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Fujitsu gets a soft spot for solid state hard drives

Fujitsu gets a soft spot for solid state hard drives

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Dan Ackerman Editorial Director / Computers and Gaming
Dan Ackerman leads CNET's coverage of computers and gaming hardware. A New York native and former radio DJ, he's also a regular TV talking head and the author of "The Tetris Effect" (Hachette/PublicAffairs), a non-fiction gaming and business history book that has earned rave reviews from the New York Times, Fortune, LA Review of Books, and many other publications. "Upends the standard Silicon Valley, Steve Jobs/Mark Zuckerberg technology-creation myth... the story shines." -- The New York Times
Expertise I've been testing and reviewing computer and gaming hardware for over 20 years, covering every console launch since the Dreamcast and every MacBook...ever. Credentials
  • Author of the award-winning, NY Times-reviewed nonfiction book The Tetris Effect; Longtime consumer technology expert for CBS Mornings
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Dan Ackerman
Fujitsu

If there's one trend we see defining the next generation of laptops--or at least the one after that--it's solid-state hard drives. After all, if you take the moving parts out of the most failure-prone part of the laptop, you'll get a more reliable machine, along with better battery life, and a cooler-running system.

Fujitsu is adding solid-state hard drives to some of its ultraportable laptops, starting March 19. Both the LifeBook P1610 and the LifeBook B6210 will be available with either 16GB or 32GB flash-based SSD hard drives. But before you jump on board the solid-state bandwagon, bear in mind these new configurations are aimed at industrial and institutional users. Getting a 16GB SSD drive in your LifeBook P1610 will cost roughly an extra $700, while getting the 32GB version will cost around $1,300, and Fujitsu is expecting only bulk orders for the new technology, not individual sales.

Despite these hefty premiums, solid-state hard drive prices have been dropping lately, and you can get a 32GB SSD drive from SanDisk for around $350. As drive capacities go up and prices come down, expect to see more systems drop the old platter-style drives.