Intel Unveils 120GB SSD: The X25-M Sweet Spot

[Marcus Yam]

120GB of Intel SSD goodness for under $250.

Intel Unveils 120GB SSD: The X25-M Sweet Spot : Read more

 

[obiown77]

hmmmm, I see stripe upgrade coming to me pc soon!

 

[jomofro39]

Is it just me, or is it taking a little too long for these to drop to reasonable prices ($.50/GB-$.75/GB)?

 

[N.Broekhuijsen]

dam you guys!!! I just got myself a nice 40GB SSD, (for a painful $130) and you are already making me regret this. Why is it that since the moment that I got this SSD, SSD's have been all over the news??

 

[tsnorquist]

Lower that $249.00 120GB to $149.00 and we can make a deal Intel. I'll even buy two.

 

[rantoc]

Got 4x80's running in raid0, their nice performance

 

[dalta centauri]

Just got a nice 120gb for around 240-260$. I like the performance and the size, it was either that or getting a 40gb for around 100-120$.
Which is weird, the higher capacity ones seem to be cheaper in performance/price.

 

[scook9]

Why are people still so convinced that SSD prices will drop quickly? As long as mechanical hard drives are around and there is high demand for flash (also caused by things like smart phones) there is no reason for the vendors to lower prices. Instead they have been at the same prices roughly since launch and just gotten much faster.

 

[techcurious]

So Intel is offering an inferior product at a higher price? The Sandforce 1200 drives are going for about $225 for 120GB (or less than $200 after rebate), and significantly outpace the Intel drive in read, write and input/output performance! The only reason anyone would make an "educated" purchase of these 120GB Intel drives would be because of Sandforce's unproven reliability? As an OS drive, I would say that a backup image should be ready to go at all times anyway, and I would give my money to Sandforce and really get the most out of current generation SSD technology (at this price point). For the 120GB intel drive to be worth the purchase it would have to be priced at $200 without rebates.

 

[keplenk]

[citation][nom]xbeater[/nom]dam you guys!!! I just got myself a nice 40GB SSD, (for a painful $130) and you are already making me regret this. Why is it that since the moment that I got this SSD, SSD's have been all over the news??[/citation]

I don't mean to bust your balls but check this out.

http://www.frys.com/product/6165889?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG

I know it sucks.

 

[jomofro39]

[citation][nom]scook9[/nom]Why are people still so convinced that SSD prices will drop quickly? As long as mechanical hard drives are around and there is high demand for flash (also caused by things like smart phones) there is no reason for the vendors to lower prices. Instead they have been at the same prices roughly since launch and just gotten much faster.[/citation]
Because that is the capitalist model: The first ever launched SSDs should be dropping to reasonable prices, while the newer technology SSDs take their price points. Similar to the gfx card price wars. Get it? There are newer SSDs coming out all the time and the older models are not dropping to lower price points. If demand is really this high, then supply should be following religiously, because nobody would lose money over any investment into an SSD market. But it is not. I feel that by now you should be able to pick up a budget SSD of 80 GB for 50 bucks. Maybe without TRIM, or a newer tech controller, but an SSD none the less giving the middle ground of performance. The article today about HDD raid 0 vs SSD raid 0 showed the tremendous gap we already know exists. There is a middle ground, which (I think seagate?) tried to cover by combining the technologies with their hybrids. I haven't seen any performance figures for these, but it is a step in the right direction IMO. It is just frustrating as a consumer when there are performance/price gaps that are insurmountable. Imagine no available vehicle in the 10k-30k price range, and your only choices are a neon or a benz? Wtf?

 

[utengineer]

Prices for SSD tech will not go down due to Obama Care.

 

[rantoc]

They work hard to keep the margains up, better revenue now and ensures that a product can be pricecut later and still allow for pretty good proffit.

Sadly the nand prices wich are the major cost for the SSD's don't seem to drop at the rate they should considering the improved yeilds and the number of "shrinks" they made to date - Samsung for instance is world famous for its numbers of price cartels in the part and is still world leading the production of the nand if im not mistaken.

