Solid State Drives are without a doubt one of the hotter product categories among PC components and even if feels like SSDs has taken over it is far from the truth. Most agree that SSDs have many advantages over mechanical drives that can’t be neglected, but at the same time the price per Gigabyte is many times higher making it a rare pick among computer buyers.
In 2009 1-1.5% of all notebooks is expected to ship with a Solid State Drive and on the budget market (netbooks mainly) the same number is 10%. But then it’s mainly smaller SSDs, sometimes together with regular mechanical drives.
Intel X25-M is one of the most popular models
According to the report by DRAMeXchange the reason is NAND flash memory prices that are holding the format back. Even if prices have been dropping over the last few years most Solid State Drives still cost ten times more per Gigabyte, something that can hold the format back for the next year too.
Windows 7 is one of the many things SSD manufacturers are hoping to improve things, but also NAND flash chips made with 30nm technology that could mean the breaking point for when gigabyte prices reach acceptable levels.
