New 120GB Intel SSD on the horizon?

[McLovin]

So I know much of what he was telling me was marketing B/S, but after talking with an Intel rep over the weekend, he told me that on Nov 2nd, Intel will be releasing a new SKU for a 120GB SSD that will be priced similarly to the current 80GB. I pressed him for any details regarding if this drive will be the new 3rd Gen drive and he suggests that it won't be but to expect to see "something new and exciting" around Q1 of '11.

I also got to see a side by side comparison of 2 similar notebooks using the exact same hardware except for one having an SSD vs Rotational HDD and my god what a huge difference in every aspect of the machine. The machine with the SSD was able to restart, load into windows, then into starcraft 2 ready to play before the 1st machine with the rotational HDD had even loaded back into windows.

 

[razel]

Yes an Intel 120GB generation 2 drive. Anand has an article about it and the 3rd gen coming early next year. And SSDs are killer compared to even some of the best notebook rotating hard drives. Notebook people are probably the happiest SSD consumers. Desktop people tend to be less so just because they're lucky enough to have already fast HDDs and have room to implement RAID both at ridiculously low prices. Seagate's hybrid notebook SSD is also another option for those wanting more space but better performance with notebook drives.

 

[tweakboy]

Sit tight and wait for the 3rd generation coming early next year, with higher capacity and much faster then gen 2. thx

 

[flamenko]

Yup Intel will beat out its Gen 2's. Too bad it still will not equal the others EXCEPT for capacity.

 

[rainkinz]

Any updates on this?

 

[Juddog]

I'm still using an Intel Gen 2 160GB and I absolutely love it. I have a 1st gen OCZ Vertex as well but I've had major issues with it, versus the Intel which so far has worked amazing, I have literally zero complaints about the Intel G2 after using it for roughly a half year so far. If Intel wants to dump the rest of their Gen 2's I'm sure there is a huge crowd that would be more than happy to take them off their hands!

 

[rainkinz]

yeah, I think I'm going to go with the Gen 2 160Gb. Only reason I'm interested in the 120Gb is I thought it might make them drop the price of the 160Gb (maybe...)

Thanks

 

[Old Hippie]

Looks like they're selling them on the Chinese Ebay.

 

[Juddog]

yeah, I think I'm going to go with the Gen 2 160Gb. Only reason I'm interested in the 120Gb is I thought it might make them drop the price of the 160Gb (maybe...)

Thanks

Well the prices on the G2's should definitely be dropping as they introduce the G3's, which should be very soon. So you might want to wait for the price to drop a little first.

 

[tweakboy]

That is not enough space for OS and APPS and DATA

 

[FishAk]

That is not enough space for OS and APPS and DATA

Normally, data doesn't benefit so much from an SSD- that's why it makes sense to put the data on a spinner right now. It's plenty of room for the OS and APPS though- the place where you can actually gain a huge benefit.

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

That is not enough space for OS and APPS and DATA

There's never enough space for data.

 

[GundamF91]

What specific benefits will Gen3 SSD bring? Are they going to have higher input/output, or have more longevity in terms of resisting wearing out?

 

[Daemas]

slightly better read and write, slightly better IOPS, slightly better longevity, but imagine everything at half the cost that it is today.

they'll stop making 80gb, 160gb for ~200$-210$, 320gb for ~400$-450$

 

[AznAnarchy99]

slightly better read and write, slightly better IOPS, slightly better longevity, but imagine everything at half the cost that it is today.

they'll stop making 80gb, 160gb for ~200$-210$, 320gb for ~400$-450$

I just got a laptop and was thinking of an SSD. So Im guessing its not a great time right now to get one with a refresh right around the corner?

 

[Daemas]

I would hold out until intel G3 comes (early 2011), and buy either a g3 from intel or whatever sandforce comes out to combat it (or hell, maybe even a PCIe SSD). It seems like the refresh life or SSDs is about 10-14 months (with very little inbetween. Mostly in the way of very minor tweaks or things that are for a very niche market)

 

[AznAnarchy99]

I would hold out until intel G3 comes (early 2011), and buy either a g3 from intel or whatever sandforce comes out to combat it (or hell, maybe even a PCIe SSD). It seems like the refresh life or SSDs is about 10-14 months (with very little inbetween. Mostly in the way of very minor tweaks or things that are for a very niche market)

Im just hoping for that price drop. Something along the lines of 128gb is about $200-250 right now.

 

[Juddog]

Im just hoping for that price drop. Something along the lines of 128gb is about $200-250 right now.

Me too - I have a feeling that we'll see some lower prices come around 1st quarter of 2011, since that's when the newer chipsets come out (sandforce and Intel).

 

[kmmatney]

Well - Nov. 2nd has come and gone. Was hoping to hear something about this today.

 

[fatpolomanjr]

Me too. X(

 

[rainkinz]

Me 3.

 

[ksec]

Me 4

 

[Burpy]

Me 5.

 

[flamenko]

Well..... The Intel Delay happens to be around the same time that OWC will be releasing the drives with ths SF-2000 and NAND similar sized to Intel. I think Intel will lose their foothold except for that created by Rep and name alone.

 

[kmmatney]

Well..... The Intel Delay happens to be around the same time that OWC will be releasing the drives with ths SF-2000 and NAND similar sized to Intel. I think Intel will lose their foothold except for that created by Rep and name alone.

Are you talking about these drives?

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/internal_storage/Mercury_Extreme_SSD_Sandforce/Solid_State_Pro

They look nice...but I don't think Intel would be worried about that.