OCZ releases RevoDrive Hybrid: 100GB SSD, 1TB hard drive, $499

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OCZ to slash SSD drive prices by 30 percent in 2012 thanks to TLC NAND flash memory

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Summary: We all know that the biggest impediment to the greater use of solid state drives in desktops and laptops is cost. While they don’t have moving parts and take up less space than traditional hard drives, SSDs still can’t deliver cheap enough cost-per-gigabyte storage to stop from the PC industry from freaking out over a [...]

We all know that the biggest impediment to the greater use of solid state drives in desktops and laptops is cost. While they don’t have moving parts and take up less space than traditional hard drives, SSDs still can’t deliver cheap enough cost-per-gigabyte storage to stop from the PC industry from freaking out over a looming hard drive shortage.

Prices for SSD drives have certainly dropped over time, but OCZ is gearing up to lower the entry price significantly as early as the first quarter of 2012. That’s when the company’s first SSDs using its new TLC (triple-bit-per-cell) NAND flash memory will start shipping. TLC can be as much as 30-percent cheaper as MLC (multi-layer cell) NAND flash.

As you might imagine given initial plans for TLC flash to be used in USB drives and memory cards, TLC-based SSD drives will suffer from worse endurance than their pricier brethren, though OCZ says TLC flash will still last for four years. The company claims that its Indilinx nDurance technology will help with TLC’s limited redundancy (offering only about 10 percent the number of writes that MLC offers).

If the hard drive shortage has indeed made this SSD’s time to shine (as Fudzilla argues), then OCZ couldn’t have timed the introduction of its TLC drives any better. Solid-state drives still won’t be dirt cheap, but any significant downward price pressure will only help deflate competitors’ prices.

[Via X-bit labs]

Sean Portnoy is a freelance technology journalist.

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More Ultrabooks to adapt hybrid disk drive approach to storage

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Notebooks vendors trying to meet Intel’s specs and pricing guidelines for its new Ultrabook platform are running into a bit of a problem when it comes to storage.

According to DigiTimes, storage parts make up between 10 and 15 percent of an Ultrabook’s cost, thanks to the higher price of solid state drives that are preferred for their fast boot-up times. But that cuts into profits when Intel is asking laptop makers to keep prices below $1,000.

As a result, DigiTimes reports that more Ultrabooks will adopt the strategy Acer has used with its Aspire S3 Ultrabook: the so-called hybrid disk drive. Acer uses a small 20GB SSD to store Windows and apps for quick launching and adds a 320GB hard drive for other file storage.

While it’s more convenient to just go with a single storage solution, and other Ultrabooks (like the Asus Zenbooks and the Lenovo IdeaPad U300) have launched with just an SSD, you can expect to see subsequent models rolling out with the hybrid disk drive configuration.

Will that make an impact on whether or you would purchase an Ultrabook? Let us know in the Talkback section.

Sean Portnoy is a freelance technology journalist.

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