SSD

Memory chipmakers face survival test

Memory chipmakers are fighting for their life.

The memory chip market--and industry--is caught in a particularly brutal downward price spiral that is threatening the viability of even the largest players.

"Memory manufacturers who have already been losing money for several quarters are now looking at another six months to a year of absolutely ominous conditions," said Avi Cohen, managing partner at Avian Securities.

Companies are now in survival mode, according to Cohen. "It is a matter of survival and everyone needs to figure out how to stay in business over the next year or how to scavenge … Read more

Micron cuts executive pay amid chip glut, loss

Micron's earnings pain will pass directly to executives. Micron Technology attributed a $344 million loss in the fourth quarter to a cratering memory market and said it would slash executives salaries as a result.

This was Micron's seventh straight quarterly loss. The largest memory chip manufacturer in the U.S. reported a net loss for the entire 2008 fiscal year of $1.6 billion, or $2.10 per diluted share on net sales of $5.8 billion.

Executives will feel the pain. "We are implementing a 20 percent reduction in salary compensation for Micron senior executives," … Read more

Super Talent to release budget solid-state drives

Two weeks after announcing two new high-speed solid-state drives (SSD), Super Talent Technology on Tuesday announced it will release the MasterDrive LX as a budget solid-state drive later this week.

The MasterDrive LX comes in 64GB and 128GB versions and will cost about $179 and $300, respectively. Both drives are SATA-II and use NAND flash technology. They will be compatible with computers that support the ever-popular 2.5-inch SATA hard drive.

The low prices do come with a shortcoming: the throughput speed. The new MasterDrive LX drives are significantly slower than other SSDs; it's even slower than some regular … Read more

Toshiba, Samsung in race to ship 256GB solid-state drives

Toshiba will begin shipping a 256GB solid-state drive, matching Samsung, its bigger, badder rival.

Another nail in the hard-disk-drive coffin? Well, not quite. But Toshiba's drive rivals magnetic drives in size while delivering better performance.

Solid-state drives are more expensive than hard-disk drives but are also generally more power efficient and faster.

Toshiba is trying to keep pace with the 800-pound SSD gorilla, South Korea-based Samsung. Samsung is the largest flash memory chip supplier in the world and has stated in the past that it would sample a 256GB SSD in September. Toshiba is ranked No. 2.

And the … Read more

Toshiba boosts flash amounts for laptops, Netbooks

This here drive launched by Toshiba Friday is its new high-density 256GB solid-state drive (SSD). Toshiba claims the 2.5-inch drive offers the essential performance needs for modern notebooks: reliability, fast read/write speeds (120MBps/70MBps) via a SATA 3.0Gbps interface, and plenty of space for your ones and zeros.

But, if you're saying to yourself "Forget notebooks; I need a bigger drive for my Netbook!" Well, Toshiba's got you covered there, too, with the launch of small SSD Flash Modules in 8GB, 16GB, and 32GB capacities. Not quite up to the speeds of the … Read more

Hands on with the Sony Vaio TT ultraportable

Sony's newly revamped ultraportable laptop, the Vaio TT, is a well-needed reminder that not every tiny laptop needs to be a low-cost, low-power Netbook-style system.

In fact, the Vaio TT is about as far from the standard $500 Netbook as possible, given the relative physical similarities. The TT's highest-end configuration (named the TT190UBX), includes not only an Intel ULV (ultra-low voltage) processor, but a whopping 4GB of RAM, and even an internal Blu-ray recordable optical drive. The real star power, however, comes from an unprecedented 256GB solid state hard drive, which jacks the price up to an equally imposing $4,300. Naturally, less expensive versions are available, ditching the Blu-ray and giant SSD drive.

The Vaio's 11-inch screen follows the 16:9 aspect ratio trend we've seen in new 16- and 18-inch laptops (including, naturally, Sony's new multimedia laptops). The 1,366x768 resolution isn't too far removed from the 1,024x600 found on most Netbooks, but the extra RAM and Intel Core 2 Duo processor makes a difference, allowing it to run Windows Vista smoothly, instead of XP. … Read more

Pretec revs up huge, super-speedy CF cards

Pretec announced on Tuesday its latest CompactFlash cards, which are substantially faster and higher capacity than other available CF cards.

The new cards come in two speeds: 233x (35MB per second) and 333x (50MBps), which is for now, as far as we know, the fastest for CF cards. The 233x model comes in 64GB and 100GB capacities while the 333x model comes in 32GB and 50GB capacities.

These cards can be used with digital cameras or mobile devices or reconfigured to work as solid-state hard drives. As I blogged recently, this is also good news for those who want to … Read more

Will Toshiba save SanDisk, parry Samsung?

Toshiba to the rescue? The Japanese electronics giant may try to stave off a Samsung takeover of SanDisk.

In the aftermath of Samsung's $5.8 billion bid for flash memory supplier SanDisk and SanDisk's unceremonious rejection, Toshiba looms as a large and potentially obstructive factor to a deal.

Toshiba and SanDisk have a partnership dating back to 1999 and operate two joint ventures called Flash Partners and Flash Alliance, as EE Times spelled out this week in an analysis of the dynamics of a possible deal.

SanDisk has a 49.9 percent interest in each of the two … Read more

Super Talent offers two new solid-state drives

Tuesday, Super Talent Technology introduced two "dangerously fast" solid-state hard drives, the MasterDrive OX and the MasterDrive PX.

The budget MasterDrive OX uses multilevel cell NAND flash and has data speeds of up to 150MB per second in sequential read and 100B per second in sequential write, according to the company. The MasterDrive OX comes in capacities up to 128GB and has a 1-year warranty.

The higher-end MasterDrive PX, on other hand, uses single-level cell NAND flash and focuses on the reliability and endurance, rather than capacity. It, too, is supposed to have lightning-fast sequential read and write … Read more

Will that Dell solid-state drive be regular or ultra?

Regular or ultra? Consumers will now have at least a couple of performance options when they order solid-state drives on the newest ultraportable notebooks from Dell.

Hard disk drives are getting scarcer by the week in the ultraportable notebook market. Dell has officially started selling its new 2.2-pound Latitude E4200 this week with solid-state drives as the only storage option, accelerating a trend in ultraportables away from hard disk drives.

The popular ThinkPad X301 also comes with solid-state drive options only.

The SSD options on the E4200 come in two flavors, standard or "Ultra".

Dell pre-announced the … Read more