Design and Features

The design of the USB disk itself is quite unique in that it resembles the silhouette of the monocoque chassis of F1 racer and with almost a chameleon like trait, its overall design and shape varies depending on the angle of view. Apart from the SanDisk Ducati USB disk (which is shaped after a MotoGP racing bike) or novelty USB drives to the best of our knowledge and research there is nothing else like it, the entire disk is bent like a banana with the USB connector 90degrees, giving the disk an ergonomic property when being held by ones fingers.

Aigo call their creation an ‘arc’ design.

The silver aluminium skin of the USB disk is highly polished to a mirror like finish and surrounded by a red aluminium band and a rubber base. A chrome finished loop for the lanyard makes up the tail of the disk. Branding is present on the top and bottom.

By default the USB plug is in the retracted position and the user needs to manually extend or retract the USB connector. The Push button to actuate this was solid and weighted and some force is required to extend and retract the USB connector. During testing the connector on our review unit remained tight. The plug itself uses gold contacts for longevity.

Given the nature of this device, it would have been good to see some form of spring loaded mechanism to extend and retract the connector but such a feature may prove unreliable over time and add to an already expensive and large device.

The Base of the drive, resembling the under chassis is in black rubber to give non slip properties when holding or inserting/removing the disk.

This is no sleek drive by a long shot. It requires two stacked USB ports in height and in some installations may conflict with an adjacent plug or prevent a notebook computer from being placed flat on a surface. This trait is also present with other large format USB devices and our testing indicated that the chassis of the McLaren disk was designed with enough attention for it to fit within most rear USB ports and some front ports without hassle. Users will need to use the bundled 85CM long fully USB compliant extension cable to use the disk in some scenarios.

This extension cable is of a generic variety and does not complement the design of the McLaren U disk. Perhaps aigo should take a page from the Belkin N1 USB Wireless adapter’s book whose design of the stand/cradle matches the USB device.

The disk has no access light whatsoever which we feel helps the user to know that the drive is not being accessed so that the drive can be removed. The upper text branding or the lower red aluminium band or even the rear chrome lanyard hoop could have benefited from a red ‘brake light’ such as on the SanDisk Ducati USB disk.

This product contains reference to corporate branding and advertising in the form racing team sponsors Vodafone and Mercedes-Benz, while the package claims these are provided for reference only we cannot help to ignore any possible licensing or cross promotion arrangements and feel that this branding makes the product resemble a promotional item rather than a premium product. If the product was simply branded  ‘McLaren’ just as with other premium products bearing the mark then it becomes easier to justify the asking price from the purchasers point of view.