Visual inspection
The ACASIS TBU401E is an M.2 SSD enclosure that is made entirely out of metal, aluminum to be exact. The enclosure is made out of two pieces of aluminum, the main body and the top casing. The texture of the ACASIS TBU401E is smooth with a flake silver paint applied on all sides.
The enclosure is compatible with SSDs that have the M.2 2280 form factor and both M-key & B+M key SSDs.
The TBU401E has fins carved into its sides, this is done to create more cooling surface area. While a good idea and it will help, these fins are not thin and tall enough to make a sizeable difference with the heat dissipation.
The SSD enclosure has a single input and output port, a USB type C. This port is located on the narrower side of the enclosure. Next to this USB port you have a small blue activity LED.
The PCB installed inside the TBU401E is attached to the enclosure with four Phillips screws. All components are installed on the underside of the PCB.
The controller used on this enclosure is made by Realtek and is the model RTL9210B. This controller is what adapts the M.2 socket to the USB type C connector.
For the Thunderbolt functionality, an Intel JHL7540 Thunderbol 3 Controller is used. This model is widely used in Thunderbolt enabled devices, especially adapters and external enclosures.
The ASMedia ASM1480 chip, is in fact a 16 to 8 channel multiplexer that is responsible for switching the signal between the outputs of the enclosure.
The installation of an M.2 SSD inside the TBU401E enclosure is done with ease, as you simply use the included rubber push pins to secure the SSD in the M.2 Socket.
The included thermal pads have different thicknesses, one is 1mm while the other is 0.5mm. Unfortunately, neither of them is the required thickness to make the contact between the SSD and the metal surface of the enclosure. While you could stack the thermal pads and it will work, it will not be the same heat transfer as with a single thermal pad that is the correct thickness.
I am sorry about my previous comment as you have already mentioned the configuration of computer. My concern was how this combination performs on Mac computers.
Don’t worry about it! 🙂