Maby something for the EU & US goverment should look into for some easy money!

 

[bildo123]

[citation][nom]xbeater[/nom]dam you guys!!! I just got myself a nice 40GB SSD, (for a painful $130) and you are already making me regret this. Why is it that since the moment that I got this SSD, SSD's have been all over the news??[/citation]

You'll be sadly disappointed when all this SSD "boot drive" garbage is a thing of the past this time next year. I'm waiting out until I can get a 256GB SSDfor < $200. Although a stretch, I think this time next year it will be near that price.

 

[counselmancl]

I remember when hard drives hit 1 dollar per megabyte in the 90's when the 500MB drives for $500 came out.

 

[eklipz330]

can't wait till the new sandforce drives come out next year

 

[Albyint]

Cant buy till a GB =< a dollar. No matter how good the tech is. :-/

 

[computerlame]

It isn't reasonable to expect SSD tech to be that far under a $ per GB when your traditional mechanical HD's are at that price point many of you claim to be waiting for. They may come closer to $1/GB but demanding that they'll be at the same price point as older tech is kind of like insisting on a Tesla motorsport electric car to be the price of a Toyota Corolla. It's just not going to happen.

 

[JD13]

I'd rather see the larger drive come down in price than, pay more per GB. I bought a G Skill 120GB drive back in Aug. I just wish I could afford the 200+ GB drives. With Win 7 Ultimate 64 bit installed along with some games & MS office 2003 I only have about 5-6 GB free....

 

[scook9]

[citation][nom]JD13[/nom]I'd rather see the larger drive come down in price than, pay more per GB. I bought a G Skill 120GB drive back in Aug. I just wish I could afford the 200+ GB drives. With Win 7 Ultimate 64 bit installed along with some games & MS office 2003 I only have about 5-6 GB free....[/citation]
Then you have too much other crap on your drive....I have Windows 7 Pro 64-bit, office ultimate 2007, a few games like Crysis and GOW (10GB each) and my 160GB Intel SSD still has about 50 GB free.....

move your songs and videos to a mechanical disk....they get no benefit from being on your ssd

 

[scook9]

Just reread my post and realized that means I used about 110G of my drive.....my bad!

I think the solution is to just keep core stuff on the ssd (excluding games which have to go on the hdd just due to their size)

My desktop is an 80GB Intel G2 and a WD6400AAKS and that is working great for me so far. Laptop is a 160GB G2 and WD6400BEVT which is also working well (I have alot more files on the laptop from school and such)

 

[descendency]

[citation][nom]jomofro39[/nom]Is it just me, or is it taking a little too long for these to drop to reasonable prices ($.50/GB-$.75/GB)?[/citation]
The price drop model has been quite aggressive over the years. This Flash is in super high demand for the manufacturing capabilities today, so obviously that is the problem.

So while SSDs might not be reasonably priced for the masses, SLC and MLC NAND Flash based products are reasonably priced for someone.

 

[thechief73]

I agree with the many others on here, they are taking WAY to long to bring the price down on SSD's. I dont know what it costs to manufacture a drive but memory doesnt cost that darn much.

 

[demonhorde665]

many people here are very uninformed and teh fact they are talkinga bout how these need faster price drops obviously hasn't watched the prices on SSD"s AT ALL,and to any one that has watched the price pluments these whiney people come off as compeltely ignorant. just a little over 3 years ago a 80 to 120 gig SSD woudlavhe costed you around the nieghbor hood of a 1000 dollars . and drives that exceeded 160 gb , were quite commonly costing several thousand dollars. with no offerning above 320 gigs. and today youc an get a 80 gig for about 200 and i've even seen some 200-250 gig SDD;s for around 300-400 bucks now. in comparision lcd Tv's a much more mainstream technology, didn't drop prices any where near that fast.

some tiems i think opeople really expect to much out of a amrket even when the market is meeting demand faster than any other market ever could or has done.

 

[applegetsmelaid]

Saw a 60GB SSD for $60 on Newegg on Nov 1, was sold out by noon! I wanted to cry. Gives me hope for another great deal this year though. Happy SSD hunting to all.