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Information Technology News Dell provides flash drive option for notebooks
Information Technology News Dell provides flash drive option for notebooks | Dell provides flash drive option for notebooks |
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| by Stephen Withers | |
| Thursday, 26 April 2007 | |
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Advantages of solid-state drives over their rotating magnetic equivalents include better shock resistance, improved performance, longer battery life, less noise and reduced weight. Dell's specific claims are that benchmark performance is up to 23 percent better (SysMark 2004se), boot time is reduced by up to 34 percent, and the drive can withstand a shock of 1300G while operating. "During extreme impact testing the surrounding notebook hardware breaks before the drive," said Dell officials. Given these characteristics, Dell appears to have chosen the right models for its first foray into flash drives. Light weight is clearly an important consideration for ultra-mobile buyers, while anyone selecting a semi-rugged model has indicated a willingness to pay a premium for greater robustness. Mainstream users are likely to prefer a higher-capacity and much less expensive hard disk. The flash drives are already available in the Americas. Supplies to Europe and Asia will begin shortly. Dell has selected a flash drive with the same form factor and interface as a regular hard disk, so no re-engineering was required. Future notebooks are likely to include onboard flash storage, potentially reducing costs and improving performance even more. "A solid state drive is an excellent storage technology for our mobile users," said CTO Kevin Kettler "We are committed to leading the industry in delivering these new drives and will offer them across Dell's next generation of Latitude products."{moscomment}
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