OCZ unveils 128GB solid-state drive priced at $479

OCZ Technology Announces Core Series SATA II 2.5 Solid State Drive Delivering the World’s First Truly Affordable High-Performance SSD for Consumers at Price Points Less Than 50% of Comparable High Performance SSDs


SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--OCZ Technology Group, Inc. (LSE:OCZ), a worldwide leader in innovative, ultra-high performance and high reliability memory and computer components, today unveiled the OCZ Core Series SATA II 2.5” Solid State Drives (SSDs). OCZ has gained momentum in this pioneering technology, which uses NAND flash instead of rotating platters as the storage medium, and is a high-performance, highly reliable and energy-efficient alternative to conventional hard disc drives.

The OCZ Core Series delivers the performance and reliability of the latest SSDs at a 50% less price per gigabyte than other high speed offerings currently on the market. For the first time, OCZ is putting SSD technology within reach of the average consumer, and delivering on the promise of SSDs as an alternative to traditional hard drives in consumer targeted mobile applications.

“SSDs offer higher performance, reliability, and energy efficiency than conventional HDDs but the cost variance has limited adoption of vastly superior SSD technology, until now,” said Ryan Petersen, CEO of OCZ Technology. “It is our mission to deliver the highest performance products to consumers at reasonable prices, and with the release of the Core Series SSDs we have done exactly that.”

OCZ Core Series Solid State Drives enable enhanced productivity in everyday computing and intensive multi-tasking applications. Perfect for notebooks, the Core Series is ideal for energy-efficient mobile computing to extend battery life, increase access time, and provide a durable alternative to conventional hard disc drives with superior shock resistance. High capacities and low power consuming NAND flash technology provide the necessary performance and battery life boosts generated by the proliferation of mobile gaming and new ultra-thin laptops. With fast access and seek times combined with excellent reliability, the OCZ Core Series SSDs are the answer for consumers demanding this latest storage technology.

The drives feature a durable yet lightweight alloy housing, and because OCZ SSDs have no moving parts, the drives are not prone to damage from common mishandling. Designed for ultimate reliability, these SSDs have an excellent 1.5 million hour mean time before failure (MTBF) ensuring peace of mind over the long term. All Core Series SSD drives come backed a two year warranty and OCZ’s legendary service and support.

Core series SSD drives are available in capacities of 32GB, 64GB, and 128GB and deliver incredible 120-143Mbs/ 80-93Mbs read/write speeds and seek times of less than 0.35ms, making the Core series up to 10x as fast on a seek-time basis and up to 40% faster on a R/W basis that the best performing 2.5” HDDs on the market, all while consuming 50% less power. MSRPs at time of launch are USD $169, $259 and $479 for 32GB, 64GB and 128GB models respectively.

Source:- OCZ Technology Announces Core Series SATA II 2.5 Solid State Drive Delivering the World's First Truly Affordable High-Performance SSD for Consumers at Price Points Less Than 50% of Comparable High Performance SSDs

Product page:- http://www.ocztechnology.com/products/flash_drives/ocz_core_series_sata_ii_2_5-ssd

I know it's not really Vista news, but I want one

 

[johngalt]

I want 5 - at 500 GB each :P

Wow, that *is* a price drop:

SSD SATA - Google Product Search

 

[z3r010]

Well these have just hit my local PC store:- OCZ 128GB Core Series Solid State Disk - Aria Technology

I'm very tempted, but I think it may have to wait until next month

 

[Freelancer852]

The only thing I'd use these for would be my OS and programs. I'd keep all my media on good old HDDs.

 

[z3r010]

It would be a waste doing anything else

 

[johngalt]

BTW, just ran across this this afternoon - it makes the OCZ that much more appealing:

Flash SSD Update: More Results, Answers : An Apology First – And One New SSD To Prove Us Right - Tom's Hardware

There is one conclusion we would like to make right away: OCZ's new SATA II 2.5“ SSD, which is based on a Samsung drive, is the best Flash SSD in our small benchmark lineup. The OCZ Flash SSD provides performance that beats even the quick Mtron drive in many sections, and its power efficiency is unmatched. This is the type of result a Flash SSD should provide, and such a drive wasn’t available at the time we analyzed the other Flash SSDs.

 

[z3r010]

I had a read of that yesterday myself, but if you read the comments after the article it seems that the drive they tested is a different and more expensive version.

