P300 has three options for 256 GB SSD, two of which seem identical

Question

I'm strongly considering a ThinkStation P300 Tower. I would like my primary/boot drive to be an SSD, and as discussed here, that means I should select the SSD as the "First Hard Drive Bay" in the online configurator. For the P300, there are three different entries for 256 GB SSDs (I'll label them (i), (ii), and (iii)): (i) 2.5" 256GB SATA SolidState Drive [add $200.00]
(ii) 2.5" 256GB SATA Solid State Drive (OPAL) [add $200.00]
(iii) 256GB SATA 2.5" Solid State Drive (OPAL) [add $200.00] As you can see, all three are the same price (i.e., $200 USD above the base price). What is the difference between (i), (ii), and (iii)? OK, so obviously (ii) and (iii) have OPAL, whereas (i) doesn't. I'm not a computer expert, and I hardly know what OPAL is; a web search tells me that it is a standard by which data on a hard drive can be encrypted such that if the drive is stolen, the data has some additional layer of protection. My thinking is that even if I purchase an OPAL drive, I would need to somehow enable that functionality if I wanted it. So, maybe (ii) and (iii) are OPAL capable but not OPAL ready "out of the box"? Anyway, OPAL aside, what is the difference between (ii) and (iii)? Well, as far as I can tell, they are the same. I suppose one possibility is that they ARE the same and the duplicate entry is just a typo. Another possibility is that they are drives with the same, or essentially the same, specs but made by different manufacturers (Samsung? Seagate? Intel? etc.). Inbound Sales didn't know. I don't necessarily expect you to know, but do you have any idea what is the difference between the three 256 GB SSDs, and especially between (ii) and (iii)? Thanks for your time; you have been SO generous with it!

Answer 1

Good question, and good catch on the configurator.  
I don't know for sure why the configurator is listing two different drives for (ii) and (iii)...on the surface they appear to be the same.  I have a couple of theories as to why it's showing like that, but I need to go back and confirm before I put those out there as it could just cause a lot of confusion.  Based on what I know of the drives qualified and those actually available, I'd say in the 256GB OPAL class, there are maybe 4 different drives that your system could be built with...likely fewer as I suspect some of those have gone EOL.
My guess, based on the pricing, is that in reality those selections are essentially the same.  Probably just an oversight that both are listed.
I'm also looking into why that drive listing is so haphazard overall....it's really difficult to navigate.