Dell Mini 9 with 32GB SSD an Extra $100

Mini 9 buyers can now opt for a decent 32GB solid state drive and all for only a $100upgrade over the cost of the standard 4GB SSD. Thats a pretty decent deal by any standard.

Toshiba Announce 256GB SSD for Laptops & 32GB SSD for Netbooks

Toshiba have shown their new 256GB SSD Drive, which features a 120MB maximum read and 70MBps write speed which is done via a 3.0Gbps SATA interface. This 2.5-inch drive measures just 3.0-mm thick. Toshiba also announced new 8GB, 16GB and 32GB SATA based flash modules for the netbook market. Although slower than other SSD's the price should make them attractive.

Seagate To Make SSD's

Seagate have announced that they will be making SSDs. This decision is despite CEO Bill Watkins apparently ridiculous stand on not getting the appeal of SSDs. Mr Watkins has been very public about downplaying the appeal of this storage technology and has also been responsible for spearheading legal efforts against companies that produce SSDs. Although Watkins is right about the cost differences between disk based drives and SSDs, this price difference should come down dramatically in the next couple of years and given the more stable SSD platform, which is by its very nature less prone to mechanical failure, the SSD drive should become a force to be reckoned with.

Samsung Announce 256GB SSD

Solid State Drives are increasingly being looked at as the future of portable data storage, and Samsung have just raised the stakes by announcing a 256GB SSD. The NAND Flash memory based MLC 256GB SSD drive is a 2.5in SATA II drive that's only 9.5mm thick. It looks like the battle for the thinnest large capacity SSD in on. The Drive is also very fast, with a purported data read rate of up to 200MB per second, and all this whilst consuming only 0.9Watts in active mode. Samsung will start mass producing it by the end of this year.

Apple MacBook Air's Compared

Ars Technica have produced an Article which compares the Macbook Air SSD with the MacBook Air HDD. The review/article raises some interesting questions about both variants and challenges the claims Apple are making about the units power longevity and the differences between SSD and HDD equipped tech. The 64GB SDD version can be had for and additional $1300 instead of the traditional 80GB ATA hard drive. Their SSD version also came a slightly faster processor which was running at 1.8 GHz instead of the base 1.66 GHz. Ars Technica concluded that the SDD version is just not worth bothering with yet. Oh and about the battery life, they figured it was about 2.5 hours instead of the promised 5 hours. I'd like to see some more reviews like this, to see if that figure's an anomaly, or par for the course...

Samsung Unveil 64GB SSD Drive

Samsungs new 1.8-inch 64GB SSD doubles the capacity of their current SLC NAND-based 32GB SSD, indications are that it's up to 60% faster too. Mass production of this 1.8-inch replacement for hard disks is expected to begin in Q2. Thanks to Engadget for this bit of news...

Super Talent - Super Flash Drives

On the Heels of Announcements by SanDisK and Intel, Super Talent have announce their SATA based line of SSD Drives. They are releasing 1.8" ultraportable laptop models, 2.5" laptop models and 3.5" desktop models. These drives will have capacities from 16GB to 128GB. With 1.8" Drives in 16GB and 32GB; 2.5" Drives in 16GB, 32GB and 64GB; 3.5" Drives in 64GB and 128GB configurations. With Solid State Drives in these capacities look for Laptops whith some excellent startup times and capacities as well as performance and longevity improvements.