Apacer AH553 128GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive Review

TweakTown's Rating: 90%

The Bottom Line

Apacer's AH553 is one of only a handful of USB 3.0 flash drive solutions capable of reaching upwards of 400 MB/s that along with its lifetime warranty and solid MSRP make it one solution worth a look.

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Over the past few months, we have noticed an influx of Pico flash drives from many vendors. Every once in awhile we receive a solution that is built to take on the quickest drives on the market and it just so happens that the Apacer AH553 is targeting that segment today.

The AH553 is the flagship flash drive solution from Apacer. This solution features capacity options ranging from 32GB to 256GB with our sample being the 128GB. Marketing performance is said to be in the 400 MB/s read and 300 MB/s write arena while compatibility extends to Windows XP, 7 and 8, along with OS X 10.4 and Linux Kernel 2.6+.

MSRP of the Apacer AH553 in the 128GB capacity is set at $119.99 with a lifetime warranty.

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Packaging for the AH553 gives a sneak peak of the drive to the right. To the left, we have marketing performance with capacity listed above.

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Over on the back of the package, we have marketing information in several languages. Down below supported operating systems are listed.

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Moving on, we have our first look at the Apacer. This solution comes in a blue aluminum enclosure with a black plastic cap. On the side of the drive, we have Apacer logo printed in white.

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Removing the cap, we find the USB port appropriately colored.

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The Apacer AH553 is factory formatted with the FAT32 file system, ensuring compatibility between Windows and Macintosh computers. The downside is you will need to reformat to a better file system to transfer files over 4GB. The usable capacity after formatting is 115GB.

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Checking performance of this drive in Windows 10, we found the Apacer to reach 412 MB/s read and 197 MB/s write. This was nearly 100 MB/s under marketing performance for write operations.

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Price/Performance, even with its lower than expected write performance did average out quite well, and with its comfortable price per GB, did allow the AH553 to reach towards the top of our chart. As you can see, the Apacer landed at 96.8% just below the Patriot Rage 2.

The AH553 is a high-performance flash solution with solid capacities for any consumer. Whether you are looking for a budget friendly low-capacity solution or a high-capacity drive, the AH553 can deliver. One thing we did not mention in the introduction is Apacer has chosen to use MLC NAND flash in this particular drive, which is rare in the current market.

Build quality is quite good with Apacer using an aluminum enclosure, and while this is a capped solution housed on the back of the drive, it is a secure place for you to store the cap. The performance of the drive was solid and more so on the read performance where we managed to reach over 400 MB/s at 412. Write performance, on the other hand, we managed just 197 MB/s, quite a bit under the 300 MB/s marketing numbers, and this was after testing on multiple systems, both Intel Z97 and X99 to verify the results.

With that said, the Apacer AH553 even with it not being able to reach its peak write potential in our testing, is a solid flash drive with more than enough performance for the average consumer or enthusiast. Adding to this is the reasonable MSRP, which for the Apacer AH553 in the 128GB capacity is set at $119.99 with a lifetime warranty.

Tyler's Test System Specifications

• Motherboard: ASUS Z97-A - Buy from Amazon / Read our review
• CPU: Intel Core i7 4770K - Buy from Amazon / Read our review
• Cooler: Corsair H100i GTX - Buy from Amazon / Read our review
• Memory: Patriot Viper 3 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3 1600 - Buy from Amazon
• Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 - Buy from Amazon / Read our review
• Storage: Intel 730 480GB - Buy from Amazon / Read our review
• Case: Corsair Obsidian 750D - Buy from Amazon / Read our review
• Power Supply: Thermaltake Toughpower 750W - Buy from Amazon / Read our review
• OS: Microsoft Windows 10 - Buy from Amazon