If you were shaken to your very core at the recent report that SSDs may not be as power-friendly as you'd been led to believe, drive-maker STEC wants to talk you down from the ledge. According to the company's Patrick Wilkison, the Tom's Hardware article which benchmarked (and gave failing grades) to power-consumption of the non-mechanical drives was flawed because, "They are using legacy drives, none of which will be used by any major PC OEM." According to Patrick (whose job, you might note, is to sell SSDs), new versions of the drives will / do have intelligent power management which circumvents the issues that report shed light on. Wilkison goes on to say that, "Drives will need to have very intelligent power management systems. Some of these SSDs will have them, and those (that) do not have such power intelligence will not be used (by PC makers)." So it's sort of like saying a car you buy in the future will get better gas mileage than the one you own now, provided the automaker cares about fuel efficiency. Small solace, we'd say.

Update: We've gotten a statement from Micron concerning the report -- you can check it out after the break.

If you just shelled out some pretty pennies for the a high-speed, low-power SSD, Tom's Hardware may have stumbled onto some findings that won't sit well. According to a rigorous benchmarking session, they discovered that not only do the drives not save you battery power... they eat more of it. How is this possible you ask? Well mechanical drives only hit peak drainage when the actuator has to move the heads, whereas SSDs use full power whenever they're in use, so the end result is actually a diminished efficiency. What that means is that the hype over "green" drives may be just that: pure hype. On the other hand, you're still getting a drive with no moving parts, which at least makes your data more secure, if not more eco-friendly.

[Via Eeeuser; Thanks, Tony]

The folks at BiTMICRO are about to blow some doors off of the SSD truck with a new product they'll be showing at CES this year. According to a press release, the company is introducing a new, 2.5-inch solid-state drive with a whopping 832GB of NAND flash goodness. The SATA II (3Gbps) drive is a new addition to the company's E-Disk Altima line, and utilizes a technology the company calls multi-level cell (or MLC) memory, which apparently doubles the number of bits stored per memory cell when compared with single-level cell (SLC) NAND. The drives are expected to ship Q3 2008 in capacities ranging from 32GB to 832GB -- and you can be sure we'll be staring intently at them (and asking for demo units) as soon as CES rolls around.

[Via Macrumors forums]

Those who live for nothing more than to cram their SSD to the brim with useless data, only to mass delete the bulk of it, rinse, and repeat, we've found the perfect drive for you. Hitachi ULSI Systems Co., a subsidiary of Hitachi, has reportedly "developed a solid state disk on which data can be overwritten 100 times more than is possible on a conventional product of that type." On the device, "data predicted to have a high overwrite frequency is stored on the DRAM and not sent to the flash memory, while information with low overwrite frequency is stored on the flash." Consequently, "overwrite frequency on the flash portion" is substantially less than that of traditional alternatives. According to the company, it will start shipping out samples next month, but there's no mention of a commercial launch date. [Warning: Read link requires subscription]

You've got to stay on the bleeding edge of component offerings when you're trying to charge the prices that Alienware does, so it's no surprise that the Dell subsidiary is the self-proclaimed first manufacturer on the market to stuff dual 64GB solid state disks into a consumer PC. Of course, you'll be paying out the nose to add 128GB of un-RAIDed SSD goodness to an Area-51 m9750 gaming notebook -- just about $2,000, nearly doubling the machine's base price. Those feeling a little "stingier" or perhaps requiring more storage space can also opt for a 64GB SSD / 200GB 7,200RPM HDD combo as well, which only tacks another $1,400 onto an entry-level rig. Still, despite the steep cost, we're sure that there are more than a few folks out there who can't put a price on having the fastest read times in their guild.

They told us they were coming, now sure enough, PNY has loosed their line-up of Solid State Disks. Available in 1.8- and 2.5-inch profiles, the new SSDs feature up to 66MBps read and 55MBps write speeds and standard ZIF, micro-SATA, 44-pin IDE, and regular ol' SATA interfaces for drop-in replacement of hard disks in things like iPods (you wish PNY) and laptops -- right, the same price as SanDisk. Unfortunately, you'll have to be an OEM to take order (starting today) of the 2.5-inch, 32GB jobbie which costs about $350 when purchased in quantity. By Q3, PNY (and everyone else it seems) expects to be shipping their 1.8-inch and 2.5-inch SSDs in 64GB and 128GB capacities, respectively.

Good news SSD fans: Fujitsu has halted their planned production of 1.8-inch hard disk drives due to increased interest in using solid state disks in handheld devices. A Fujitsu spokesman said, "We want to see if the market tips toward flash, or if it stays with hard drives." The move effectively leaves the 1.8-inch HDD market to the likes of Seagate, Toshiba, and Samsung. It's interesting to note that Fujitsu already offers SSD drives as options in their Lifebook Q and B laptops and P1610 Tablet PC. However, "their" SSDs aren't home cooked, they come by way of Samsung. To the best of our knowledge Fujitsu has no formal plans to enter the burgeoning flash drive industry at all; a market where Samsung already reigns supreme with Toshiba (via their partnership with Sandisk) coming on strong. With SSDs dropping in price by about 60% annually, we can't say that we blame Fujitsu for bailing.

