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New Intel SSD X25M Gen2 almost here

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MikhailT

macrumors 601
Nov 12, 2007
4,582
1,325
geoffreak

geoffreak

macrumors 68020
Feb 8, 2008
2,193
2
I would LOVE to replace my 320GB drive in my laptop with an Intel 320GB SSD :D
(Too bad I won't be able to afford it :()
 
M

MikhailT

macrumors 601
Nov 12, 2007
4,582
1,325
geoffreak said:
I would LOVE to replace my 320GB drive in my laptop with an Intel 320GB SSD :D
(Too bad I won't be able to afford it :()
Click to expand...

Intel 80GB August 2008 = 600-700$ (updated to correct this, thanks to Poirot818)
Intel 80GB August 2009 = 300$
Intel 320GB August 2009 = 800-900$

Wait a year or two, you should get 320GB for less than 300$.
 
M

MikhailT

macrumors 601
Nov 12, 2007
4,582
1,325
NovemberWhiskey said:
Where did you get this information?
Click to expand...

Which info? The first two are common public knowledge. Intel 80GB retailed for 600-700 back in August 08 with several price drops over time to reach down to 300$ now.

The last price is based on the quoted prices that we're seeing so far with those presale prices. Intel is not going to sell 80GB Gen2 for higher price than original 80GB, that doesn't make sense, the new NAND cells are cheaper to produce with the 34nm process. So 160gb is nearly double the price, 500-600$ with 320gb tripling to 800-900$. It could be 1000$ for 320gb but they shouldn't be. We'll see when they finally release next month.

nuckinfutz said:
That's when the party starts. Plus I imagine a couple more years of evolution will bring some big controller improvements. We'll likely be looking at 300MBps + reads.
Click to expand...
The controllers are already capable of doing 300Mbps or more in both read/speed. Those are seq speed. Evolutions of the controllers should bring random performance much higher....

but controllers aren't the only thing that will going through evolution. The slowest bottleneck is now our interface between SSD and the host. SATA 6GBps may help for a couple of years but how long before we start hitting the max speed before the SATA 12Gbps can be ready? (don't know what the next speed will be). We need a new interface for SSDs only, purely optical that can go GBps, not Gbps.
 
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snowboarder

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jun 9, 2007
538
1,998
The only remaining question: 320GB - $899 or $999...
Don't think it's gonna be lower than that.
 
HLdan

HLdan

macrumors 603
Aug 22, 2007
6,383
0
snowboarder said:
The only remaining question: 320GB - $899 or $999...
Don't think it's gonna be lower than that.
Click to expand...

Wow, dude that's just too much money to spend. I never understand how this forum will complain about Apple's computers being expensive but many of you are willing to spend $$$ on just a digital storage drive. :eek: To each his own.
 
M

MikhailT

macrumors 601
Nov 12, 2007
4,582
1,325
Poirot818 said:
It debuted in September for $600.
Click to expand...
Thanks, I corrected it to 600-700$ to include tax and random price changes that normally occurs with NAND worldwide supply.

nuckinfutz said:
The parts are starting to show up in a few places

http://www.uarkcomstore.com/cart/look.php?item_id=5915313

$260. I think i'm in at $250 for the 80GB.
Click to expand...

That'll be awesome. 250$ 80GB, 500$ 160, 750$ 320 if the price were scaled like that.

snowboarder said:
The only remaining question: 320GB - $899 or $999...
Don't think it's gonna be lower than that.
Click to expand...

Keep in mind that those are 34nm NANDs, they are much cheaper to produce with more of it per batch.
 
M

MikhailT

macrumors 601
Nov 12, 2007
4,582
1,325
geoffreak said:
Keep in mind that more profits > happy consumers.
Click to expand...

Keep in mind that in order to make more money, you have to spend money.
SSD market is still a very small market, if it were to succeed, it needs to expand. The only way to do that is to get more customers and to do that is with prices. The lower the price, the more sales will likely to occur.

Intel and everybody else has to balance the profit margin and adjust it to meet their goals, that's the nature of the business world. The problem that Intel has right now is that there are even more SSD manufacturers right now then ever, all engaged in a price war.

PS: More profits = happy shareholders, not consumers and more happy customers brings more profit (somebody already said this.)

