Flashy HP drives join PNY lineup

Storage hardware and consumer PC peripherals manufacturer PNY recently announced it had added a new lineup of HP USB flash drives and memory products in the Australian market for the first time.

The launch centred on four unique flash drives, which PNY sent to CRN to have a look at, the HP x796w, HP x760w, HP v245w and HP v150w.

PNY manufactures its own portable USB drives and thumbsticks too but has struck up a partnership with HP to strengthen its offering and lineup in-country, with devices sold at JB-Hi Fi outlets.

“These HP products are part of PNY’s major and continued commitment to launching high-quality memory products into Australia and New Zealand,” PNY director for ANZ sales Richard Clare said.

“They are the first of many across the entire HP memory product range that we will launch locally.”

USB sticks come in all shapes and sizes, most are forgettable. What we can say about HP’s unit PNY are bringing to the market is that they look pretty good and are offered in a variety of designs to suit the user.

From humble beginnings at the beginning of the 21st century, USB flash drives have obviously come leaps and bounds in terms of data transfer rates and capacity. Iterating on their design in ways that make them functional beyond their simple purpose has its challenges though. 

HP has sought to add new character, variety and utility to their hardware in recent years, something you can see clearly in their PC lineup. To see the similar design values applied to swag as routine as USB sticks is refreshing. 

The USB devices now in the ANZ market through PNY are as follows: 

The HP x796w is a USB 3.1 (and backwards compatible with USB 2) drive encased in metal that has a sunken push-pull slide that retracts the connector. Sizes range from 32GB up to 1TB.

The USB 3.1 HP x760w is a smaller form device that combines an uncased ‘naked’ design with a spring-hook that can be clipped to keychains or backpack zippers.

The HP x245w is a USB 2.1 device and is housed in a rubbery, shock-and-water-resistant enclosure. It has a handy cap holder attached to it. Comes in two colours: orange and purple.

The HP v150w is another USB 2.1 device with a capless sliding design in a sleek blue enclosure, the thumbstick has a key loop for attaching to keyrings, bags.

PNY's hardware lineup also includes solid-state drives, RAM, Nvidia graphics cards, cable accessories and more.