Company claims SSDs that are "100% interchangeable" with HDDs. We want one in our notebook, we really do, but the price still stings.
SSD notebook drives are quickly becoming objects of desire -- especially if you want to keep power consumption and carrying weight low -- but they're still extremely expensive, and not exactly user-replaceable.
That may change in the very short term, with flash memory manufacturer Super Talent announcing the availability of SATA-II SSDs which, they claim, are "100% interchangeable" with existing hard drives.
We checked with Super Talent as to how far “100% compatible” went – it could mean just that they were pitching them at OEMs to replace existing notebook HDD designs, after all.
Super Talent’s Amy Deng told us that “In the past, SSDs were so expensive that regular consumers weren't able to afford them. We were targeting Industrial and military users only” she said. “Now, the new drives cost only 1/5 of the old version. We think it's finally within the consumer's reach.”
Price is pretty much the key thing with these drives. While they’re still nowhere near as cheap as mechanical drives, where AU$100 can score you 500GB of storage, the newer SSDs do offer a glimpse into a cheaper SSD future.
Super Talent's drives run from US$299 for a 30GB, 120/40MB/s drive, all the way up US$1299 for a 60GB,120/70MB/s drive. More enticing is the US$699, 120GB drive, although that does share the slower speed profile with the 30GB cheap drive.