Intel Updates SSD Line: A Little Bit Faster, A Little Bit Cheaper
It’s been about a year since Intel’s quick-but-pricey Intel’s X-series SSDs started the market, so it’s about time for refresh. And hey, look: It’s a fresh pair of 34nm X25-M drives! (Spoiler: They’re almost exactly like the last ones.)
Intel’s got a lengthy spiel about how performance has been improved, albeit slightly, by the new fabrication process (they claim a 25% decrease in latency and slightly higher read/write performance), but the core of this upgrade, and the main benefit of switching to 34nm, is a lower price.
Looking again to Intel’s claims, there’s been a 60% decrease in price for the 80GB and 160GB models compared to original launch prices, which is strictly speaking correct. Thing is, neither of the drives have sold for anything near their initial prices for some time now, so although the new versions, priced at around $US225 for the 80GB and $US440 for the 160GB, will be more affordable than their predecessors, they won’t be budget drives by any means.
It’s been a year, so a capacity hike would’ve been nice. Without that, this feels like a transitional product—a necessary manifestation of solid-state storage’s slow crawl toward affordability, if not something many people will be ready to buy. Accordingly, I expect the second generation of 34nm to be awesome, so please, be awesome. [Intel]
- Next Post: Mini RC Helicopter Is Fueled By USB »
- « Previous Post: Samsung BD3252 Blu-ray Home-Theater-in-a-Box Actually Kind Of A Deal For $US800
Comments (AU Comments | US Comments)
Hum, the first hard drive I ever bought was 30Mb was a full height 5.25" drive and cost around $430. It used 8 bit RLL technology and probably weighed 3.5 lbs.
geschmidtt
I've said this before and I'll say it again. If any console manufacturing wants to be ambitious with digital distribution, they should make a completely digital console with 1TB of SSD space. "1TB of SSD!!! But that will cost too much!!!" I don't think so. I think by 2013, two 512GB SSD's could be manufactured for $100 each. Still expensive but I think the speed and reliability would be worth it.
Jitty
Id give anything for a 320GB SSD with decent read write @ 300 dollars.
@Segador: Raptors should still most likely be the go-to drive for desktops. But if you want a blazing drive in a laptop, the SSDs are the way to go with durability protection to boot.
Kalamaty
Well what did you expect from Intel?
Still not going to buy any Intel's high-priced trash, ever.
The Nacon
@Martin: I go easy on hard drive space. I don't know why, but 80GB has almost always been enough room for me. If I'm using the SSD as my primary logical drive, and velociraptors in a RAID 0 as my storage space, I don't think I'd need very much more than that... maybe 2 80's in a another RAID 0, but again, only if it's cost-effective.
@ISOHaven: Agreed, I dropped $330 on an 80GB X25-M as my system drive in my new laptop and it's the best bang for the buck I've gotten yet. I'm using a $96 500GB 7200RPM Seagate as my storage drive, so space isn't an issue either.
Dizznizzle
@DeusExMach has jumped the snark: Looks like this brings the $/GB of the Intel drives pretty close to that of the lesser known brands (Super Talent, OCZ, GSkill, etc.). Hopefully, this will trigger some price drops on their part. I'd be satisfied to see a 160GB+ drive with similar performance under $2/GB
@Segador:
conception
@Kaiser-Machead: Read this...
http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.aspx?i=3531&p=1
It's kind of TL;DR, but it's worth the read.
SSD honestly still has a way to go before I'll really consider it as a viable alternative to HDDs. Maybe as an OS drive only.
@Ben Longo:
I assume you are reffering to people with single drive laptops? You don't need these drives for large file storage. 80GB is more then enough for the average person for OS and Apps. Use platter drives for storage until they become a dime a dozen.
ISOHaven
It would be really sweet but I can't justify that cost for such low capacity.
bnetter12
The important fact that's being overlooked here is that these drives hardly ever sold for their retail price. What's to stop that from happening again? Getting the 160gb for $300 doesn't seem completely ludicrous.
Although, I agree with the idea that the tipping point is definitely going to be 320gb SSD's for a decent price.
Ben Longo
So what is the price-point that SSD's will be a viable cost-effective replacement for platter drives for most of us? I'm all for super-awesome read/write times, and it's obvious that SSDs are the future... but I don't think I'm willing to spend $3/GB after platters have dropped below $.15/GB. I'm holding out until we hit $2/GB at current SSD speeds.
@LelandBogdan: Likewise. I'd be willing to downgrade from 500 to 320 to get the durability of an SSD. That would be sweet.
Kaiser-Machead
Seeing as how Newegg is showing $314/$629 (for the old ones) I would have to say that's a MAJOR drop in price for brand new faster drives.
I agree, what's with the poor tone about the price? For one of the best SSD drives you can buy these prices are amazing! I want two 80GB for RAID0 on my desktop PC. Can't wait!!!!
ISOHaven
when do they appear in shops for crying out loud..
qiuness
While these are probably still pretty expensive. If you can afford an SSD, they are awesome. Battery power on my laptop doubled, heat went way down, everything opens super fast, and the whole computer experience is so much more pleasurable. It's getting more painful to use regular HDD's every day.
I want a SSD drive for my MBP, but 160gb is too small!
320gb would be nice.
LelandBogdan
So in a year, it'll be at a price point where normal mortals (like me) will actually buy these! Yay!
i find your enthusiasm lacking.. these are very nice drives and the price drop is huge!
the best consumer ssd's in the world are now among the cheapest, whats not to be excited about? I want one bad... oh a 320GB version is around the corner
drum
These will replace platter drives in less than 5 years - when the price becomes more reasonable. For now, I'll stick with a Raptor if I need a fast drive.
Segador
2 or 3 more years, then price point and capacity will equal a value I can appreciate
glamajamma