Few things can make a Mac user look longingly at a PC, but these new Seagate drives might just do the trick. The storage company has released a special edition FireCuda PCIe Gen4 NVMe SSD that lights up like a lightsaber when plugged in and has interchangeable dark side and light side covers. And it’s extremely doubtful that Apple will support them when the new Mac Pro arrives.
First, the specs – the drive is available in 1TB or 2TB versions with a PCIe Gen4×4 NVMe 1.4 interface and an M.2 2280 with a custom low-profile heatsink. Seagate promises read speeds of up to 7,300MB/s and write speeds of up to 6,900MB/s. In PCWorld’s tests on the corresponding FireCuda 530, the drive was the fastest they’ve ever used (at this time in 2021) and earned an Editor’s Choice recommendation even without the cool Star Wars branding.
Speaking of which, the player has a glowing light strip inside with a small hilt to look like one of three lightsabers – Obi-Wan Kenobi (white), Darth Vader (red) and Luke Skywalker (blue) – which can be interchanged according to the mood of your PC. There are many PC RGB parts out there, but this is one of the few with smart use. The drive costs $280 for 2TB, which is very reasonable compared to Apple’s storage price.
They are quite amazing. Granted, you’ll need a clear PC case and a neat design to show it off properly, but I can’t help but wish Apple had a Mac that let me use one. Even the next Mac Pro is extremely unlikely to support PCIe Gen4×4 NVMe SSDs because Apple Silicon Macs use a proprietary PCIe storage system. Plus, it’s highly unlikely that Apple will offer a clear version of the Mac Pro anyway, or anything as fun or unique as this.
So for now, I’ll just have to look enviously at the PC specs on Reddit and hope Apple comes up with a solution. Maybe in a galaxy far, far away…
