OCZ introduces Apex series of 2.5-inch SATA II SSDs

Another month, another new line of SSDs. This go 'round, we're having a glance at OCZ Technology's Apex Series, a midrange line of solid state drives of the 2.5-inch SATA II variety. The drives will be made available in 60GB, 120GB and 250GB flavors, and all three will offer 230MB/sec read and 160MB/sec write speeds. As with most every other SSD, these were also designed with low power consumption and reliability in mind, and the lightweight alloy housing keeps things secure during those unsettling installation procedures. There's no mention of price, but the trifecta should be available to upgraders everywhere soon.

[Via Electronista]

[blash Posted Jan 15th 2009 3:12PM]

I'll take a 250 GB one for my laptop please!

[Alexandre Emond Posted Jan 15th 2009 3:15PM]

160MB/sec write speeds ??? wow!

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 15th 2009 3:19PM]

Are these PCI-e? Will they fit into our current netbooks? Or are they plain SATA?

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 15th 2009 3:27PM]

"sata II 2.5" solid state drive" says so on the picture, lol.

[x Prime x Posted Jan 15th 2009 3:27PM]

On the site it states:

"OCZ Apex SATA II 2.5” Solid State Drive (SSD) Series"

So I'm guessing plain SATA

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 15th 2009 10:37PM]

Well andrew, they could list them as "SATA SSDs" but they may actually be SATA PCI-e SSDs. So that's why I had to ask.

[dzeikei Posted Jan 16th 2009 5:34PM]

You can be pretty sure this will cost as much/more than your netbook itself

[Founder007 Posted Jan 15th 2009 3:19PM]

see i knew if i waited long enough these bad boys would speed the hell up

[doubleu Posted Jan 15th 2009 3:44PM]

what made you think they wouldn't? technology always get bigger/smaller, better, faster as time goes on amirite?

[joga bonito Posted Jan 15th 2009 3:23PM]

Coming soon to my PS triple

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 15th 2009 5:28PM]

waste.of.money.

Buy a regular 500gb HD for your game console and save about $600, and get double the storage space of the 250g SSD

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 15th 2009 6:21PM]

Will you even notice a difference?

[Rena Posted Jan 15th 2009 7:08PM]

Would be awesome in a PSP though, if it supported SATA.

[Solipsism Posted Jan 15th 2009 8:48PM]

hard drive speed isn't really a bottleneck for the PS3

[x Prime x Posted Jan 15th 2009 3:26PM]

I'd love a SSD but they are so damn expensive.

[imaredia Posted Jan 15th 2009 3:36PM]

oh.. let us know when they gone sell thats shit.. till today most of them are not available for sell.. may be they gone ship in somewhere 2020.... ;)

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 15th 2009 5:25PM]

I don't know why but that winky face at the end is the most annoying thing about your post.

[Phade Posted Jan 15th 2009 3:39PM]

I hope the random read/write speeds are up there near the sequential speeds. The problem with the current "affordable" SSD drives is that they kinda stink at random I/O. So when it's time to run Windows Update or something like that, they tend to grind to a crawl. Here's hoping, though...

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 15th 2009 3:42PM]

... and there's the kicker. Will these be using the JMicron controller that causes the stuttering, or have they introduced a new chipset into play that can at least come close to getting to Intel performance levels?

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 15th 2009 4:06PM]

EXACTLY. That's what Engadget should emphasize. No good controller = no buy. There are cases where even these crippled gadgets are preferable to a HDD but not for a general user.

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 15th 2009 4:58PM]

Agreed, this info is useless to me if it's one of the MLC's using the messed up controllers.. There's a world of difference between the "old" samsung SLC in my thinkpad and one of these supposedly fast MLCs that have the bad controlelrs.

[sr1329 Posted Jan 15th 2009 7:53PM]

I have a Samsung SLC SSD and I think it rules. These new MLCs are not there yet, the only one that may be is the Intel one, but it too has strengths and weaknesses. For one the Anadtech review showed that the Intel wins in most theoretical measures, while the Samsung SLC edges out the Intel in more typical workstation type situations.

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 16th 2009 3:05AM]

It is the JMicron controller.

"I also got a chance to talk with OCZ's Alex Mei a little about the infamous JMicron memory controller in relation to OCZ's SSDs. OCZ Core Series SSDs and every other manufacturer’s SSDs that use a JMicron controller have had some issues with stuttering during write operations. Mei assured me that while the new Solid and Apex Series SSDs continue to use JMicron memory controllers, they have been heavily optimized to minimize any write performance issues that may crop up during normal use."

http://www.cpu3d.com/news/6999-1/ocz-brings-new-apex-series-mainstream-ssds-to-ces/story.html

[Jimbo Posted Jan 15th 2009 3:45PM]

DailyTech posted the MSRPs for the Apex drives yesterday:

http://www.dailytech.com/OCZ+Apex+SSDs+Officially+Announced/article13928.htm

[greatcaffeine Posted Jan 15th 2009 3:52PM]

Thanks for the link! Those prices really don't look too unreasonable.

[Art Posted Jan 15th 2009 4:01PM]

Those are the MSRPs though greatcaffeine, if you Google the part numbers you can find places that have them on pre-order. The 60GB looks to be selling for about $260.

[basroil Posted Jan 15th 2009 7:18PM]

I'll take a Sandisk 250gb instead... Half the price, nearly same specs, likely better controller

[Android Overlord Posted Jan 15th 2009 4:01PM]

Very close to becoming affordable in the uk. When and 120GB comes to around £150 I will think about it until then I'll wait. If they were to come to about 25O GB £100 then I will definitely go for it.

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 15th 2009 4:05PM]

I'd hold off on SSDs for another year. The maximum shipping capacity is still 256GB, so the price per GB is still quite high. After those 1TB drives start shipping, it will be a different story. I'm curious to why only JMicron makes controllers for non Intel drives though. Surely there must be someone who can make a controller that doesn't have stutter problems.

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 15th 2009 4:49PM]

That's nice and all, now how about a 60GB IDE SSD that sells for cheap. The price of memory has dropped through the floor, yet these things remain pricey.

[Kaggy Posted Jan 20th 2009 10:32AM]

Apex series SSD drives are available in ample storage capacities of 60GB, 120GB, and 250GB. MSRPs at the time of launch are USD $199.99, $369.99, and $829.99 for 60GB-250GB models respectively.
Source: http://www.hardwarezone.com/news/view.php?id=12503&cid=

[(Unverified) Posted Feb 5th 2009 1:17PM]

Yes, the apex series does use the jmicron controller BUT its a pair of them to make an internal raid 0 to improve write performance.

http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=290&Itemid=60&limit=1&limitstart=1

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 15th 2009 6:43PM]

So what's the difference between Apex and Vertex?

[inch Posted Jan 15th 2009 6:52PM]

Vertex has some Cache, these are probably the crappy ones with the new JMicron Controller.

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 16th 2009 2:38AM]

But how come both have the same price tag? and Apex does faster writes!

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 15th 2009 9:03PM]

Pretty tempting....... I could use some few hundred more Gigs though.

[superhobo Posted Jan 16th 2009 12:56AM]

Smaller, faster, better,....but still not cheap