Toshiba dreams of 512GB SSDs, invites you to join in

Move over Samsung -- that 256GB SSD you've been touting is now half as cool as it used to be. According to reports stemming from a Japanese seminar which saw Toshiba's Shozo Saito take the stage, the firm is hoping to flesh out its line of solid state discs within the next few years. More specifically, it's looking to offer drives with as much as 512GB of room, and Mr. Saito himself expects a full quarter of laptops sold in 2011 to come equipped with an SSD. Figure out a way to get those stratospheric prices down, and we doubt it'll take that long.

[Via CNET]

[Aguiluz @ Apr 23rd 2008 9:51PM]

*glances at 80GB platter drive*

"Yes, I am looking at YOU!"

[AutoTom @ Apr 24th 2008 12:14AM]

with your low prices and super-fast read times..

[Ignatius @ Apr 23rd 2008 9:54PM]

Wow. It took practically forever to have 500GB and 1TB HDDs.. and in only a few years, we'll have 512GB SSDs... too bad they won't be in the same price bracket for another decade or two.

[Leo @ Apr 23rd 2008 10:18PM]

I wouldn't talk about 10-20 years time in computing if I were you. the advances between 1988-2008 were almost unthinkable - not only that but the RATE of advance is ever increasing... It's been predicted that between 2030-2050, we'll have AI at human level (or greater).

[Ethan @ Apr 23rd 2008 10:49PM]

Yeah, I think it's better to measure growth starting from those 16MB smartmedia cards or something. It's gone this far this quickly just because there's been a tipping point of commercial viability, the tech's mostly been there for a while.

[AutoTom @ Apr 24th 2008 12:07AM]

not to mention the same preformance for another.. several more decades after that

[Sudo @ Apr 23rd 2008 9:55PM]

Lots of porn for on the go.

[ThePengwin @ Apr 23rd 2008 10:43PM]

Until SSD failure

Then lots of porn gone forever

[zephead @ Apr 23rd 2008 11:47PM]

:(

[schmitty338 @ Apr 24th 2008 8:05AM]

@ThePenguin

But that time, it'll be at least 50 years old, which would be equivalent to watching 1950-1960s pron now....which, IMO, is just, well, wrong....

[Mike10010100 @ Apr 23rd 2008 9:58PM]

This must have been the same reaction a couple of years ago when they first came out with the 512 MB flash drive. They were huge at the time but slowly grew smaller.

Just saying...... It may take longer, but it will happen.

It's a cycle....

[AutoTom @ Apr 24th 2008 12:14AM]

you have mad prediction skillz

[Kalen @ Apr 23rd 2008 10:01PM]

I think 2011 might be pushing it. SSD's can still add thousands of dollars to laptops, and I for one do not want to spend 5-6 grand on my next ultraportable.

Don't get me wrong, I would love a 512GB SSD in my Vaio TX, but I don't want to have to drop out of University to afford it.

[maff @ Apr 24th 2008 7:57AM]

ever heard of economies of scale?

[rv @ Apr 23rd 2008 10:10PM]

let this groove light up your shoes

[ishism @ Apr 23rd 2008 10:11PM]

Never tried SSD, so I don't know or do I care for, at this time, the benefits of SSD. Bigger is better. SSD can't do it yet. and the price....Oh hell NO.

[Wonderkid @ Apr 23rd 2008 10:44PM]

One thing, I own a 4G EEE PC. While I love the machine, I was under the impression SSD based machines ran silent and cool - because it was hard drives and/or powerful processors cause regular laptops to get so hot and noisy. As an owner of a MacBook, that does get hot and noisy, I can confirm that my EEE PC, despite being small and cute - gets equally hot and ALMOST as noisy. Yes, it has a fan! Did you know the EEE PC had a fan? I was very surprised - and it is the only disappointment. Thing is, I don't know if the heat and noise has anything to do with the SSD. Any ideas folks?

[Greg @ Apr 23rd 2008 10:56PM]

the eeepc is so small it gets hot quick and the new eeepcs that have atom should generate less heat.

I don't think your SDD is making your eeepc that hot, its probably the other components.

[austin @ Apr 23rd 2008 10:56PM]

it doesnt have an SSD. It has flash memory. there is a difference. the difference is not relevant to your fan but i thought i would just point out that your EEE has flash memory, not an SSD

[pandaBand @ Apr 23rd 2008 11:29PM]

Unless you're running a high speed hdd, heat from the drive is low compared to the cpu in a laptop (also true for desktops). Consider things in terms of wattage (roughly equates to heat output).

