OCZ Vertex 2 120GB SSD

OCZ's Vertex range of solid-state disks (SSD) runs to several models, some of which are eye-wateringly expensive.

When we looked at the original 60GB Vertex over a year ago we thought it was good but expensive.

Now the second-generation Vertex 2 offers 120GB of storage for around the same price (despite the £180 RRP, it's on sale for £143 from Amazon). A newer Vertex 3 is also available but, for most home users, the extra £60 isn't really worth it and the Vertex 2 is the one to get.

It's designed to replace a normal computer hard disk, giving faster starting times for the computer and for programs. Our tests showed big improvements in speeds compared with a hard disk, although the available space is a lot smaller. A good idea is to put Windows and programs on an SSD (120GB is plenty) and use another hard disk for your documents, music, video and so on.

It's a 2.5in disk, laptop size, but comes with a bracket to fit a desktop PC.

Performance was also around 25 per cent better than that of the Kingston SSD Now V100 also reviewed by Computeractive, which makes the OCZ disk a winner, and an upgrade that will definitely improve your computer's performance.