Will HP's computer division spin-off lead to plummeting PC prices?

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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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Ultrabook sales off to a disappointing start, thanks to high prices

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Intel has invested a lot of money into launching the new Ultrabook laptop platform, hailing the ultra-thin form factor as the future of notebooks. While that still may be the case down the line, initial signs are that Ultrabooks aren’t setting the world on fire, sales-wise.

According to DigiTimes, two of the main Ultrabook vendors — Acer and Asus — are expected to ship fewer than half the target number of systems for the fourth quarter that they expected: around 100,000 instead of 200,000 or 300,000 units.

The site’s sources claim that the first Ultrabooks available are priced too high to excite consumer demand. While Acer’s Aspire S3 (pictured) costs $899, other Ultrabooks cost as much or more than the lowest-priced MacBook Air ($999), the obvious inspiration for the Ultrabook platform. Even priced at $899, these laptops may be too costly for consumers who will settle for a $500 notebook instead, especially as the economy continues to sputter.

As Intel rolls out Ivy Bridge and Microsoft rolls out Windows 8, Ultrabooks may become more attractive to buyers, DigiTimes points out, especially if vendors can continue to find ways to lower the price tag for the new laptops. Thus far, however, those buyers haven’t responded to the new platform in the way Intel may have hoped.

Have you purchased an Ultrabook yet? Let us know your thoughts in the Talkback section.

Sean Portnoy is a freelance technology journalist.

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