Super Talent claims to have the world's thinnest 256GB SSD

It seems as though a week can't go by without a new announcement in the realm of solid-state drive (SSD) technology. With each new announcement comes the usual "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" exclamations from manufacturers.

Earlier this week, Seagate CEO Bill Watkins stated, "Realistically, I just don’t see the flash notebook sell. We just don’t see the proposition." Watkin's comments brought an air of reality to the extreme optimism that often surrounds SSD technology.

Super Talent, however, can't be bothered by such commentary. The company is hard at work on expanding its SSD lineup and today announced what it calls the world's thinnest 256GB SSD (FSD56GC25H). The drive is built around a 2.5" notebook form factor and uses the SATA-I interface. According to Super Talent, the casing is 12.5mm thick which makes it 40% thinner than existing 256GB SSD drives on the market.

While the capacity of the drive is quite commendable, Watkins would likely point to the FSD56GC25H's relatively low transfer speeds relative to its competitors. Super Talent lists read speeds at 65MB/sec while writes lag further behind at 50MB/sec.

For comparison, Samsung's 64GB SATA SSD offers read speeds of 120MB/sec and write speeds of 100MB/sec. Mtron's 128GB 1.8" SATA SSD offers identical performance figures, while Samsung's 128GB SATA SSD offers reads and writes of 100MB/sec and 70MB/sec respectively.

"We designed this drive for applications that need rugged and reliable storage in a very compact form factor. This is the world’s smallest and thinnest 256GB SSD," said Super Talent Marketing Director, Joe James. "This product underscores our leadership in high density SSDs and demonstrates the technical capabilities of our Silicon Valley engineering team."

Samples of Super Talent's FSD56GC25H drive are available now. When asked to comment on pricing, Super Talent's Joe James told DailyTech that the OEM price of the drive is $5,995.

Source from DailyTech

Dell shows off its second-generation Tablet PC

Dell's Latitude XT was met with great anticipation when specs for the device first leaked in May of 2007. Interest began to dwindle somewhat, however, when Dell announced the $2,499 starting price for its first entry into the Tablet PC arena.

The current generation Latitude XT makes use of Intel Core 2 Solo and Core 2 Duo processors and ATI's Radeon X1250 mobile graphics core. The Tablet features a 12.1" WXGA display that can be had with traditional CCFL or LED backlighting.

Connectivity options abound with Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, 802.11n and optional HSDPA/EVDO support. Users also have access to three USB 2.0 ports.

Dell isn't resting on its laurel with the Latitude XT -- Engadget managed to get its hands on a computer-generated image and specs for the XT's successor: the Latitude XT2.

The Latitude XT2 will be built on Intel's Montevina (Centrino 2) platform and will include Ultra Low Voltage (ULV) and Low Voltage (LV) processors. The Latitude XT2 will also make use of Intel's new integrated graphics core. Dell's port selection for the XT2 is not surprising and will include a VGA, NIC, Firewire, two USB 2.0 ports, and an eSATA port. An ExpressCard slot and SDHC reader are also included in the mix.

Dell is currently studying the feasibility of including an optical drive on the XT2 -- a feature that was lacking on the original XT.

The 3.5-pound Latitude XT2 is expected to launch this November -- hopefully Dell will bring pricing for its second generation closer to Earth this time.

Source from DailyTech