Solid state drives became that much more affordable yesterday, with the announcement of a sub-£250 128GB unit from OCZ Technology.
First spotted by MacNN/Electronista, the drive packs 128GB of storage into a 2.5” SATA-equipped brushed aluminium chassis aimed at the notebook market. In addition to the more than usable capacity, the device – branded as part of the Core Series of SSDs – is quick off the mark, too: 120Mb/s read and 80Mb/s write, with a staggering 0.35ms seek time.
OCZ have yet to give any indication of UK pricing, but the US version is offered at a more than reasonable $479 – around £240. If your budget doesn't stretch to that level, the Core Series also includes a cheaper 64GB version at $259 (£130) and a bottom-end 32GB unit for $169 (£85).
With the price exceptionally low compared to similar products from other manufacturers, it's hard not to assume the quality is somehow inferior. With the capacity and speed taken care of, the obvious assumption is that corners have been cut in the reliability stakes. According to OCZ, however, this isn't the case: quoting a mean time between failures of 1.5 million hours, the drives look set to be just as reliable as their more expensive counterparts. OCZ isn't afraid to put its money where its mouth is, either, with a two-year warranty as standard across the range.
Ryan Petersen, OCZ's CEO, stated that the difference in price between mechanical and solid-state storage has “limited adoption of vastly superior SSD technology, until now.” Well, there's also the slightly thorny issue of limited write cycles, but that doesn't make such good press release copy.
The drives are described as “available”, but what that actually means in terms of getting your sweaty hands on one isn't entirely obvious – just keep your eyes peeled.
Anyone tempted now prices are dropping, or are you still waiting for sub-pound-per-gig pricing? Share your thoughts over in the forums.
First spotted by MacNN/Electronista, the drive packs 128GB of storage into a 2.5” SATA-equipped brushed aluminium chassis aimed at the notebook market. In addition to the more than usable capacity, the device – branded as part of the Core Series of SSDs – is quick off the mark, too: 120Mb/s read and 80Mb/s write, with a staggering 0.35ms seek time.
OCZ have yet to give any indication of UK pricing, but the US version is offered at a more than reasonable $479 – around £240. If your budget doesn't stretch to that level, the Core Series also includes a cheaper 64GB version at $259 (£130) and a bottom-end 32GB unit for $169 (£85).
With the price exceptionally low compared to similar products from other manufacturers, it's hard not to assume the quality is somehow inferior. With the capacity and speed taken care of, the obvious assumption is that corners have been cut in the reliability stakes. According to OCZ, however, this isn't the case: quoting a mean time between failures of 1.5 million hours, the drives look set to be just as reliable as their more expensive counterparts. OCZ isn't afraid to put its money where its mouth is, either, with a two-year warranty as standard across the range.
Ryan Petersen, OCZ's CEO, stated that the difference in price between mechanical and solid-state storage has “limited adoption of vastly superior SSD technology, until now.” Well, there's also the slightly thorny issue of limited write cycles, but that doesn't make such good press release copy.
The drives are described as “available”, but what that actually means in terms of getting your sweaty hands on one isn't entirely obvious – just keep your eyes peeled.
Anyone tempted now prices are dropping, or are you still waiting for sub-pound-per-gig pricing? Share your thoughts over in the forums.
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