Check it -- we've got a new entrant in the ever-expanding solid state disc market, and it goes by the name Micron. The firm's first SSD lineup (dubbed RealSSD) will feature a native SATA II interface, a rugged, lightweight plastic casing, and suck down less than two-watts of power while active. Furthermore, the units will come in both 1.8- and 2.5-inch iterations, with a 32GB and 64GB flavor to be available in each size. The newly launched family is expected to slip into mass production in Q1 of next year, and on a related note, the 1GB to 8GB RealSSD Embedded USB range -- which is slated to ship en masse next month -- was also introduced. We know, you've hung around this long just to get the low down on pricing, but unfortunately, Micron has yet to dole out that oh-so-crucial information.

Samsung's been hogging the Solid State Disk limelight for months with their 32GB SSD first peeped at CeBIT. So it does our invisible hand some good to hear TDK launch their version of the 32GB SSD, albeit in sample quantities only for the time being. TDK's unit connects to a standard IDE connector yet measures in at 80 percent the size of standard 2.5-inch laptop drive. And like the Sammy SSD, we expect to see some blazin' reads and writes with better protection against shock, faster OS boots and sleep recovery times, longer battery life and reduced weight when TDK gets around to mass production. So for now, all we really want to say is welcome to the party TDK. Now how 'bout driving down that premium pricing, mkay?