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I’m disappointed in Toms for posting this junk article. Even though Elon Musk deserves some trashing these days, Toms should not the place for that crap.
Don't you mean a, ahem, ludicrous electric car?
Exactly, the article seems to completely dismiss the fact that car temperatures often extend outside the operating range of standard consumer SSDs. In northern climates, outdoor temperatures can remain below freezing for months during the winter. If your car is parked outside or even in an unheated garage, your SSD will be that temperature as well, and will take a while to warm up, by which point you may already be at your destination. Plus, rapidly warming electronics has the potential to result in condensation forming within the device. I had a digital camera fail after operating it in sub-freezing temperatures, despite taking the precaution to warm it up slowly for that very reason, so this is a very real concern.
You do realize you're telling someone that they didn't read the article, while not bothering to read their post explaining that car temperatures can exceed those limits, right?
No one is fawning over the drive, they are just pointing out that clickbait articles like this are claiming how bad a price it is without basing what they write on any actual evidence. If the drive were out and people opened it up to find a sub-$100 budget drive inside, then that could be an article worth writing. But ignoring Tesla's description of the drive, and simply assuming that it is no better than standard PC drives amounts to nothing more than complete tabloid speculation.
And if the Samsung drive doesn't last a year or is unreliable, shutting down on its own or failing to start due to extreme temperature conditions? Sure, a standard consumer drive would probably work fine and be a better value for many, but they probably don't want to release a product that will be unreliable in certain usage scenarios. And of course, we're talking about an accessory for a premium vehicle line whose base models range in price from $45,000 to $130,000. The idea that someone buying a car in that price range is going to be all that concerned about cutting corners to save a couple hundred dollars on an SSD for it seems a bit nonsensical.
Was specifically saying that they did indeed, in the article, point to the fact that most drives can handle the temps needed just fine. Unless you are using the drive in sub zero conditions, which nobody in there right mind in those temps would do. They preheat their cars before getting in them remotely. Also, that is a fairly small subset of users, and none of these conditions go outside the resting specs of a standard drive.
That would impossible, as Tesla didn't provide any specs. But the author did provide some examples and prices of 'rugged' SSDs currently on the market, which could plausibly be similar in specs to the Tesla SSD.
That's the thing, "automotive grade" doesn't necessarily mean anything on its own. Kind of like how computer parts used to be (maybe still are?) marketed as '"military grade", saying they were extra durable or whatever, but it's just marketing fluff.
A garden variety Samsung 860 EVO has a non-operating temp range of -45C to 85C.
No, most drives are in fact NOT rated to handle those conditions. The article specifically states that consumer drives can generally handle operating temperatures between 0-60C, but the whole point of their post was to point out that car interior temperatures can exceed both ends of that temperature range. Operating temperatures well below 0C would be very common in northern US states during the winter, and if you actually lived in such a climate, you would realize that most people are not going to wait an extended period of time to "preheat their car" before driving somewhere, and it could take quite a while to raise the temperature of a drive stowed away in a glove box. And of course, the drive likely starts up with the car, since it is used for things like dashcam video, so there is likely zero time for the car to warm up before the drive is already attempting to run outside of its official operating range.
Again, Tesla specifically states that the SSD is "designed for durability withstanding extreme cabin temperatures, vehicle shocks and vibrations". Maybe it's not, but their statement is the only thing we have to go on for now, and gives plenty of reason to believe that whatever drive they used is likely tested to withstand those conditions. An article claiming that consumer drives that are clearly not certified for operation in "extreme cabin temperatures" are just as good at a fraction of the cost amounts to little more than clickbait journalism, just trying to get those ad-views and affiliate link clicks with no regard for journalistic integrity, and I don't see why you feel the need to defend it. There is no evidence at this point that this is just marketing talk, and until there is, such an article is not justified. Why didn't the writer contact Tesla and ask for more details before publishing the article? Probably because they wanted to push out an article alongside all the other tech sites doing the same so that they could profit off of it without care for whether the premise is true or not.
If it is doing Sentry as well, great. It NEEDS to operate at below 0.
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