They’re faster than hard drives, and save battery life, but do they last? Intel says yes, and has 80GB and 160GB SSDs on the way.
The big new capacities, unheard of in SSD notebooks like the Eee PC, will begin arriving overseas in September when Intel’s 80GB drive arrives, followed by the 160GB.
The drives will come in two flavours: 1.8in or 2.5in, under the product names Intel X18-M and X25-M Mainstream SSD.
Intel is claiming 5 years of “useful life” for the X-18M on client PCs, based on writing approximately 100GB of data every day. If those claims are accurate, then SSD may have a chance of dislodging regular hard drives as the storage method of choice for desktops and notebooks, especially given the speed increases.
Compared with a 5400 rpm hard disk drive, Intel says its SSDs achieve 9 times the performance under the PCMark Vantage benchmark. Common tasks like scans using Windows Defender are 40% faster, or so the stats say.
HP is using Intel SSDs and new Ultra-Low voltage Core 2 Duo chips, and an HP exec dropped the astonishing claim of 24 hour battery life for one of the models in a presentation here at IDF (at least, that’s what we think he said. If true, that is an amazing feat). Mind you, bloggers have pointed out that HP has included the use of an optional extra battery in some of its Elitebook battery life figures.
The chip you really want for long battery life
Ok, so the Eee PC and its ilk are getting all the attention – but how will the Atom chip in the new 901 compare with Intel’s new notebook wonder-chip?
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| Mini-me CPU: the new "SS" series Core 2 Duo, next to the regular version |
The silicon we mention are the new 45nm ultra low voltage Core 2 Duo processors launched today in the US.
Intel has now rolled out mini-CPUs across its mobile line, including 2 low voltage, 2 ultra low voltage, and new Core 2 Solo and Celerons (yes, they’re still around).
We haven’t had time to compare the wattages and sizes, but the pics speak for themselves. The new chips are small – down from 35mm square, to the low 20’s.
Remember the small-size CPUs that appeared with the launch of the MacBook Air? These new chips will hopefully result in some similar sized Windows machines, though the demo machines on show here in San Francisco aren’t wafer-thin like the Air.
Atom vs ULV - which is the best notebook chip?
So which chip do you chose for the ultimate on-the-go notebook? Atom’s advantage is the low sub 3 watt power usage, and will likely maintain the advantage for sheer battery savings.
Though it will be interesting to see the difference in performance. Maybe the deciding factor for ultraportable notebook buyers is not battery life, but performance once again.
Other notebook news from Intel this week at IDF:
WiMax isn't a dead duck - as we mentioned earlier, WiMAX mightn't be a force in Australia, but it's arriving soon in the US. NOtebooks with dual WiMAX/WiFi wireless will arrive from Toshiba, ASUS, Lenovo, Acer, and Sony. Interestingly, Intel's demo today pushed the idea that WiMAX video calls will be a lot less choppy than 3G. Not so great: Australia was notably absent from the global WiMAX projects mentioned by Intel.
Quad Core notebooks are here - Intel’s first mobile quad-core processors, the Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9300 and Core 2 Quad Q9100. We've seen some powerful gaming machines in our time, but this is ridiculous: 2.53GHz, 1066MHz FSB and 12MB cache.
The next big notebook codename - it's called Calpella, and it will bring Intel's new Nehalem CPU architecture to the notebook. No details yet.
Follow our Intel IDF 2008 coverage:
- IDF: Spot the Eee PC
- IDF: “Turbo mode” is back for PCs- Intel claims 5-year life for SSD
- IDF: The "Intel iPhone" not such a crazy idea
- Intel IDF: Spotted, a Centrino 2 desktop
- Intel promises “screaming performance” for Core i7- Live from Intel IDF - Atom, Centrino 2, Larrabee