GoKawiilInternal Mac storage upgrades are expensive, often causing users to resort to external media when possible. That also has its own problems of sometimes compromising on speed or reliability. HyperDrive Next aims to bridge that gap, by bringing incredible performance to external drives for your Mac.
Announced at CES 2026 earlier this year, the HyperDrive Next supports up to 80Gbps over USB 4 v2.0. This means it’s useful for not only SSDs, but also other M.2 cards, like AI accelerators and networking cards. The enclosure offers two USB-C ports, one for throughput and one for external power, to support such.
Personally, my favorite feature about the HyperDrive Next is the fact that it can fit an SSD that has a built in heatsink. Many higher speed SSDs have heatsinks nowadays, but a lot of M.2 enclosures don’t support such. The HyperDrive Next does. It’s also completely tool-free and offers IP55 dust and water resistance.
I can’t say I’ve been able to test its capabilities for AI cards or networking expansion, but its support for 80Gbps is really what makes this possible over other options on the market.
As for SSD speeds, I’ve tested using my 2TB WD Black SN850X and hit write speeds as high as 3167MB/s and read speeds as high as 3092MB/s. For reference, the internal 2TB SSD on my M3 iMac gets around 3273MB/s write and 2984MB/s read. So, about on par – which is fantastic if you’ve otherwise been hesitant to external drives for speed reasons.
Obviously, your mileage will vary based on what drive you buy to put inside the enclosure. Nonetheless, the fantastic peak speeds, excellent aluminum enclosure, water and dust resistance (when using the included silicone case), and versatility make the HyperDrive Next a fantastic enclosure for your M.2 accessories.
It’s a bit pricey at $199.99, but certainly worth a look if you want the best of the best. You can purchase one on Amazon.
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