The 2.5″ 32 GB SSD (solid state drive) SanDisk announced in early January is available now for purchase by computer manufacturers. Forget the hybrid hard drives, the ones that use both flash memory and magnetic storage for an increase in performance. We now have the real deal already ready to be included in the new notebook computers.

But what can we expect from such a hard drive. Well first we have all the advantages: an important increase in read/write speed, a decrease in power consumption (more battery time for laptops) and higher reliability as the flash based drives have no moving parts and they are harder to brake. However there is a very big disadvantage: the price. Flash memory is more expensive to produce than traditional magnetic storage so the price for flash memory based products is way higher than the price of the magnetic counterparts.

Yet there are persons willing to pay a higher price for better performance. The $350 price set for the 32 GB SSD is for large orders only so don’t expect you can find it at a hardware store at a price like that. However, the price will most likely fall and the capacity will increase at the same time and we will definitely have a more competitive product by the end of the year.

Filed under Hardware, Laptops, Storage