[Via iLounge, thanks Erion 1]

Oh sweet mother of solid state disks, Samsung just birthed another. Their new 1.8-inch 64GB SSD not only doubles the capacity of their current offering, it's said to be up to 60% faster than their existing SLC NAND-based 32GB SSD to boot. Mass production of this 1.8-inch drop-in replacement for hard disks is expected to begin in Q2. Fine, but hey, Samsung, in case you haven't noticed SSDs are already plenty fast enough in comparison to the conventional hard disks they are meant to replace. So how 'bout bringing us consumers bigger and cheaper SSDs based on your new MLC NAND instead of your lickity-quick SLC NAND? After all, Sandisk and Toshiba are breathing down your neck on this one. Thanks for listening.

If you figured the barrage of SSD launches that we've endured over the past week was finally over, you'd be altogether incorrect, as Attorn BV is following in Super Talent, Adtron, and SanDisk's footsteps by readying a solid state disc of its very own. The HyperDrive4 doesn't seem to tout any unusual extras, as it boasts the same "no moving parts," DRAM-based, play-and-play functionality, and "super fast bootup" features as all the other guys. The drive does use registered ECC memory modules in order to provide "a higher level of data integrity," and also claims a sustained transfer rate of 125Mbps. Interestingly, the drive can purportedly be picked up in sizes as small as a single gigabyte, but we can't really imagine the majority of takers opting for such a diminutive option. Per usual, no word on pricing or availability at the moment, but it ought to hit shelves soon if it plans on stealing any marketshare from the early entrants.

[Via Gearlog]

While a natural evolution of the ultra-portable, it's still noteworthy when a vendor gives in and offers an SSD option to their gear. Once again, it's Fujitsu doing the honors by bringing that Solid State Disk action from Samsung to their 8.9-inch, 2.2-pound P1610 convertible Tablet PC -- something they've been offering on their Q and B series of laptops since October. But come now Fujitsu, you can do better than $700 and $1,200 for the 16GB and 32GB SSD, respectively. Perhaps you should look for a cheaper supplier.

[Via Laptop Magazine]

Update: It looks like the P1610 isn't the only LifeBook getting an SSD transplant, with Fujitsu's B6210 also getting in on the action, available with the same 16GB or 32GB drives. CNET's also reporting that both tablets are, in fact, available now, though you'll need to get in touch with Fujitsu for a price quote, which usually isn't a good sign.

In a trend we see as nothing but good, Fujitsu just announced the availability of Samsung's 16GB or 32GB Solid State Disks in their Lifebook Q and B series laptops. Just prepare to throw down heavy on the Yen son, 'cause the SSD option demands a significant ¥84,000/¥168,000 (about $703/$1,406) premium for that flash durability, cut in weight, extended battery life, and supposed 25-to-50% reduction in boot and sleep recovery times. However, check that video of two HDD and SSD systems booting side-by-side which we can only assume are otherwise identical... not exactly twice as fast, eh?

[Via Impress]

Sony continues kickin' out the updates on the VAIO UX lineup with a new 32GB Solid State Disk option for those tempted to drop Yen in Japan. And tempted they will be since the larger capacity SSD brings sufficient capacity for XP and MS Office without the heat and vibration associated with the current 40GB hard disk. What's more, that SSD smokes the HDD's read/write times while extending battery life, dropping the weight, and cutting OS boot and sleep recovery times by half in the process. You'll pay for the privilege though with the 16GB SSD option already demanding a pricey ¥60,000 premium (about $515) which should bump the take-home price to right around 3 grand. Still if given the choice between this and the $2,663 Q1-SSD with that same 32GB SSD and OS, well, we'd probably take our chances on the UX dontchathink?

[Via Impress]

So you thought Sony's VAIO U with Core Solo was pretty hot, right, but that hefty chub and feedback-free keyboard were keeping you on the fence? We understand. Well, how would you feel if Sony aced the hard disk in favor of a silent running 16GB solid-state flash drive which bumps battery life by 13%, drops the weight by 29g to 492g, massively accelerates app launches, and should cut XP's resume and boot times by half? No, not doing it for ya? Then how about some hot OneSeg mobile digital television squeezed in for some on-the-go entertainment? Well Sony did just that today with the introduction of their Vaio UX90. Still, you'll have to be ready to pop for the ¥209,800 (about $1,800) when these drop July 3rd in Japan. But if you lived in Nippon, you might just bite, eh? Thought so.

[Via Impress]