Update: Actually, Intel would be happy to see more SSD manufacturers as Intel has a joint company with Micron to produce the 34nm ONFI 2.1 NANDs. The more success they see with their SSDs and the bigger the SSD market becomes, the more likely for companies to start sourcing those NANDs from Intel/Micron, bringing in more profit.
 
S

snowboarder

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jun 9, 2007
538
1,998
HLdan said:
Wow, dude that's just too much money to spend. I never understand how this forum will complain about Apple's computers being expensive but many of you are willing to spend $$$ on just a digital storage drive. :eek: To each his own.
Click to expand...


As much as I hate some moves by Apple, like glassy screens
or all the ports on the left side only, I have to admit the latest MBP
is a huge jump for me. I run Photoshop and After Effects on my
15" 3.06GHz with 8GB of RAM and it's just screaming.
I'm amazed I can put 8GB of RAM in this tiny laptop and run
a long, full HD RAM preview or load a long sequence
into the 64-bit version of SynthEyes.
The addition of a large SSD is a no-brainer, it's just hard to hit the timing
right, buying an old version when a better, faster and a cheaper one
is a month away would be stupid.
The value is really clearly connected to what you do.
It's crazy expensive for somebody browsing the web and ichating,
but quite cheap if it saves you a lot of time and making your life
more productive.
 
M

MikhailT

macrumors 601
Nov 12, 2007
4,582
1,325
snowboarder said:
As much as I hate some moves by Apple, like glassy screens
or all the ports on the left side only, I have to admit the latest MBP
is a huge jump for me. I run Photoshop and After Effects on my
15" 3.06GHz with 8GB of RAM and it's just screaming.
I'm amazed I can put 8GB of RAM in this tiny laptop and run
a long, full HD RAM preview or load a long sequence
into the 64-bit version of SynthEyes.
The addition of a large SSD is a no-brainer, it's just hard to hit the timing
right, buying an old version when a better, faster and a cheaper one
is a month away would be stupid.
The value is really clearly connected to what you do.
It's crazy expensive for somebody browsing the web and ichating,
but quite cheap if it saves you a lot of time and making your life
more productive.
Click to expand...

It is even harder to imagine when your laptop spec is compared to a desktop machine a year ago.

I never forget the moment when I bought my own MBP and saw that it was much faster than my desktop the year before. The only thing I missed was the raptors, but than I bought my Vertex 120GB. That was my last barrier of keeping the MBP my only main machine.
 
E

Eddyisgreat

macrumors 601
Oct 24, 2007
4,851
2
HLdan said:
Wow, dude that's just too much money to spend. I never understand how this forum will complain about Apple's computers being expensive but many of you are willing to spend $$$ on just a digital storage drive. :eek: To each his own.
Click to expand...

Have you used an x25 (I can't remember if you have or not)? The difference from mechanical storage is pretty outrageous. There exists a class of Apple users who like to utilize macs for whatever reason, but are sensitive to speed. We are the same users who will swap out the optical drive and RAID these suckers up, or those who change out the stock thermal paste. We are the same users who will hook up a 30" display and run five different VM's in four spaces like nobodies business, or actually utilize 8 Gigs of ram.

Is it alot? Yah. Do we care? Nope. Bleeding edge forever.
 
HLdan

HLdan

macrumors 603
Aug 22, 2007
6,383
0
Eddyisgreat said:
Have you used an x25 (I can't remember if you have or not)? The difference from mechanical storage is pretty outrageous. There exists a class of Apple users who like to utilize macs for whatever reason, but are sensitive to speed. We are the same users who will swap out the optical drive and RAID these suckers up, or those who change out the stock thermal paste. We are the same users who will hook up a 30" display and run five different VM's in four spaces like nobodies business, or actually utilize 8 Gigs of ram.

Is it alot? Yah. Do we care? Nope. Bleeding edge forever.
Click to expand...

I totally agree with you in terms of wanting the most speed from your Mac. I just bought the 13" MBP 2.53/128SSD from Apple. I chose to just do the CTO option rather than buy one from a 3rd party. The difference in price was very minimal. I paid $325 to Apple and most of the 3rd parties are about $300 or more. It's crazy fast and I wouldn't go back but I have my limits.
Paying $900-$1000 for just an SSD drive that has about 320GB storage is just insane for right now. You can get a new Macbook for that price. Ha ha. When the prices get to be more in line for the average consumer is when I'll be upgrading. Right now 128GB for $325 was more than enough. ;)
 
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