OCZ Offers High-Performing Solid-State Drive

OCZ Technology Group has introduced a high-performing solid-state drive for computer enthusiasts looking for a faster, lower-power alternative to hard disk drives in their laptops.

The Vertex is a 2.5-inch drive that's compatible with a SATA-II interface. The SSD is marketed as a "premium offering" with a maximum 64 MB of cache and read and write speeds of 200 MBps and 160 MBps, respectively.

While the vendor offers the drives for desktops and notebooks, the latter is the most likely candidate, given the power savings and ruggedness of SSDs. Unlike hard drives, SSDs, which are based on NAND flash memory technology, don't have moving parts, making them more reliable and better able to withstand shock.

OCZ claims its Vertex drives have a 1.5 million-hour mean time before failure. Power consumption is 2 watts in operation, and half a watt in standby mode. The drives weigh 2.7 ounces.

The Vertex series drives come with a two-year warranty and are available in storage capacities of 30 GB, 60 GB, 120 GB, and 250 GB at manufacturer suggested retail prices of $129, $249, $469, and $869, respectively. The series was released on Tuesday.

As is typical for SSDs, the cost per gigabyte is substantially higher than HDDs. For example, a Western Digital 320-GB, 2.5-inch SATA HDD on Amazon.com is available for $75.

Given the price difference, SSDs in the consumer market are typically used in ultraportable laptops, such as netbooks, which are sub-$500 machines with screen sizes 10 inches or less. In such devices, SSDs bring longer battery life and less weight, but are usually offered in storage capacities far less than HDDs.

SSDs in general conform to the same physical dimensions as hard drives, so can fit in the same standard drive bays and enclosures used by millions of computers. They also use the same serial ATA, or SATA, interface, making SSDs functionally identical to HDDs.