 

[Chappy]

The cost of SSD's has been astronomical for the $ per GB rate, but of course as everything does this will come down as the technology matures. It's interesting in Tom's Hardware review that many mechanical HDD's have better performance per watt ratings than the SSD's do at this time, but as it's quite obvious by the OCZ results...this won't be the case for much longer.

Still, for 128GB of storage capacity at $479 it will be some time before I go looking at SSD's to replace my 500GB Wetern Digital Caviar 7200 RPM SATA II @ $93...shipped

 

[03hdfatboy]

Thats $3.75 / GB
I bought a 1Tb for $.14 / Gb (you can find 'em cheaper)
I'll stick to my Seagate

 

[johngalt]

I might be replacing them as soon as a year- I mean, think about it - care to compare prices on a WD Raptor, since that SSD will be offering performance levels much *better* than your average mechanical HD?

The price is a lot better when comparing Raptors to SSDs because of the closer performance margin....

 

[Brink]

Article:
Samsung, Microsoft in Talks to Speed up SSDs on Vista

PC World - Samsung, Microsoft in Talks to Speed up SSDs on Vista

 

[WildEagle]

I'm not so sure I would want one. At this stage of the game, Solid State Drives aren't as reliable as a regular harddrive from what I've seen on the net, and they cost more to make.

 

[Everlong]

Tempting price that. Though think I will leave it until next year when I do an upgrade to SSD.

 

[WildEagle]

Still the price is awfully tempting.

 

[skunksmash]

all sounds promising...as long as its not the size of a house.

 

[Extensa]

What is the benefit of a SSD compared to a regular HD?

 

[skunksmash]

What is the benefit of a SSD compared to a regular HD?

A solid-state drive (SSD) is a data storage device that uses solid-state memory to store persistent data.
Unlike flash-based memory cards, a SSD emulates a hard disk drive, thus easily replacing it in most applications.
An SSD using SRAM or DRAM (instead of flash memory) is often called a RAM-drive.

solid-state drives are inherently less fragile than hard disks and therefore also silent (unless a cooling fan is used); as there are no mechanical delays, they usually enjoy low access time and latency.

 

[johngalt]

And they offer access speeds equivalent to RAM - meaning your HD is no longer the bottleneck when booting.

You think WD Raptors are fast? Pfft. The theory here is that RAM is 1000+ times faster than HDs, so a 'drive' made of RAM would be faster.

The ultimate reality is that only a few are truly faster than conventional high speed drives - and this OCZ is one of them, last I looked.

 

[johngalt]

OCZ revamps Core

Available Monday

By Paul Taylor: Friday, 15 August 2008, 6:52 PM


OCZ, PURVEYOR OF ALL things memory related, has announced its second generation Core products, just a month and a half after launching Gen 1. Core V2 SSD is the name of the game and the company has delivered some serious all-round improvements that many will welcome.

The new SSDs boast higher write speeds (98MB/s vs. 95MB) and considerably higher read speeds (170MB/s vs. 143MB/s) over the previous generation Core SSDs. Seek time has been cut down to anything from .2 to .3 milliseconds, compared to the .35 in the original. The new kit will include 30GB, 60GB, 120GB and 250GB versions – with a matching name – in order to avoid confusion between reported capacity and listed capacity.

OCZ has also added a mini-USB port for firmware updates “in the field”, which we guess will allow better support and diagnostics at service centres. Like the previous generation, these SSDs are RAID capable, meaning you can stick a couple of these in RAID 0 and spank your old spinning HDD.

Overall it looks like a new-and-improved everything, but we hope OCZ knows what it’s doing. The problem with being “pioneering” about things is that you seldom have the chance of making any money back on what you’re pitching – especially if you’re breaking ground price-wise.

The Core V2 SSD will be available Monday. Pricing was nowhere to be found… not even at the OCZ sales office. µ

from OCZ revamps Core - The INQUIRER

 

[gazz496]

liking what i am reading in the news about these ssd's!!!

can't wait to get one or two later this year maybe start of next year, i'm thinking 2 cause that would be so worth the money one smallish one say 64gb for system and one biggie like the 250gb for other apps leaving music and vids on a hdd how quick would that thing move??? any faster and you'd be waiting on your ram to catch up lol.

keeping my eyes on the news for this one and prices are dropping too it's all good.