The Lexar Play X SSD combines an M.2 2230 drive with an adapter into a handy and speedy package, but you won't find it in the US yet

Even amongst the turmoil of the RAM Storage Crisis, new SSDs haven't stopped dropping. But the Lexar Play X PCIe 4.0 M.2 NVMe SSD sets itself apart from other new releases by providing storage for PC and handheld fans in one.

The best SSDs for gaming traditionally come in a 2230 or 2280 form factor, and you need to decide which is best for you before you check out your online shopping basket. Lexar has instead packaged a 2230 drive alongside a 2280 bracket, so you have the best of both worlds and can decide what's right for you right until the very moment you need to install. Without a gaming laptop or a handheld that's suited for a compact Gen 4 drive, I wasn't able to take full advantage of Lexar's ingenuity. That being said, Lexar's hybrid SSD was still a solid and speedy addition to my desktop PC.

Design

If you've ever upgraded the storage of your PC, you're probably more familiar with 2280-sized drives, however, the Play X consists of both a 2230 and 2280 in one. Smaller 2230 drives aren't anything new, but they're usually marketed specifically towards those with gaming laptops or handhelds, rather than being offered as a storage solution that's "compatible with M.2 2230/2280 slots."

Lexar achieves this wider range of compatibility by including a 2280 adapter with the smaller drive right in the box. This was a relief for me, as my current testing rig doesn't facilitate drives with a 2230 form factor. Once the adapter is hooked up, the Play X looked and acted more like a traditional 2280 SSD, so if you're in the market for a traditional 2280 option, don't let the 'hybrid' nature of this option put you off.

Features

The Lexar Play X is a PCIe 4.0 M/2 NVMe SSD drive that's available in 512 GB, 1 TB, and 2 TB capacities. For this review, I was provided with the 1 TB model, which offered me 952 GB to play around with once formatted as part of my testing rig, which is pretty much what I'd expect.

The drive is powered by TLC NAND flash and according to Lexar, is designed to deliver "instant game loading and rapid level transitions" with its on-the-box 7,400 MB/s and 6,500 MB/s sequential read and write speeds. The brand's older Play 2230 PCIe 4.0 SSD was able to achieve read and write speeds up to to 5500 MB/s and 4,700 MB/s, respectively, so this is a big step up from its predecessor.

Additionally, Lexar packs in a 5-year warranty with the drive, though with an endurance rating of 1,200 TBW for the 2TB model, you shouldn't need to rely on it. The SSD is also packaged with a set of two stickers, so you can label them at your discretion. They have a slight holographic sheen to them, which I really appreciated, even if I never saw them once the storage was inserted into my motherboard.

Performance

Slotting the compact Lexar Play X SSD into the adapter was pretty straightforward, but I can't pretend there wasn't a lot of hesitancy before I put the two together. Gaming storage is worth its weight in gold right now, and my anxiety led me to believe I was going to break both along the way.

I thankfully didn't, as otherwise you wouldn't be reading this very review. Once it was all set up I was able to format it like any other traditional 2280 Gen 4 SSD. Afterwards, I ran it through CrystalDiskMark, where I was able to achieve average 7,074.43 and 6,551.29 MB/s read and write speeds. Compared to 7,400 MB/s and 6,500 MB/s as advertised on the box, the drive came pretty close and even managed to do slightly better than expected when it came to write speeds. Write speeds measure how fast a drive can save data, so this is good news if you need storage for not just gaming, but saving hefty amounts of information, which can be pretty common if you're an artist or a content creator on the side.

It missed the mark slightly where read speeds were concerned, but anything above 7,000 MB/s is still what I hoped to see. Regardless, all of those numbers don't mean much when they're not put to the test by running actual games, which is exactly what I did next. Loading up Counter-Strike 2 took an average of 25.61 seconds (over a period of three tests) to get to the menu screen where my booted-up character was waiting. While it wasn't faster than the built-in PNY CS1030 drive of my testing rig, there was only a 2.62-second difference. This set a precedent for the rest of my tests, as Lexar's drive wasn't faster than my onboard storage, but it wasn't that far behind, with just a few-second differences each time.

That's not exactly the "instant game loading" the marketing spiel stated it would be, but the lightning-fast loading times were still felt. No matter if I was loading up CS2, Dispatch, Marvel Rivals, or a plethora of my other current gaming obsessions like Mina the Hollower and Peak, there was no moment where I grew impatient waiting for anything to load, nor did I experience any noticeable differences running games straight off the SSD as compared to the onboard drive.

During testing, the compact storage managed to keep its cool too. While I still don't have a DC meter at my disposal, checking the Windows 11 settings informed me that the Play X managed to sit around 40% for the majority of the time I had it equipped in my rig, only bouncing up to 48% at the most when I was putting it through its paces running Marvel Rivals. That's pretty much what you'd expect, with the Samsung 990 SSD reaching similar temps while part of the same setup.

Much to my chagrin, I didn't have a compatible setup to test the Play X in its 2230 form factor alone. With that in mind, I can't justly say that it'd be the best addition to your laptop or PC handheld over alternatives, but if it's able to putter along at the same (or similar) speeds as I managed to achieve on the PC, you'd likely be in good hands with this small but mighty drive.

Should you buy the 1TB Lexar Play X SSD?

The Lexar Play X has yet to be released in the US, so the question of whether any of you across the pond should buy it can be answered pretty quickly.

For those of you in the UK, the answer is a little more layered. The 1TB model I reviewed today is sitting at £241.99 at Amazon, and even amongst the RAM-pocalypse, there are plenty of 1 TB options out there which are far cheaper. In the end, I'd still recommend this as an option should you want a 2230/2280 hybrid drive with fast speeds and if your budget can allow for it.

Plenty of older 2230 drives can't muster the same prowess as that of the Lexar Play X, including the brand's own past releases. The 1TB 2230 Lexar Play SSD launched with box quoted 5200MB/s and 4700MB/s read and write speeds, so you'd be getting more bang for your buck. Well, if the 2230 form can muster the same performance it managed when attached to its 2280 adapter, anyway.

If budget is at the forefront of your mind, I'm still going to recommend doing your best to pick up the 1 TB Samsung 990 Pro instead, which tops our general and best SSD for PS5 guides. It's reached as high as £229.99 at Amazon in May earlier this year, according to my CamelCamelCamel price checker, but can drop below the £200 mark without a heatsink. If that option is available to you (and you're looking for a 2280 design and not a 2230 one), that should always be your priority. However, Lexar's Play X is a valid choice if you must have have hybrid form factor at your disposal.

By the way, there's a chance I put the stickers on the wrong way round during testing, so feel free to excuse that in the photos.

How I tested the 1TB Lexar Play X SSD

I put the Lexar Play X SSD through its paces by attaching the 2230 drive to its 2280 adapter, hooking that up to the M.2 drive of my testing PC. Afterwards, I formatted the drive and used the CrystalDiskMark benchmarking tool, where I ran the drive through a series of four tests and calculated an average from those speeds. That average was then compared to its advertised on-the-box speeds. Additionally, I downloaded titles like Marvel Rivals, Counter-Strike 2, and Dispatch via Steam and timed how long it took to load to their respective start screens and compared this to past SSDs that I've tested so far. To read more about the ways we test SSDs and the rest of our gaming tech, have a look at how we test SSDs and our hardware policy.

Check out our guides to the best SSDs for PS5, the best PS5 external hard drive, and the best Xbox Series X hard drive if your gaming platform of choice could use a little boost.