Lexar previewed part of their CES lineup late last week—we got a quick briefing that outlined various upcoming portable SSDs, M.2 NVMe SSDs, and professional CFExpress cards. TPU staffers spent some quality time at the storage specialist's booth in Las Vegas—they have reported back that emphasis has been placed on Lexar's portable SSD products. The headliner appears to be the prominently placed ARMOR 700 Portable SSD—this boasts an extra rugged design, thus providing the level of on-the-go protection that is required by modern professionals.

The ARMOR 700 will be available in three capacities: 1 TB, 2 TB and 4 TB. Maximum read and write speeds of 2000 MB/s are advertised on Lexar's wall-mounted exhibit, with support for 6K RAW video files. The rugged and durable housing has been certified at IP65, with drop-resistant properties. The already released SL660 BLAZE Gaming Portable SSD was showcased at CES, but it was joined by a similar looking (non-RGB equipped) sibling—the new SL600 is a more sober looking option, aimed at professional types. The SL500 Portable SSD sports credentials for a wide range of purposes: mobile devices, laptops, cameras as well as gaming on current generation games consoles. Lexar states that the SL500 is powered by Silicon Motion Technology portable SSD controllers—with speeds up to 2000 MB/s read and 1800 MB/s write. Capacities noted on the exhibit wall are 1 TB, 2 TB and 4 TB—this applies to the SL600 specification as well.Additionally, TPU had a look at a couple of internal SSD options—Lexar's Professional NM1090 M.2 PCIe Gen 5 NVMe SSD packs performance for serious PC gamers. Maximum read speeds of 12,000 MB/s and write speeds of 11,000 MB/s are on tap here—nearing performance almost double that of PCIe Gen 4. The NM1090 is specced with DRAM cache, and sports an RGB-enriched heatsink + fan combo. Capacities are listed at 1 TB, 2 TB and 4 TB. The small form factor PLAY M.2 2230 PCIe 4.0 SSD (1 TB only) is aimed at gamers wanting to upgrade storage solutions within their handheld consoles or M.2 2230 compatible laptops. Lexar has upgraded its existing Professional NM800 PRO model with greater capacity options—4 TB and 8 TB versions are being readied. W1zzard deemed the 2 TB NM800 PRO worthy of an Editor's Choice award last spring, but noted some disappointment with the smaller number of capacities on offer back then. It is great to see Lexar acting on this feedback—from TPU and other publications.Lexar had an ARES RGB DDR5 RAM module mounted on their wall—official company blurb states that the top choice will have clocks coming in at 8400MT/s (with timings as low as CL40). TPU was informed by Lexar representatives that the 8000+ modules are earmarked for a March 2024 launch. 48 GB (2x24 GB) kits will become available, but in 8000 & 8400 form only. 32 GB (2x16 GB) is set throughout the ARES RGB DDR5 product line. TPU also took a moment to look at the semi-recently State-side released THOR DDR5 Desktop Memory product line. TPU's resident memory review boffin—ir_cow—will be issuing a THOR review very soon.Lexar had the cutting-edge Professional CFexpress 4.0 Type B Card (DIAMOND Series) on display. This flagship model is said to leverage the "latest PCIe Gen 4 for the powerful performance and accelerated post-production efficiencies that professionals demand—a blistering-fast max. read speed of 3600 MB/s and max. write of 3300 MB/s." The DIAMOND CFexpress 4.0 Type B Card offers next generation performance, that accommodates "smooth 8K RAW video" and rapid post production systems.The Professional CFexpress 4.0 Type A Card (GOLD Series) is aimed firmly at Type-A gear customers—"it also utilizes PCIe Gen 4 technology and is the world's fastest CFexpress Type A card with max. read speeds of 1800 MB/s and max. write speeds of 1650 MB/s." The series is future-proofed 8K RAW video.