Samsung Electronics said on Wednesday it had developed a new data storage medium for mobile computers that enables users to process data much faster with minimal consumption of power.
The 32-gigabyte (GB) NAND flash-based solid state disk (SSD) can upload and download data quickly and quietly as it uses instantly-accessible static NAND flash memory instead of the rotating discs found in hard drives.
SSD weighs only half as much as a hard drive, reads data three times faster and writes data 1,5 times quicker, it said.
It consumes a mere five percent of the electricity needed to power a hard disk drive and operates silently as it requires no motor or any other noise-making parts.
Samsung unveiled a landmark laptop installed with SSD at its annual Mobile Solution Forum that took place in Taipei on Tuesday, the company said.
It marked the first time that NAND flash chips, which are usually used in small devices such as digital cameras and MP3 players, have been applied to a mobile computer, it added.
”Flash memory will fast replace hard disks in all mobile computing applications,” Hwang was quoted by the Korea Herald as saying at the forum.
Hwang said that by 2008, laptops equipped with SSD will account for 30% of the global laptop market as the price of a 32-gigabyte SSD will fall from the current 500 dollars to 200 dollars in that space of time.
The global SSD market will surge from $540-million in 2006 to $4,5-billion by 2010, Samsung said. – Sapa