Choosing an SSD

[Bob_the_lost]

I think Dell could lead on that. Them or apple.

Both have the balls to go it alone and abandon the 2.5" or 1.8" format for something more convenient. The physical space required for a 32GB SSD even today is far less than the volume of a 2.5" drive. You can shoehorn one of them into the chassis alongside a 2.5" drive in a 15" without trouble or a 17" without blinking.

 

[Sunray]

The Dell M6500 which I asked for has a propriety Dell slot for the 3rd SSD hard disk. Dell have been using the Samsung controllers which are OK but nothing to write home about. Until SSD controllers become a commodity part, this is doomed.

 

[grit]

I think Dell could lead on that. Them or apple.

Both have the balls to go it alone and abandon the 2.5" or 1.8" format for something more convenient. The physical space required for a 32GB SSD even today is far less than the volume of a 2.5" drive. You can shoehorn one of them into the chassis alongside a 2.5" drive in a 15" without trouble or a 17" without blinking.

The cost of retooling the manufacturing process would be considerable.

 

[Sunray]

I think Dell could lead on that. Them or apple.

Both have the balls to go it alone and abandon the 2.5" or 1.8" format for something more convenient. The physical space required for a 32GB SSD even today is far less than the volume of a 2.5" drive. You can shoehorn one of them into the chassis alongside a 2.5" drive in a 15" without trouble or a 17" without blinking.

This is also the reason I think that they will become built into motherboards bypassing the SATA interface. Controllers need to be a commodity part and reliability needs to get better before that happens.

 

[Bob_the_lost]

The cost of retooling the manufacturing process would be considerable.

Oh yeah, no doubt. Which is why dell, who've got the volume to afford that sort of change, or Apple who make enough profit are my top choices.

Building them onto the motherboard would make perfect sense, SOC will help free up a bit of room for that. The controllers are apparently the most expensive part, which has to be down to volume?

 

[grit]

Oh yeah, no doubt. Which is why dell, who've got the volume to afford that sort of change, or Apple who make enough profit are my top choices.

Building them onto the motherboard would make perfect sense, SOC will help free up a bit of room for that..

But for all that pain what real improvement would it make?

 

[Bob_the_lost]

A boot drive of blinding speed and very low power draw combined with a 2.5" drive for chucking data onto, all in a 15.6" chassis or smaller, all at minimal extra cost? What's not to like?

 

[grit]

A boot drive of blinding speed and very low power draw combined with a 2.5" drive for chucking data onto, all in a 15.6" chassis or smaller, all at minimal extra cost? What's not to like?

I was referring to the point of view of the OEM not the consumer.

In addition its something that only a small minority would want/care about.

But yes it would be cool

 

[Bob_the_lost]

I was referring to the point of view of the OEM not the consumer.

In addition its something that only a small minority would want/care about.

But yes it would be cool

Anyone who buys a model with a half decent CPU would be the target market. Add a bit of physical durability too.

 

[grit]

Anyone who buys a model with a half decent CPU would be the target market. Add a bit of physical durability too.

There is a huge amount of consumers who would purchase a laptop with a decent CPU but still not understand the setup.

Also, all that retooling cost is going to have to be unloaded on the consumer some how.

 

[Sunray]

Oh yeah, no doubt. Which is why dell, who've got the volume to afford that sort of change, or Apple who make enough profit are my top choices.

Building them onto the motherboard would make perfect sense, SOC will help free up a bit of room for that. The controllers are apparently the most expensive part, which has to be down to volume?

Its less down to volume, rather SSD controllers are still fledgling components. Only about 5 makers and only 3 high performance ones out there and only 2 of those are available for OEM's (unless your Kingston) so they can charge what they like.

The Sandforce 1500 looks like it will challenge the Intel but again don't expect it to be cheap.