Intel has today announced its 34nm solid state drives (SSDs) - successor to the existing 50nm drives launched in September 2008.
The new 2.5in drive, which continues to be named the X25-M, is available in 80GB and 160GB capacities, and the move to 34nm has lowered the price for consumers by up to 60 per cent.
Intel's 50nm drives arrived with price tags of $595 and $945 for the 80GB and 160GB models, respectively. Channel prices for the 34nm successors, however, are far more palatable at $225 (£135) and $440 (£270), respectively.
In addition to lower prices, Intel's 34nm revamp also introduces performance improvements. Through a combination of controller and firmware tweaking, the new drive promises to reduce latency by up to 25 per cent, bringing it down to as low as 65 microseconds.
Intel states that random write performance has increased twofold, adding that the X25-M is capable of delivering up to 6,600 4KB write IOPS and up to 35,000 read IOPS.
Looking ahead, Intel plans to issue a new Trim-supporting firmware to coincide with the launch of Microsoft's Windows 7. Meanwhile, Intel's smaller 1.8in drive, known as the X-18M, will be given a 34nm refresh later this quarter.
Randy Wilhelm, Intel vice president and general manager, Intel NAND Solutions Group, had this to say:
Our goal was to not only be first to achieve 34nm NAND flash memory lithography, but to do so with the same or better performance than our 50nm version. We made quite an impact with our breakthrough SSDs last year, and by delivering the same or even better performance with today’s new products, our customers, both consumers and manufacturers, can now enjoy them at a fraction of the cost.