Intel's Upcoming Ultra-Fast Optane SSD May Come to MacBooks

[BeamWalker]

Great for benchmarks with almost no real world advantages. I rather have Apple double the SSD size as standard than have an even faster than NVMe interface that gives me a millisecond here and there. I feel right now it would be just another way for Apple to justify their extortionate Memory upgrade prices.

Memory like this only makes sense when the rest of the system and with this the user is able to take advantage of this.

 

[pat500000]

Like USB3 when Thunderbolt was going to take over the world.

Let me rephrase that...being delayed.
[doublepost=1457729570][/doublepost]

Frankly, this new SSD technology was probably never intended for consumer products (not in its original form at least), but the media grabs whatever they can to create "news" and outlets generate hype based on it.

yeah..that's what i mean...hyping.

 

[zorinlynx]

Using this as RAM in smartphones will be a lot more groundbreaking than storage on Macbooks.

Think about it: Non-volatile main system memory.

No memory refreshing required when the phone is asleep. Saves standby power.

No need for separate flash memory. You'd have one giant 64GB or 128GB space used for both system memory and storage. It'd be the equivalent of having your entire system on a RAM disk, only nonvolatile. Apps will launch almost instantly even from a fresh boot.

If this tech is real and takes off, we're going to see a major jump in performance for both laptops/desktops and mobile devices. The difference between system RAM and storage will be blurred. Interesting times lay ahead.

Of course, I don't believe these things til I see them. The industry loves throwing this stuff out there to get investment dollars.

 

[Chupa Chupa]

Gosh. I'm getting so sentimental for the early Mac-Intel days when Apple got first dibs on new Intel tech and wasn't shy about getting it to market quick either. 3D XPoint is one of those items that Apple will eventually have, but is in no rush, and when they do there will be a premium over retail. Put it this way -- right now, today, consumers can buy a $1.5K Dell w/ Intel Skylake i7, USB and TB 3. Us Mac users continue to wait to pay 35% more for the i5 Mac version.

 

[Larry-K]

Except for iMacs, which will continue to use 5400rpm HDDs.

Unless they can find something slower.

 

[poematik13]

Except for iMacs, which will continue to use 5400rpm HDDs.

iMacs come with flash SSD's, too. Stop being a troll.

 

[MacHiavelli]

Wonder how long the delay between announcement and delivery will be, given that this is Intel.

 

[Larry-K]

Don't forget about the Mac minis!

Why not? Apple Has.

 

[JGRE]

Except for iMacs, which will continue to use 5400rpm HDDs.

1TB (5400-rpm) hard drive
Configurable up to 2TB Fusion Drive or 512GB of flash storage (SSD)

So this is up to you......

 

[Wowereit]

Base model should come with 256 GB SSD or maybe 1 TB Fusion Drive (128 GB SSD), end of story.

 

[kemal]

Yeah something that will make us want to buy a new computer. USB-C just wasn't doing it. But with it being so 3-D and all, will it make the MBPr thicker?

 

[dannyyankou]

I was thinking of replacing by HDD with a SSD. I guess I'll wait for the MacBook refresh and upgrade my whole computer.

 

[McScooby]

Great for benchmarks with almost no real world advantages. I rather have Apple double the SSD size as standard than have an even faster than NVMe interface that gives me a millisecond here and there. I feel right now it would be just another way for Apple to justify their extortionate Memory upgrade prices.

Memory like this only makes sense when the rest of the system and with this the user is able to take advantage of this.

When I read this in agreement, an often used phrase at iPhone launches, never to be used a Mac launch popped into my head "We've doubled the memory & kept the price the same/$100 more" Shame that really!!

 

[merkinmuffley]

Knowing Apple, it is probably going to be a pricey upgrade option.

I'd happily pay more for this improvement.

 

[Marx55]

Instant booting. Want it.

 

[CFreymarc]

Don't forget about the Mac minis!

Dude, with the latest Mac Mini release, keep wondering what they are doing. I know a few that placed SSDs in their 2012 Mac Mini's and they are going quiet well.

I'd love to see a "Mac Mini Max" with a quad core, SSD and a kick ass graphics chip for just under $2K. However, that would bite into the Mac Pro space.

 

[goobot]

Using this as RAM in smartphones will be a lot more groundbreaking than storage on Macbooks.

Think about it: Non-volatile main system memory.

No memory refreshing required when the phone is asleep. Saves standby power.

No need for separate flash memory. You'd have one giant 64GB or 128GB space used for both system memory and storage. It'd be the equivalent of having your entire system on a RAM disk, only nonvolatile. Apps will launch almost instantly even from a fresh boot.

If this tech is real and takes off, we're going to see a major jump in performance for both laptops/desktops and mobile devices. The difference between system RAM and storage will be blurred. Interesting times lay ahead.

Of course, I don't believe these things til I see them. The industry loves throwing this stuff out there to get investment dollars.

Wouldn't blurring the two cause problems for people who use more storage than those who don't? An app that uses 5 gigs of ram won't run on a device that has only 3 gigs open. Performance would continue to degrade over time, would it not?

 

[poematik13]

Dude, with the latest Mac Mini release, keep wondering what they are doing. I know a few that placed SSDs in their 2012 Mac Mini's and they are going quiet well.

I'd love to see a "Mac Mini Max" with a quad core, SSD and a kick ass graphics chip for just under $2K. However, that would bite into the Mac Pro space.

Blame intel for the lack of a quad core mac mini. They made the quad core CPU an entirely different socket, forcing Apple to just stick to one motherboard, thus, only dual cores for the 2014 model.

 

[cppguy]

They'll develop a 16GB version of it for the next iPhone.

 

[leman]

If they can really pull this off quickly, the traditional concept of RAM might become obsolete overnight. Why would one need volatile RAM when direct unified storage access is much faster?

 

[divergirl]

Wouldn't blurring the two cause problems for people who use more storage than those who don't? An app that uses 5 gigs of ram won't run on a device that has only 3 gigs open. Performance would continue to degrade over time, would it not?

I think the most logical thing would be to have a certain amount of storage set aside exclusively for ram that can't be utilized by the user, kind of like how we currently have a certain % of the storage space used for the OS.

Apple could require apps to be able to operate decently using no more than the dedicated ram, and any extra storage space available could be utilized as ram when needed to make everything run faster. Win-win.

 

[PBG4 Dude]

So computers are getting closer to what they used to be in the late 70's - instant cold boot - instant use.

Yeah, except today we have natural language voice recognition vs. 320 x 200 resolution at 16 colors. Hope the volume on your cassette player is at the proper level when you go to load your program.

38911 bytes free

 

[SwiftBunny]

So next hybrid drives will be 256gb Octane 512gb SSD ?

 

[TechZeke]

1TB (5400-rpm) hard drive
Configurable up to 2TB Fusion Drive or 512GB of flash storage (SSD)

So this is up to you......

A 5400rpm HDD on a $1500 Machine in 2016 is just...there's simply no excuse. Especially from a company that touts flash storage as the future all the damn time.

256GB Flash or a 128GB/1TB Fusion Drive should STANDARD.

 

[kwikdeth]

iMacs come with flash SSD's, too. Stop being a troll.

The point is that they should ONLY come with them. Selling a "premium" product with a 5400rpm drive in 2016 is an embarrassment.