facebook rss twitter

Intel cuts SSD prices in time for Christmas

by Pete Mason on 12 November 2010, 18:09

Tags: X25-M, Intel (NASDAQ:INTC)

Quick Link: HEXUS.net/qa23a

Add to My Vault: x

It may only be the middle of November, but Christmas is coming early for anyone planning on buying an Intel SSD. The company today announced that it has dropped the prices of its mainstream X25-M drives, as well as adding a new 120GB model to the range.

The price drops mean that the 40GB SSD will now cost $99 (£78 inc VAT), the 80GB will cost $199 (£155 inc VAT) and the 160GB model will cost $415 (£323 inc VAT). The new 120GB drive will retail for $249 (£194 inc VAT), making it the best value of the bunch at $2.08/£1.61-per-gigabyte.

We're not sure if this price cut applies to the UK, or if it has already taken effect, but a quick look at our favourite e-tailers shows that most of the drives are currently selling at or below these prices.

Intel's SSDs are solid performers, especially in random-write tests, and you could do a lot worse if you're looking to pick up a new drive. On the other hand, the cynic in us thinks that this could be an effort to clear stock ahead of the expected launch of third-generation drives in the new year, which will probably see the prices of the slower G2 drives tumble even further.

It's worth noting that the prices of 40GB and 60GB SandForce-powered drives have also been falling lately, with a variety of models now available for around the same price as the smallest X25-M.



HEXUS Forums :: 10 Comments

Login with Forum Account

Don't have an account? Register today!
so they have dropped the price and still cost more than i paid

WTF ?
The Corsair and OCZ drives are both far better, and cheaper too :).
GoNz0
so they have dropped the price and still cost more than i paid

WTF ?

Due to worsened exchange rates and increased cost of NAND, I'm afraid.


Re OCZ et al drives being better - this is true for some drives at some things (e.g. sequential writes), but the paper figures for the Sandforce controllers are optimistic best-case scenarios that really don't translate well to the real world. It's really not as clear-cut as it appears on first glance.
Mine is working pretty well in the real world.
miniyazz
Due to worsened exchange rates and increased cost of NAND, I'm afraid.


Re OCZ et al drives being better - this is true for some drives at some things (e.g. sequential writes), but the paper figures for the Sandforce controllers are optimistic best-case scenarios that really don't translate well to the real world. It's really not as clear-cut as it appears on first glance.

the G2's have fast random, which is the SSD factor i guess, but the sequential is pretty pants, time for G3 so i can relegate this to my netbook tbh