Intel debuts Z-P230 PATA SSD drive for netbooks and "nettops"

Hot on the heels of SanDisk, Intel has now trotted out some SSD drives of its own that it says are specifically designed for "value mobile and desktop systems such as netbooks and nettops." Available in 4GB and 8GB varieties to start with (a 16GB model will be following in Q4), the drives are one-fourth the size of a standard 1.8-inch hard drive and boast all the low-power requirements you'd expect, which Intel says should translate to a hefty boost in battery life. There's no word as to how much the drives might add or subtract from the price of those aforementioned netbooks or "nettops" though, but it seems like we should be finding that out soon enough if Intel has its way.

[MeatPop @ Jun 3rd 2008 5:40PM]

Sounds good, price please sir?

[Bunson @ Jun 3rd 2008 5:43PM]

NOOOOO... The terms 'Nettop' and 'Netbook' sound like something a baby boomer came up with in the 90s.

[Nik @ Jun 3rd 2008 5:43PM]

Seriously, come on, can't we just keep UMPC and Sub-Notebook?

[Blaine Oliver @ Jun 3rd 2008 5:51PM]

Please keep subnotebook before i play will it blend with every nettop i can afford.

[Ryan @ Jun 3rd 2008 5:58PM]

anyone else feel like engadget is getting a commission based on how many times they push the terms 'netbook' and 'nettop' in an article this week?

[BigD145 @ Jun 3rd 2008 6:12PM]

Stop saying those horrible words. You're only encouraging them.

As readers and commenters we should simply say, "A tiny SSD for laptops? How wonderful. Will they be terribly expensive after the first 3-6 months?"

[lawyer bird @ Jun 3rd 2008 7:15PM]

SUB-NOTE is GOOD

[Charlie @ Jun 3rd 2008 5:46PM]

mmmmmmmmmSolidState.

These (and some cheap ram) could really breathe some life back into an older laptop too.

[BigD145 @ Jun 3rd 2008 6:08PM]

That's only if these are made with the old standards.

[Darren @ Jun 3rd 2008 6:10PM]

Any word of read/write speed for these drives?

[Samboini @ Jun 3rd 2008 6:30PM]

Not yet, they're just revising for their English test, poor little things.

[Jarhead2012 @ Jun 3rd 2008 7:41PM]

@ Simbioni

I see what you did there

[Travis Pulley @ Jun 3rd 2008 6:54PM]

Why PATA? I though SATA was cheaper in terms of material needed for connections and less circuitry needed in your chipset.

[mirakutea @ Jun 3rd 2008 6:49PM]

Can these be used in desktop PCs, some convertor required maybe?
Maybe some created specifically created for DPCs? There’s definitely a market for 4-8Gb+ SSD to speed up OS + core apps+docs+files until larger capacities are available at a mainstream pricepoint.

[ssuk @ Jun 3rd 2008 6:57PM]

It's a Parallel ATA HDD, so yes... Technically.

[hachu @ Jun 3rd 2008 8:47PM]

PATA is simpler to implement because of the lower clock speeds necessary. It just has to be ATA33 and we're actually already past the peak we can get for dual channel flash chips.

SATA has to be clocked 16 times faster than PATA in order to have equal bandwidth since SATA sends 1 bit per clock cycle and PATA sends 16 bits.

On the other hand, yes, an SATA controller is cheaper in terms of materials because of a smaller chip package. But looking at the picture, it doesn't look too big of a controller chip anyways, so it's not much of a savings. I mean, it looks simpler than my ethernet card which costs almost nothing.

[David @ Jun 4th 2008 1:15PM]

I've been waiting for someone to make an SSD that will plug into my Eee 701's internal mini-PCIe slot. Where are those? I know ASUS is getting them from someone, somewhere, because it uses one in the 8GB Eee 701.

I'm assuming these PATA SSD's are not those.

So, where can one buy cheap mini-PCIe SSDs from?