It is no secret that Crucial has been dominating the value end of the mainstream SSD marketplace since their MX200 and BX100 series were released. It should also come as no surprise that every other manufacturer has been thinking of ways to counteract the incredible value those drives brought to the table. While Intel has moved away from SATA controllers and into NVMe, Kingston has moved into more exotic form-factors, Samsung?well Samsung has done what they always do: change the market and use 3D NAND before everyone else. While each of those manufacturers have focused on enhancing the ability of high end SSDs, less expensive models have (for the most part) been left to languish. OCZ on the other hand has been relatively quiet and instead have taken the time to get their house in order before focusing on the entry level / 'budget' corner of the marketplace. The Trion 100 aims to change that in a big way.

Many enthusiasts have been paying close attention to OCZ since, under the tutelage of Toshiba they have the best chance of introducing some true competition in this critical corner of the marketplace again. In bygone years OCZ would have unleashed a torrent of different models aimed at counteracting the BX100 and MX200 series. The new lean and mean OCZ on the other hand have opted to split the difference and offer a single model that is not as expensive as the Crucial MX200, yet should offer more performance than the BX100.

The new Trion 100 hopes to capture consumers interested in both of those popular Crucial models by approaching things in a radically different manner than all previous Toshiba-backed OCZ drives. It is the first truly collaborative effort between Toshiba and OCZ, with OCZ doing the finalization, testing, and support for it. A lot has changed since OCZ approached launches in a scattershot way.