Super Talent 128 GB UltraDrive GX Solid State Drive Review

[Adrian Wong]

Originally Posted by Chai

Well, I don't have the chance to test one. I'm only using it on my desktop, so whether it can be used on notebook or not is not really relevant to me, although it is one advantage for notebooks.

LOL! I was just screwing with you. The form factor isn't an issue unless you only intend to use it with a notebook / netbook.

But honestly, SSDs are currently targeted at notebooks and netbooks. There seems to be very little interest in using them for desktops. Even hybrid HDDs didn't take off as expected.

I suppose the SSDs' invulnerability to shock and vibration is a bigger advantage than its performance.

[Adrian Wong]

Originally Posted by Trinity

"Windows will load up in seconds"

Wow! That's nice!!!

You don't have to wait for SSDs. You can also try to WD VelociRaptor!

[Chai]

Originally Posted by Adrian Wong

LOL! I was just screwing with you. The form factor isn't an issue unless you only intend to use it with a notebook / netbook.

But honestly, SSDs are currently targeted at notebooks and netbooks. There seems to be very little interest in using them for desktops. Even hybrid HDDs didn't take off as expected.

I suppose the SSDs' invulnerability to shock and vibration is a bigger advantage than its performance.

That is valid for those cheaper SSDs, not this high-end SSD in this review.

[karhoe]

Originally Posted by Chai

But the prices of SSD has not changed for the past year.

Still absorbing R&D price I believe, how much can these SOLID thing cost in terms of raw material price.

[Chai]

Maybe the yield is very low?

Look at GT300, 1.7% yield rate!!!

[karhoe]

Oh well, SSD has been in the market for few years already, but with the current adoption rate, it won't be in the near future for SSD price to drop, existing consumer sees no reason to move to SSD, hard disk still works, reasonably fast.

It's unlike when flash drive was unveiled, 16MB for RM200 back then when it was first launched was a bargain! Paying for the premium of having everything squeezed in a small size, fast speed, no risk of fungus, magnets around, etc

[Adrian Wong]

These SSD drives use the same NAND flash chips as regular thumb drives (USB flash drives). The only difference is that they have a SATA controller instead of a USB controller, and maybe some SDRAM as write cache.

The performance difference (and price) depends greatly on the type, speed and capacity of NAND flash chips used. That's why there is a large disparity in performance, somewhat like what we see in USB flash drives.

Both SSD and USB flash drives have super-fast and super-expensive models and super-cheap but super-slow models. Plus, the development of the MLC type of NAND flash chip has reduced the cost per GB.

I think while the high-end SSDs have to recover some R&D cost, the bulk of the cost is probably due to limited production of fast NAND chips. Probably the big money is in slower, but much cheaper NAND chips used in millions of USB flash drives.