on the SL7000 50E to keep the cost of the drive as low as possible, but it shouldn't be too much of an issue since modern motherboards generally have M.2 slots with included heatsinks.
The Phison PS5026-E26 is at the heart of the SL7000 50E, like many PCIe 5.0 drives before it. The E26 isn't the only PCIe 5.0 controller out there, but it continues to be the most popular choice among SSD manufacturers. On the NAND side, the SL7000 50E utilizes 232-layer TLC 3D chips from an unspecified vendor. However, given the PCIe 5.0 SSD's advertised speeds, we suspect the NAND hails from Micron, specifically, the 2,400 MT/s variant.
The SL7000 50E delivers sequential read and write speeds up to 12.4 GB/s. Lenovo's drive is right up there with the Crucial T700, Galax HOF Extreme 50S, and Teamgroup Cardea Z540. The company didn't reveal the drive's random performance for the SL7000 50E. The E26-powered SSD is available in four capacities: 512GB, 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB. Most companies don't bother releasing PCIe 5.0 SSDs below 1TB. Lenovo, however, offers the SL7000 50E with a 512GB capacity.
The 1TB model sells for $210, while the 2TB version costs $365 on JD.com. The pricing is a bit steep. For example, the Crucial T700 1TB and 2TB retail for $179.99 and $287.52, respectively. The other capacities of the SL7000 50E aren't currently available, so their pricing is unknown. Lenovo backs the SL7000 50E with a limited three-year warranty. It's solid but not great, since many brands offer five-year warranties on PCIe 5.0 drives.
