Solid-state laptops head for mainstream

Solid-state laptops have taken a step further towards the mainstream with the arrival of a 32GB Nand Flash drive from memory giant Sandisk.

The launch of the 1.8in Sandisk solid state disk drive (SSD), designed to replaced the traditional hard drive, follows Samsung's release of an all-sold-state Q1 Origami ultra-mobile last year. That uses a similar 32GB drive.

SSDs are quieter and significantly faster than hard disks because they have no moving parts. Also, they draw less than half the power. But disk makers are pushing rival hybrid drives that pack both high-capacity magnetiuc platters and gigabytes of flash.

The Sandisk SSD has a sustained read rate of 62Mb per second and a random read rate of 7,000 inputs/outputs per second for a 512-byte transfer – more than 100 times faster than most hard disk drives.

Sandisk says a laptop using the SSD drive can boot Microsoft Windows Vista Enterprise in as little as 35 seconds.

“Once we begin shipping the 32GB SSD for notebook PCs, we expect to see its increasing adoption in the coming years as we continue to reduce the cost of flash memory,” said Eli Harari, Sandisk CEO.

“When these SSD devices become more affordable, we expect that their superior features over rotating disk drives will create a new consumer category for our retail sales channels worldwide. It is projected the SanDisk 32GB SSD will cost around $600 in the first half of 2007.”

Robert Gray, analyst with IDC, commented: “There has been a huge increase in demand for NAND flash memory over the past few years from consumer devices such as digital cameras, MP3 players and mobile phones.”

He added: “There are dramatically higher bit capacities and lower prices, so the technology is now well positioned to be the foundation for new generations of potentially disruptive solid state drives. Enterprise mobile PC users will find the high performance and low power consumption especially attractive.”

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