Toshiba announces 512GB SSD, other smaller SSDs
By Nilay Patel 
posted December 18th 2008 3:20AM
posted December 18th 2008 3:20AM
posted December 18th 2008 3:20AM
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APRIL! Come on!
Look mate, as long as it doesn't come out on April 1st, I think everybody will be happy that the SSD thing is finally starting to get somewhere, go hush hush in the corner now and touch yourself or whatever you usually get up to in-between destroying the atmosphere in club:engadget.
Perhaps you may want to reconsider writing "half-gig" as it has exceeded that many times over.
Yea is it just me or does it hurt your brain to read that... Atleast I'll only see the post once.
Also, is it just me or does anyone else feel that when Engadget wants to fix a word in their articles, they first setup a meeting, discuss the issue for a couple of hours, create a poll in between them, then chose one of them to go in to the quest of changing that simple mistake?
maybe they count the reader comments concerning and when they reach a certain number, they fix the mistake?
Not only that, but the mistakes are pretty frequent. Engadget writers should re-read their articles before posting, or get another writer to read them over.
Just think of the damage it would do to Toshiba's stock price if an error like this was uncorrected. Engadget could be responsible for a japanese government bailout.
Half a gig?
Man, I'm going to party like it's 1999.
I think you mean half-terabyte unit...not half-gigabyte.
It's a half TB. Not a half gig. Haha. But sweet, none-the-less.
1 please.
I guess good for laptops, but its MLC...
Hopefully Samsung trumps them with a 512 GB ...
"The industry-first half-gig drive" ehhm that would be 512MB. That probably should have read "The industry-first half-TB drive"
@Nilay
Lol, I think a lot of people are noticing your mistake.
why, oh why, can we not edit our comments.
Or just an edit button for article instead
@Mic2000
"Or just an edit button for article instead"
Engadget gone Wikipedia.....that would be a scary day indeed.
All these nice powers of 2 and yet intel has its 80gb x-25, what gives?
yea everyone has already caught the mistake ... now its only how long till they get to the update!
Did somebody forget to tell Toshiba that MLC SSDs perform like....CRAP?????????
They are slower and run hotter than traditional hard drives and cost 2-3 times as much.
That's actually not true. Some MLC SSDs (namely those made by intel and possibly others in the future) vastly outperform traditional hard drives and even beat SLC SSDs in certain situations.
Welcome to 6 months ago. Read: Intel.
Thank you for playing.
This looks really good at first, until you find out that its MLC and not SLC SSD. This makes me believe that this is rather a "ha, we're first!" product, rather than a true breakthrough in capacity (as it would have been if it was SLC).
Still, with much faster access times, an SSD is still heaps better in many ways.
Has it ever been about something else than being first?
AWESOME! Now, please announce more affordable ones!
"Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger", Daft Punk.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=4ItqVgaTIjI&feature=related
That's how long I've been on ya!
Lets hope these are FAST and reasonably priced to compete with the SanSung breed. I understand Toshiba took a large stake in Mtron the leader in fast flash who uses FPGA as the controller. Now the Toshiba people can put that FPGA into a cheaper and smaller ASIC within weeks. Or implement similar with embeded controller and DRAM combo.
If the read rates are less than 200MBps it will not be competitive. The write rates better be over 120MBps. Yes, give the Intel X-25 a good kick. I think 512GB is way over board while 256GB is just perfect for a notebook. And it has to be fast otherwise the coming 7200 rpm 1/2 Terabyte drives are just round the corner at rock bottom prices for sure.
I think pricing will matter more. By the way, what are you doing that needs a 200 MBps read rate? Multiple uncompressed HDTV streams? Isn't that what a RAID array configuration is for?
A 200 MBps read can load the entire Vista OS into RAM before you finish reading this sentence, ok the sentence isn't finished yet, hmm ok fine I'll end the sentence now; just kidding, ok fine it's ended.
FYI, cut & pasted from the link:
Reading speed Maximum speed 240MBps (sequential mode)
Writing speed Maximum speed at 200MBps (sequential mode)
Reading speed Maximum speed 240MBps (sequential mode)
Writing speed Maximum speed at 200MBps (sequential mode)
http://news.prnewswire.com/ViewContent.aspx?ACCT=109&STORY=/www/story/12-17-2008/0004943967&EDATE=
200MB/sec writing with MLC??
"I think 512GB is way over board while 256GB is just perfect for a notebook."
Maybe if all you're concerned about is notebooks, sure. But I'm waiting for the day these can replace desktop drives as well. 512GB is still way too small and the drive is likely still way too expensive. Nice progress, but still a long way to go.
I just want it in my iPhone.
Any Phone with 512 GB SSD: $1000 - $1500
Apple iPhone with 512 GB SSD: $6500 - $7000
But the apple logo is totally worth the extra bucks. That and the white headphones...
You mean iPhonies?
@ Saad Rabia
I'm pretty sure the 512GB version already costs anywhere in the range of $700-$1000, and please saying that Apple products are 6X more expensive than competing products show nothing more than ignorance these days. They are priced much more reasonably nowadays. It still amazes me how some people cling on to age old stereotypes and use it even now when clearly prices show otherwise.
I don't support that original poster (Trevor)...but your point was just plain stupid. I think people get the point now.
Worry not. I'm sure iFixit will have a way. Of course, that would mean that I could store more stuff on my iPhone than my computer, but it'd still be cool.
@PM1
That is only partially correct. Obviously Apple's products do not cost 6X more than a comparable product from Dell/HP/IBM, but they are more expensive. It does really depend on the circumstance... It appears that the higher cost products like the Mac Pro, Xserve, MB Pro, etc are a much higher value than the cheaper consumer products..
If apple didn't overcharge for their products, then why would they do through all the hassle of preventing Psystar from making OSX computers?
Simply stated, psystar could make a computer 1/2 as expensive as Apple and it would have the same specs.
would they go*
for once. just once... i want someone to say "fuck apple".
fuck apple.
you, sir... are my hero for the day.
the half tb one will probably cost over a grand.
More like over ten grand - its "first-in-whatever" product, remember? When there are 0 competitors, you set the price you've always dreamed of.
@Shinigami
Yup. Until Transcend stops by, that is.
Wow, a couple more years and there will be no more hard drives :D
The only problem now is the price
1/2 terabyte?? ROFL.