Faster NAND Flash (SSD) in Late 2008
With the introduction of the MacBook Air, Apple offered a new mass storage option for the first time -- Solid State Drives (SSD). The Solid State Drive takes the place of the traditional Hard Disk Drive (HDD) as the place to store your files. Being based on NAND Flash ram, SSD boasts the advantages of being more reliable, using less battery and being faster in certain circumstances.
Intel and Micron announced last week that they have developed a new high-speed NAND flash chip which can reach speeds up to 200 Megabytes/second reads and 100 Megabytes/second writes. Conventional Single-Level-Cell Flash memory is reportedly limited to 40 Megabytes/second reads and 20 Megabytes/second writes.
Mass production of an 8GB Solid State Drive based on the technology is expected by the end of 2008. This "high-speed" drive is expected to carry a significant premium and will first be targeted at the professional market.
Meanwhile, for general consumers, prices on more conventional NAND flash appears to be falling, with prices dropping as much as 75% since August 2007. The dropping price of NAND Flash made the offering of SSD possible in the MacBook Air, though still at premium prices. These price drops should also trickle down to Apple's other Flash-based products, such as the iPhone and iPod Touch. The iPhone has been rumored to be due for a revision sometime this year, with the possibilities of increased storage and the introduction of 3G networking.
Intel and Micron announced last week that they have developed a new high-speed NAND flash chip which can reach speeds up to 200 Megabytes/second reads and 100 Megabytes/second writes. Conventional Single-Level-Cell Flash memory is reportedly limited to 40 Megabytes/second reads and 20 Megabytes/second writes.
Mass production of an 8GB Solid State Drive based on the technology is expected by the end of 2008. This "high-speed" drive is expected to carry a significant premium and will first be targeted at the professional market.
Meanwhile, for general consumers, prices on more conventional NAND flash appears to be falling, with prices dropping as much as 75% since August 2007. The dropping price of NAND Flash made the offering of SSD possible in the MacBook Air, though still at premium prices. These price drops should also trickle down to Apple's other Flash-based products, such as the iPhone and iPod Touch. The iPhone has been rumored to be due for a revision sometime this year, with the possibilities of increased storage and the introduction of 3G networking.
Top Rated Comments
(View all)53 months ago
It's not like you can't add a SSD aftermarket to any other Mac. :rolleyes:
It's kinda obvious that the technology is going to get faster and cheaper with more consumption. Does anyone know of any hard drive makers on the SSD field?
It's kinda obvious that the technology is going to get faster and cheaper with more consumption. Does anyone know of any hard drive makers on the SSD field?
53 months ago
It's not like you can't add a SSD aftermarket to any other Mac. :rolleyes:
It's kinda obvious that the technology is going to get faster and cheaper with more consumption. Does anyone know of any hard drive makers on the SSD field?
MacLife wrote about a 32GB SATA SSD 2.5" installed in a MacBook Pro.
http://www.maclife.com/article/dv_nation_mtron_32gb_sata_ssd
Cost? $725 for 32GB.
arn
53 months ago
MacLife wrote about a 32GB SATA SSD 2.5" installed in a MacBook Pro.
http://www.maclife.com/article/dv_nation_mtron_32gb_sata_ssd
Cost? $725 for 32GB.
arn
53 months ago
It would be nice if we could move to directly PMC (programmable metallization cell) which is 1,000 more effective than existing flash memory, at 1/10 of the size. Hopefully by 2009.......
53 months ago
SSD is too new for me to buy. I mean 32GB for over $900??? Totally not worth it for me. I give it about 1-3 years for the prices to drop.
53 months ago
When I read 128gb SSD option for half the price of the current SSD upgrade, thats when I start to get my credit card out.
Reading 8gbs makes me think of an iPhone, not a portable computer.
Reading 8gbs makes me think of an iPhone, not a portable computer.
53 months ago
It might be entertaining if someone managed to mod a 1.8" magnetic drive plus a SSD like the upcoming Sandisk Vaulter into the 2.5" bay in a notebook. I think the two together might weigh less than a 2.5" drive, and might be a really interesting combination.
53 months ago
just make a faster 1.8'' plater that runs 5400?
You run into physical limitations of the components. Not to mention higher seek times (the heads need to physically move and the disk needs to spin up).
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