Intel Goes Smaller On Solid State Drive

Intel has unveiled a smaller line of solid state drive (SSD) products, aimed at dual-drive notebooks and tablets.

The Santa Clara, Calif. based company said their SSD 310 Series is one-eighth the size of the X25 product line, yet maintains the same performance capabilities. The company says the new SSD line measures at 51mm-by-30mm and only 5mm thick. It looks to embed the SSD into dual-drive notebooks, single-drive tablets and low-power embedded industrial or military applications.

The industry standard for SSD thickness is 2.5 inches. The SSD 310 will contain 34 nanometer Intel NAND flash memory and is available in an m-SATA form factor in 40 and 80GB capacities. It will weigh just 10 grams and Intel says will help accelerate boot time for dual-drive notebooks and the like.

The Intel SSD 310 series will allow us to provide the advantages of a full-performance Intel SSD paired with the storage of a hard disk drive in a small, dual-drive system. We've offered Intel SSD solutions for our highly innovative LenovoThinkPad laptops for some time, and now we're looking forward to incorporating this new solution across our ThinkPad line, said Tom Butler, director of ThinkPad product marketing, Lenovo, in a statement.

DRS Technologies said it has chose the SSD 310 series for an Armor communications tablet it is set to launch at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The tablet will be able to hold up in extreme temperatures and stand up to shock, vibration and drops with nine hours of operating time.

In order to meet the rigorous demands of our mobile users, we design for mission-critical tasks that require connectivity and handheld mobility in all-weather operations, said Mike Sarrica, vice president and general manager for DRS, in a statement.The Intel SSD 310 Series fits the bill by offering a reliable and high performing memory solution.