When will laptops switch from HDD to SSD?

[elephantroom]

Its been 5 years since people have said that SSDs will replace HDD.. however, SSD prices are still too high relative to capacity. Ultrathin laptops should help SSDs but some still use hybrid drives. We used to have more than 200 HDD manufacturers and now there's only 3 left. Now, there are 60 SSD manufacturers.. Currently, a lot of them are still losing money.. will they be forced to consolidate (go bankrupt) at some point? will that be the case for a while?

Or do you think SSDs will replace HDD, so HDD sales will decline going forward?

 

[jacobdrj]

SDD will never replace HDDs outright, so long as magnetic technology continues to have such a huge advantage in data density.

But for laptops, I predict SSD will become standard in laptops when drives in excess of 500GB fall under the $50 mark for bulk orders.

Until then, only the high end will come with SSDs and those form factors mandated by Intel and Microsoft...

 

[elephantroom]

thanks jacobdrj.

compared to your prediction at $50, how much do SSDs in excess of 500GB (for laptops) cost now for bulk orders? Just so I can gauge how long it will take for the transition from HDD to SSD in most laptops..

thanks again.

 

[elephantroom]

Best answer selected by elephantroom.

 

[jacobdrj]

I honestly have no data on current bulk prices of HDDs. This is particularly skewed because of the recent flooding in Thailand.

I am simply betting that at the $50 price point, the drive is no longer an expensive component, it is a commodity, where you are no longer paying a premium for the device's specifications, but for the raw materials and manufacturing costs to generate the SSD.
And since most customers are perfectly content on 250 GB HDDs anyways, manufacturers would love to have the flexibility to purchase from not just hard drive vendors, but competitively priced SSDs...

 

[Maziar]

This topic has been closed by Maziar