Benefits of SSD

[KPOM]

Mainstream laptops usually cost ~500-800$ so it will take awhile before SSDs are cheap enough to be put in those (assuming there is no dramatic change in the price of other components). At 1$/GB, SSDs may be cheap enough to be standard in premium computers (possibly Macs), but I can't see a 500$ SSD in 700$ computer, makes no sense at all.

I can completely see a $250 256GB SSD in a typical $1,000-$1,200 corporate issue notebook (such as the HP Elitebook) in a year or two. Traveling consultants, salespeople, and bankers aren't producing terabytes of data. I'd venture to guess that most of these people have less than 100GB used up out of the 250-320GB that these computers come with, and most of it by the OS and applications. The vast majority of these people can't tell you what kind of processor or GPU is in their computer, or how big the hard drive is, but will notice if a computer boots up or shuts down in 15 seconds instead of a minute.

 

[Hellhammer]

I can completely see a $250 256GB SSD in a typical $1,000-$1,200 corporate issue notebook (such as the HP Elitebook) in a year or two. Traveling consultants, salespeople, and bankers aren't producing terabytes of data. I'd venture to guess that most of these people have less than 100GB used up out of the 250-320GB that these computers come with, and most of it by the OS and applications. The vast majority of these people can't tell you what kind of processor or GPU is in their computer, or how big the hard drive is, but will notice if a computer boots up or shuts down in 15 seconds instead of a minute.

I can see that happening too but those are "premium" computers. You were talking about mainstream laptops in your previous post, hence my reply.

 

[KPOM]

I can see that happening too but those are "premium" computers. You were talking about mainstream laptops in your previous post, hence my reply.

It's "mainstream" enough to achieve a critical mass. For many people, their work notebook is their only PC (or at least only notebook). Plus, many netbooks already are SSD only (albeit slow, low capacity SSD), so in some respects, the hard drive is what is getting marginalized down to the $500-$800 budget full-powered notebook market.

 

[Hellhammer]

It's "mainstream" enough to achieve a critical mass. For many people, their work notebook is their only PC (or at least only notebook). Plus, many netbooks already are SSD only (albeit slow, low capacity SSD), so in some respects, the hard drive is what is getting marginalized down to the $500-$800 budget full-powered notebook market.

Well, take a look at Amazon's top-rated laptops. Exclude Macs and most of the laptops you'll see cost less than 700$. That is mainstream IMO, that is what average Joes buy.

I would say the majority of people don't get a laptop from work, especially during bad economy times like now, so that is a moot point. But I guess we'll see. 25nm SSDs should bring the prices down even more and the next gen even more again