BiWin’s mini SSD transforms portable gaming storage with high-speed NVMe in tiny form

BiWin’s CL100 Mini SSD offers a compact, high-performance solution for handheld PC gamers, combining the speed of standard NVMe drives with a microSD-sized form factor, and potentially redefining upgradeability in portable gaming devices.

BiWin has turned an awkward problem for handheld PC gamers into a much neater one. The company’s CL100 Mini SSD is a tiny, removable NVMe drive aimed at portable gaming devices, with a footprint of just 15 x 17 mm and a casing that makes it roughly microSD-sized, yet far faster than the memory cards most handhelds rely on. Tom’s Hardware reported that the device is now being marketed for BiWin’s own handheld partners, including several OneXPlayer models and the GPD Win5.

That matters because storage in this class of machine is often a compromise. microSD cards are easy to add, but they usually cannot match the speed of an internal NVMe drive, while traditional M.2 2230 SSDs, such as those used in the Steam Deck, are larger and require the user to open the device. BiWin’s approach appears to be a manufacturer-specific slot that lets the drive be inserted in a manner closer to a memory card, reducing the inconvenience of upgrades and lowering the barrier to expansion on compact hardware.

Under the miniature shell, however, the CL100 Mini is not a cut-down proprietary storage format so much as a standard modern SSD in a small package. BiWin’s specification sheet identifies PCIe 4.0 x2 and NVMe 1.4 support, while ThinkComputers says the design uses LGA packaging to integrate the controller and flash into the compact chassis. That is important because it suggests the drive is built on familiar SSD architecture rather than a stripped-back, low-end controller made only for handhelds.

Performance is strong for something this small. BiWin says the drive reaches up to 3,700 MB/s on reads and 3,400 MB/s on writes, figures echoed across the product summaries and good enough for gaming workloads where fast level loading matters more than sustained workstation transfers. TechSpot also reported that BiWin claims support for the usual SSD management features, including caching, wear levelling, garbage collection and thermal throttling, which should help preserve responsiveness and endurance in a tightly packed device.

BiWin is also selling a separate USB-C reader for use as an external drive, although that accessory is slower than the internal slot and tops out at around 3,000 MB/s in each direction. Pricing, meanwhile, underlines both the novelty and the risk of the format: Tom’s Hardware reported 512GB and 1TB models at €139.99 and €259.99 respectively, while a 2TB version was listed by third-party sellers at €699.99, a steep premium even by portable-storage standards. That makes the CL100 Mini an intriguing fit for handheld PCs, but also a product whose wider appeal will depend on whether more device makers adopt the format.