The company says the Serial ATA (SATA) drive is compatible with notebook computer systems that use a 2.5 inch and can be used as a drop-in replacement for existing drives.
SanDisk has already started volume production of the 32GB SSD, which is expected to start appearing in notebook computers soon. The 2.5 inch drive fits in the same 2.5 inch internal drive as 2.5 inch disk drives, so notebook manufactures can switch to the SSD without hardware design modifications.
The solid-state drives have advantages over traditional spinning-disk storage. SanDisk says they are more durable and reliable, with two million hours mean time between failures – six times longer than most drives.
SSD storage is up to 100 times faster than disk, is more power efficient which leads to longer battery life, and is cooler and quieter than disk.
The drawback of SSD is that it is more expensive – the new SanDisk product is priced at US$350 (A$445) in volume purchases. And 32GB is relatively small.
“The SanDisk 2.5-inch SSD brings the extreme durability, outstanding performance and low power consumption of solid-state flash memory to the entire notebook computer market,” said SanDisk Computing Systems division vice-president Amos Marom.
“As SanDisk continues to drive innovation in flash memory, the per-gigabyte price of SSD storage will come down and SSD capacity will go up,” Mr Maron said.
“PC manufacturers and consumers will find it easier and easier to move away from rotating hard disks to the superior experience of SSDs.”
For more Mobile Computing news click here .
