Kingston claims Intel kept TRIM to itself

Even though Intel provided a TRIM update for its 40GB value SSDs earlier this year, Kingston's re-branded Intel drives didn't receive the fix. We recently had the chance to ask Kingston why, and it explained it believed Intel kept the TRIM fix to itself because it wanted something more to offer its own customers.

Kingston claims it then pulled its original 40GB Intel drive to replace it with a 30GB drive instead. While we appreciate this move, Kingston's endless chopping-and-changing of the internals of its SSDs, while keeping the same name has hardly helped.

While we were told last November that this practice would stop, the last six months have seen a mish-mash of controllers used for its V and V+ series drives. When we asked Kingston about this change of heart, it did actually apologise to bit-tech for initially stating that it would indicate which controllers were used in future products - apparently this was never the intention. It explained to us that it wants to promote its products under its own brand as "Kingston drives" and let the price and capacity being the sole distinction between V and V+ series SSDs.

It said only enthusiasts care what goes inside and that the majority of its customers couldn't tell the difference: only that as far as the value segment was concerned they were "notably faster than a hard drive." It also pointed out that its M-series was promoted towards enthusiasts had consistently used an Intel controller, which is better suited to the performance market. All clear? Let us know your thoughts, in the forums.