The Inland TN436 is a purpose-built retail SSD designed to fit smaller devices like Valve. steam deckMicrosoft’s water surfaceand a specific ultrabookIt also works with computers and other devices with proper fitting for 2230 drives. Drives of this size are typically single-sided and have lower performance than most drives. best SSDbut may result in less power consumption and less heat generation.
Its small form factor makes it difficult to cram a lot of capacity, but the TN436 offers a generous 1 TB, but at a relatively high price. Devices like the Steam Deck use his OEM drives and replacements are usually not officially supported, but off-the-shelf drives like the TN436 have the advantage of having a full warranty.
The TN436 appears to be the OEM retail version. Kioxia BG5 It uses relatively new hardware, but nothing cutting edge. There are certainly worse drives out there. Purchasing OEM drives from a secondary site carries some risk, so having a retail option is nice. The Steam Deck’s success means that such drives should be more commonly offered.If so, a new controller – like Phison E21T and SMI SM2269XT – may be paired with new flash on other retail 2230 drives in the future.
These drives inevitably come with some premium. A higher level of performance than the TN436 would be nice, but not required. The focus is often on power consumption and heat generation. This is because battery life and performance throttling are very real issues in high-end portable devices. For now, however, the TN436 at least offers an opportunity to upgrade without the hassle of dealing with his OEM SSD in the aftermarket.
specification
| product | 1TB |
| price | $139.99 |
| form factor | M.2 2230 |
| interface/protocol | PCIe 4.0 x 4 |
| controller | Phison E19T |
| DRAM | none |
| flash memory | Kioxia 112-layer BiCS5 TLC |
| Sequential read | 3,400MBps |
| Sequential write | 2,400MBps |
| random read | 320K |
| random write | 500K |
| safety | none |
| Endurance (TBW) | 600TBW |
| part number | 409375 |
| guarantee | 6 years |
Inland TN436 is only available in 1 TB. It’s technically a PCIe 4.0 drive, but it’s only rated up to 3,400 / 2,400 MBps for sequential reads and writes respectively. It also supports up to 320K/500K IOPS, read and write. Special is the 2230 or 22 x 30 mm form factor, which fits special devices such as Valve’s Steam Deck and Microsoft’s Surface series.
Inland backs this drive with a good 6 year, 600TBW warranty. This drive retails for $139.99 on Micro Center’s site. It’s now much higher than that on Amazon. It’s one of the few retail drives currently available in the form factor, so it’s a little pricey.
Software and accessories
Inland’s SSDs are usually sold in bare minimum with no software support.
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The Inland TN436 is a small drive in the M.2 2230 form factor. This makes it ideal for certain devices that can only use short SSDs. Its NAND package is separate from the controller and has no DRAM. Some smaller drives combine the controller and DRAM into one package, but this has some drawbacks. A different controller is cheaper and easier to cool, plus you can replace the flash. Since this drive is single-sided, steam deck.
Many motherboards have standoffs or offset holes for 2230 drives, so the TN436 may also be advantageous for HTPCs and other minimalist devices. NVMe enclosures commonly use 2230 drives, so this SSD makes life easier.
The TN436 uses a DRAM-less Phison E19T controller. This is a 28nm controller with a 1200 MT/s bus, ostensibly PCIe 4.0, but not significantly faster than PCIe 3.0 controllers like the Phison E15T. This is an improvement over the old Phison E13T, which is often used in 2230 form factor drives, including his OEM on Steam Deck. However, a newer, faster and more efficient 12nm Phison E21T could be available in this form factor in the near future.
TN436 is Kioxia BG5 Therefore, 112-layer BiCS5 TLC should be adopted. This flash WD Black SN770, WD Black SN850Xand the 8TB Sable Rocket 4 Plusbut lags generationally behind TLCs made by other manufacturers, such as those used in SK Hynix Platinum P41, samsung 990 proWhen many others SSDs.
Some great budget drives combine the Phison E21T with Micron’s new 176-layer TLC. silicon power UD90 When Team MP44LThis makes such a combination possible in this form factor, making it a great choice. Of course, BiCS5 has options for higher density dies, and capacity is limited by his one NAND package to just a single-sided 2230 SSD. There are plenty of OEM options out there, but the Inland TN436 is one of the few retail options, at least for now.
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