Flash Memory HDD for Notebooks Launched 277
ukhackster writes "Traditional magnetic hard drive platters could be on the way out, thanks to SanDisk's launch today of a hard drive based on flash memory chips. The device can store 32GB of data and is meant for notebooks . SanDisk claims that using flash chips means faster access and better reliability, so less danger of a serious system crash wiping out all your valuable data if you drop your laptop. The downside, though, is price. At an extra $600 dollars, are price-conscious consumers going to be interested?"
An extra $600? (Score:5, Insightful)
Economy of scale will ensure that it's not $600 for long.
It's not aimed at price-conscious consumers (Score:4, Insightful)
Limited write cycles? (Score:0, Insightful)
that can be done before the memory becomes unable to store data?
I acknowledge my familiarity with flash memory is at best cursory.
Re:Here is a small, clueless suggestion (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:nomenclature (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:HD (Score:4, Insightful)
For this particular application that might not be a problem, since a lot of memory chips will be needed, and you can access them in parallel.
1,000,000,000 bytes does not equal a GB (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Here is a small, clueless suggestion (Score:3, Insightful)
Off-topic (Score:2, Insightful)
Attention taggers: "no" is not a tag, it's an opinion. Same goes for "yes" and "maybe". Submit it in a post or STFU.
Re:Just in time for Macworld? (Score:4, Insightful)
A little over a year ago, 1gigabyte flash drives were selling for over $100. If you go to Staples right now, you can still see some. But I bought a 1gig Sansadisk flash for $15 a few weeks ago. So a better question would be if people would be willing to pay an additional $80 for this new technology because that's what it'll cost a year or so from now.
The answer is "effin' right!"
Re:HD (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:$600 for 60GB is a bargain (Score:3, Insightful)
No. No they don't.
Your backlight sucks a lot of power. Your hard drive is a barely noticable load next to the display. Your hard drive is probably near the bottom of power consumption for the whole system.
(Note all the portable MP3 players with 1.8" HDDs, that last 30+ hours on one tiny battery.)
Performance and reliability are the reasons to consider flash based storage in notebooks, NOT battery life.