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Super Talent extends its low-cost MLC NAND chips to the 1.8" form-factor

Super Talent caused quite a stir in the solid state disk (SSD) market in early May when it announced a new lineup of "affordable" SATA-II 2.5" SSDs. Whereas most high-speed SSDs were going for thousands of dollars for capacities in the 128GB range, Super Talent dropped a 120GB SSD on an unsuspecting public for a mere $649.

Super Talent is now bringing its reduced-cost SSDs to devices in the 1.8" form-factor. The new Micro-SATA MasterDrive KX SSDs are just 5mm thick and are available in capacities of 30GB, 60GB, and 120GB. The SSDs are priced at $299, $449, and $679 respectively.

Like the 2.5" MasterDrive MX SSDs that were introduced last month, the 1.8" counterparts feature read speeds of 120MB/sec and write speeds of less impressive 40MB/sec. The meager write speeds are a result of the lower-performing multi-level cell (MLC) NAND memory chips used in the SSDs.

"In terms of performance, power consumption, and shock and vibration resistance the MasterDrive KX is substantially better than hard drives. The MasterDrive KX is an excellent upgrade for laptop users looking for greater reliability or to accelerate bootup and load times," said Joe James, Super Talent Marketing Director.

Super Talent will officialy launch the MasterDrive MX SSDs tomorrow for the UMPC market and the drives will be available shortly after for purchase from such online retailers as Newegg and NewBiiz.

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How thick is it?
By Doormat on 6/2/2008 10:16:59 PM , Rating: 2
In other words, can I put it in a MB Air? The SSD it comes with wasn't all that good (40/40 R/W speeds).




RE: How thick is it?
By amanojaku on 6/2/2008 10:35:46 PM , Rating: 2
No. The hard drive is not user upgradeable, but you can do it if you've got the skill. More importantly, the MacBook Air only supports PATA drives; the Super Talent drive is SATA.

http://www.dailytech.com/Mtron+Unveils+128GB+18+PA...


RE: How thick is it?
By GlassHouse69 on 6/3/2008 12:36:09 AM , Rating: 5
pata?

how retarded.

then again its mac.

retarded features since intel ftw!


RE: How thick is it?
By davepermen on 6/3/08, Rating: 0
RE: How thick is it?
By 8steve8 on 6/3/2008 2:31:08 AM , Rating: 2
not true, the x300 thinkpad for one, has a 1.8" sata ssd.


RE: How thick is it?
By davepermen on 6/3/2008 2:33:34 AM , Rating: 2
okay. i stand corrected. still, most don't. and they all have a 4200rpm disk CRYING for ssd replacement.


RE: How thick is it?
By daftrok on 6/3/2008 3:31:44 AM , Rating: 2
Or the new 5400rpm 1.8" HDD. Then again those are SATA as well so it seems Macbook Air owners are still SOL (which they deserve for not realizing its a stupid product to buy and if they wanted a Mac so badly they should have gotten the Macbook)


RE: How thick is it?
By FITCamaro on 6/3/2008 7:41:48 AM , Rating: 5
Microsoft commercial with the same guys from the Apple commercial. PC Guy has a regular Windows laptop. Apple guy has a MacBook Air.

PC Guy: "Oh is that your laptop?"

Apple Guy: "Yeah. It's a MacBook Air. It's great cause its so light and stuff. And its only $1800."

PC Guy: "Really?"

Apple Guy: "Yeah."

PC Guy: "Play a DVD."

Apple Guy: "......*whisper* I didn't buy the $100 super drive *\whisper*......"

PC Guy: "Guess its not so great huh."

Apple Guy: "But it fits in a manilla envelope!!!"

PC Guy as he's walking away with a smirk on his face: "Yeah let me know when that becomes useful."


RE: How thick is it?
By HaZaRd2K6 on 6/3/2008 3:02:40 PM , Rating: 2
That's why I love this commercial from Lenovo:

http://gizmodo.com/385262/lenovo-parodies-macbook-...


RE: How thick is it?
By Cullinaire on 6/3/2008 3:59:09 PM , Rating: 2
Even better ending would be the PC guy pulling the X300 out of a manila envelope he'd been holding the entire time.


RE: How thick is it?
By Anonymous Freak on 6/3/2008 3:47:10 AM , Rating: 2
A SATA connection has been discovered on the MBA motherboard, but it's just a bunch of solder points, so it would take some rather impressive hacking skills to turn it into a usable port.

I'm curious about "Micro-SATA". I haven't heard anything about it, and can't find any references to it.

Personally, I fully expect Apple to update the MBA at their event next week, or, at the latest, two to four weeks later. The updated MBA will undoubtedly use Micro SATA, and will hopefully move to SSDs across the board. (Maybe a cheap 32 GB one in the base model, without raising the computer's price tag, up to a 128 or, if someone has a thin enough one, a 256 GB in the high end model. Of course, using a 45 nm main processor would be nice, too.)


