Mar 13 2007
Coming Soon: 160GB Flash Memory
Just about everyone has some kind of flash memory stick. They come in cereal boxes and you get one if you open a new bank account. The 32MB sized ones are so inexpensive to produce that they are being given away.
Yesterday, Intel launched their Intel Z-U130 Value Solid-State Drive. This isn’t a memory stick for storing your MP3′s, it’s designed to replace a computer’s hard drive. The capacity of the Z-U130 are in 1GB, 2GB, 4GB, and 8GB. These won’t be replacing your 80GB hard drive, but it could be used for quickly booting your operating system.
Intel will be shipping 80GB and 160GB versions of this drive next year. The exciting thing about this is that these drives will be used in laptop computers and PDA’s. This will mean a much lighter computer using less power, and therefore lasting longer on battery power. PC’s will also be more “green” using the less power hungry flash drives.
Intel hasn’t announced the prices of these drives yet, but they did say it will cost less than half of a small hard drive (which is around $40).