thunderbolt 3 external gpu enclosure review

#THUNDERBOLT 3 EXTERNAL GPU ENCLOSURE REVIEW FOR MAC#

Because the drives are so small, the OWC Express 4M2 enclosure measures only 5.4 x 4.4 x 2.4-inches. As you can probably gather from those measurements, it doesn’t take a lot of real estate to house four M.2 drives. M.2 drives look almost like sticks of gum, measuring roughly 3-inches by less than an inch. Like those enclosures, the OWC Express 4M2 comes equipped with four drive bays, but the difference is the drive “bays” are super-tiny M.2 slots. After reviewing products with four 2.5- or 3.5-inch drive bays, I’m used to seeing larger storage enclosures like the CalDigit T4 or the Akitio Thunder3 Quad X. My first impression of the OWC Express 4M2 is that it’s really small.

2 x Thunderbolt 3 ports (supports daisy chain).

#THUNDERBOLT 3 EXTERNAL GPU ENCLOSURE REVIEW FOR MAC#

Thunderbolt Certified for Mac and Windows.Should you consider OWC’s chassis if you need the throughput speed and storage space? Watch our video walkthrough inside for the details.

But the enclosure, which costs $349 without any drives inside, requires a considerable investment to get the most out of it. The 4M2, with its massive 8TB capacity and fast speeds is particularly apt for video editing workflows. To reach those speeds, you’ll need four fast drives configured with RAID 0 using the included SoftRAID software. OWC says that speeds for the 4M2 can reach up to 2800 MB/s read.

It features a compact design and dual Thunderbolt 3 ports for daisy chain setups along with DisplayPort for connecting to an external display. The OWC Express 4M2 is a Thunderbolt 3 enclosure that can accommodate up to four M.2 NVMe SSDs simultaneously for up to 8TB of storage.

Thunderbolt 3 external gpu enclosure review