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Consumers returning SSD laptops in droves?

Bad news for those banking on SSD as the savior of all things laptop. While the drives have been proven to improve battery life and speed start times, other drawbacks have buyers thinking second thoughts about the major premium for laptops like the MacBook Air and Lenovo X300 with SSD -- about $1000 in the case of those two. A new study shows that flash-based laptops are being returned at a rate of 10 to 20 percent for technical failure, compared to the 1 to 2 percent of regular laptop returns due to HDD issues. Perhaps it should be expected from an emerging tech like SSD, but consumers certainly aren't expected to enjoy it. Other consumers are sending 'em back just due to lackluster performance -- particular applications like streaming video and, strangely, Microsoft Outlook, see a performance hit from SSD. Hopefully speedier drives will address this latter problem, but how about everybody cuts their prices in half and we just forget the whole thing, eh?