I just did a little reading up on the EEE's components. The CPU on it puts out 3-25 watts depending on load. The mobo and RAM add a few more watts each. The only other main heat producer is the storage. SSDs put out less than 1 watt. Spinning laptop storage tends to put out 2-3 watts.

The flash memory is not your heat problem.

[thebigDallas @ Apr 23rd 2008 11:30PM]

yeah it still has a processor to keep cool! my hard drive makes almost no noise, but my fan makes a lot

[Mark @ Apr 23rd 2008 11:13PM]

SSD drives are still outrageously expensive in comparison to a Hard Disk Drive of the same capacity.

When I can buy a 500 gig SSD for the same price as a 500 gig HDD, then I'll consider it. Until then, no.

[AutoTom @ Apr 24th 2008 12:16AM]

i hear you dude but at the moment HDD's are still kicking SSD's ass

when u pay 1k for a drive you expect some serious performance

apple.. you stupid assholes

[NinjaTickets @ Apr 24th 2008 2:17AM]

SSD out perform HDD in power consumption by a large margin. Peak power consumption of an SSD is about equal to idle on a HDD. Also random read times are faster with an SSD than a HDD (this is especially true as the load increases, SSD's are awesome for webservers). Random writes kill the HDD, overall though the performance should be comparable with more battery life.

[omnicloud @ Apr 24th 2008 12:45AM]

If Samsung does what they usually do, we should expect soon:

"Samsung demos working super high capacity SSD, bests Toshiba"

[Brian @ Apr 24th 2008 1:09AM]

i'm going to nit-pick, but here goes:

in my opinion, you can't call them "solid state discs" anymore because there's no physical disc, just solid-state circuitry on a chunk of silicon. better refer to them as "solid state drives" if you want to avoid the ire of my fellow detail-oriented commenters.

[alex @ Apr 24th 2008 1:48AM]

I'm studied EE undergrad, and as far as I know we always used SSD to stand for solid state devices - which could be a number of things that use transistor based memory.

[Jon Doe. @ Apr 24th 2008 12:09PM]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solid-state_drive

Note the word at the end.

[mykie @ Apr 24th 2008 2:17AM]

I dream of 512gb SSDs for $99.

[Stranger @ Apr 24th 2008 3:17AM]

Is it not fairly obvious that we soon will have 512 GB SSDs? The same way it's fairly obvious that our processors will hit 5 GHz and that we'll have a consumer-grade graphics card that consumes at least 1 KW by itself.

Anyhow, what I believe is great is that for many people ~32 GB is more than enough storage space for the coming 3-4 years. I'm not looking at us nerds, I'm looking at those that make up the majority of computer buyers, companies and non-nerds. And a 32 GB SSD should be able to reach a sub-$100 price in two years time or so. And I'm not talking out my ass, the first groups to pick up SSD is companies as witnessed by notebooks from Toshiba, Dell and Lenovo which has packed these for a year or two.

[maff @ Apr 24th 2008 7:55AM]

5GHz? that would produce a very hot and unreliable cpu, so I don't think we'll see these sorts of speeds, developments is going the way of smaller and noded chips anyway! The forthcoming GPUs will likely be 55nm designs, therefore consumption should ideally be below 200W even in hi-end chips.

on a side note: a 2.5" 32Gb Transcend SSD can be had on ebay for about £135, in a couple of years a 512Gb I imagine will be available for a similar price?

[Ogo @ Apr 24th 2008 8:18AM]

I would disagree that 32GB is enough for the average user. If OS and software continues with the bloatware, then you can expect a 16GB Windows 10 OS.

I am exaggerating but hopefully get my point.

[phanbouy @ Apr 24th 2008 3:24AM]

so... Toshiba's focusing on other areas besides HD DVD... could that spell its doom?

[mvsraman @ Apr 24th 2008 8:16AM]

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[Tolga @ Apr 24th 2008 8:54AM]

I hope Toshiba's SSD's will not be as lousy as their notebooks.

Toshiba = Toilet paper

[Pete Steege @ Apr 24th 2008 10:41AM]

I don't see the big deal in how many GB can be packed into an SSD. The price makes it ho-hum news.

This is different from DRAM milestones that achieve a higher capacity on a single chip.