RE: How thick is it?
By Polynikes on 6/3/2008 12:10:28 PM , Rating: 2
Another Mac owner screwed again. What a shame.


1.8" SATA
By davepermen on 6/3/2008 1:50:13 AM , Rating: 2
Which no small notebook out in the markt does have. I'm still waiting for PATA ZIF drives that are faster. Looks like i have to continue to wait for the new releases from mtron.




RE: 1.8" SATA
By eickst on 6/3/2008 2:59:01 AM , Rating: 4
Lenovo X300 has 1.8" SATA. I have one and the speeds on it are impressive. The MB Air is slow in comparison. (And people don't look at me like I am a pretentious douchebag when carrying a Lenovo machine.)


RE: 1.8" SATA
By davepermen on 6/3/2008 3:03:53 AM , Rating: 2
are they 4200rpm, too?


RE: 1.8" SATA
By eickst on 6/3/2008 12:32:06 PM , Rating: 2
I have a SSD....


RE: 1.8" SATA
By Saosin on 6/17/2008 1:47:01 PM , Rating: 2
X300 is only SSD.


RE: 1.8" SATA
By mooncancook on 6/3/2008 2:00:15 PM , Rating: 2
Yeah, why can't they release a PATA version along with the SATA version? I think any SSD would be significantly faster than the 1.8" 4800RPM drive in my Sony TZ. And where can I find these drives anyway? The cheapest 64GB 1.8" SSD I can find cost over $1000.


Nice.
By pauldovi on 6/3/2008 1:30:10 AM , Rating: 2
Writing speeds is less important for most people than reading speeds.

I think that you would have a very nice setup with 2 - 4 of these in RAID0 on a desktop PC.




RE: Nice.
By davepermen on 6/3/2008 2:38:20 AM , Rating: 2
how to connect a micro-sata to sata? would be quite space-saving, to build up a raid with 1.8" drives.

I'm interested in how they scale, espencially in write performance, in raid0. should be like slc disks, scaling well.


Fine, but what I really want...
By oab on 6/3/2008 3:17:36 AM , Rating: 2
What I would REALLY like is a 3.5" SDD.




By davepermen on 6/3/2008 3:23:26 AM , Rating: 2
why? those use less space and work exactly the same. (well, i'm unsure about the connector).

the 2.5" ssd one can buy since some while fit into any 3.5", they have the identical sata connector. just get one of those, and an adapter from 2.5" to 3.5" to screw it into your pc.

they work exactly the same.


By IQMAN on 6/3/2008 1:01:50 AM , Rating: 2
I really don't know what 5mm think is.

Is that a new speed rating?

Or do the writers here forget to think.

Caveman writers they are.




By lagitup on 6/3/2008 11:07:35 AM , Rating: 2
it was probably one of those things where you say one thing while thinking about your mother...


Waiting, waiting & waiting
By Frallan on 6/3/2008 3:28:04 AM , Rating: 2
As title Im still waiting for the (less rediculessly expensive) 256 GB drive. I have 160GB 5400 rpm in laptop now. Thing is I do want a faster drive but i cant give the space up so i have to wait.

But as soon as the SSDs become larger then the traditional 2.5"s this industry will take off for real.

/F




To Be Honest...
By Quiescent on 6/3/2008 3:58:55 AM , Rating: 2
I've been really interested in SSDs ever since I got an Eee. I have had nothing but problems with harddrives, I suppose. 2 years after a windows installation and it's loading slow.

However, I know I'm currently using a very defective powersupply (Which doesn't ground itself properly, and last time I left it on standby, it didn't come out, and I turned the system back on and SURPRISE! Fried CMOS battery! Plus some corruption on both my harddrives) which could be causing some slow down.

However, otherwise, I really enjoy my use of SSD on my Eee. I plan to use a 30GB SSD, the cheapest, from Super Talent, to store all my "important" stuff on it for my new desktop. I've put a lot of research into SSD as well. I know that they can last as long, if not, longer than a traditional harddrive, I know they do not need maintenance such as defragmentation, I know the way they operate lengthens the lifetime of the SSD, etc.

A lot of people complain that there are problems with SSD just crapping out. They think this is SSD-specific too. Not quite so. Harddrives do the same thing. Just because it's new technology, everyone has to be tense when an SSD fails. Look how many harddrives fail. If your SSD fails, it's defective just like when a harddrive fails! And harddrives can fail like a year later, maybe even two years later just like SSDs! It still means it's defective.




Slowly maturing market
By psychobriggsy on 6/3/2008 6:04:37 AM , Rating: 2
The read speeds are more than good enough, and should mean stellar load times for booting up and large application launches. The write speed is still faster than many 2.5" hard drives as well.

Doesn't MLC have a shorter life than SLC however? I'm sure it probably wouldn't be a problem still, and at one third the cost a reasonable compromise. Still too expensive for many uses sadly.




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