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Toshiba Begins Selling MacBook Air SSD
Lucas123 writes "Toshiba has made the solid state drive used in the new MacBook Air generally available for use by equipment manufacturers. At just 2.2mm thick, the company said the drive represents a new form factor that is about one-third the thickness of a thin hard disk drive and that is 42% smaller than even a mini-SATA SSD module. The new Blade X-gale SSD series has a maximum throughput of 220MB/sec. and can store up to 256GB of data."
I've been pricing out a new laptop, and I've love to get one with SSDs, but DAMN they're expensive. I'd rather engineers focus on reducing manufacturing costs than making them smaller. A better headline would be "Toshiba SSD 1/3 the PRICE".
And, Microsoft needs to figure out that people want to stick an SSD and traditional hard drive in their laptops, so Windows needs better support for moving the Users directory (you can do it but it's "unsupported").
I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
No, but your desktop system will fit into a manilla envelope.
so with this tiny form factor, is there any way to install this inside a unibody macbook pro? I'd love to go SSD but want to keep a spinning drive for decent storage capacity, and don't want to lose my dvd drive.
come on OWC, make it happen! :)
dave
Now where do I install it?
Up your airs of course!
It's a standard called mSATA, and the driver for the interface is Toshiba. The linked PDF is from 2009, so this is not new.
The only thing new here is that Toshiba and Apple decided to do away with the 2.5" form factor.
I'm no fanboy, I own nothing Apple but my iPod Touch, but while the PC may be cheaper, you also have viruses/malware, antivirus software, nothing close to iLife, and it sure as hell is not as nicely made or durable. When you factor in those things the premium is worth it IMO. I've been a system builder for over 15 years so believe me it's hard for me to say it, but it's true. The tipping point is if/when your income and time become more valuable than a bunch of variety that never quite work seamlessly.
http://teasphere.wordpress.com - A little spot of tea
Mod parent off-topic / irrelevant. TFA is about Toshiba's Blade X-gale connector / form factor, not about Mini SATA or Micro SATA. If you RTFA, you can see that they are distinct products in Toshiba's SSD lineup. Note the 'Custom' in the 'Connector' column for the ones that we are talking about, while the mSATA ones list 'mini SATA' as their interface.
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
I'd wait for benchmarks on this before auto-bashing it in favor of the Intel SSDs, which are are meeting up with decent competition these days.
There are SSDs that are performance competitive with Intel. They are not made by Toshiba. Unless Toshiba has made massive gains over previous models then this drive will not be competitive with Intel or other good SSDs. Most if not all "Toshiba" SSD controller chips are re-baged JMicron ones.
Well, the interface isn't proprietary so there's no reason 3rd parties can't release higher capacity SSDs in the future.
Not proprietary != widely used.
And I'd like to see where people get the idea that Apple hasn't added TRIM support to OS X?
The only OSes that currently support TRIM are Windows 7, Server 2008 R2, Linux with kernel 2.6.33 or greater and recent OpenSolaris. OSX does not support it and Apple's only comments have been a long the lines of "we'll get to that, eventually, maybe".
All this talk about Mac fanboys is overrated. THIS is a fanboy.
"In addition, malware and viruses are prevented with the use of permissions, available on Windows since NT "
"My PC has "just worked", out of the box, nary a problem, since Windows 95 (save for Windows ME)."
You must not remember Win95 very well.
If you honestly believe windows is more secure then, I don't know what to tell you.
I do a ton of photo work and iPhoto has a ton of features that no other program I have used has or has as elegantly or usable. Sorry. (and I play guitar and enjoy the simplicity of Garageband since I'm not a pro, I don't own a Mac but that is something I would dig.)
HP Envy is essentially the same price as a MBP and very close in hardware at those prices.
Most of the tech you mentioned is for benchmarks or gaming on a home PC. Not average userland. The MBP and iMacs play modern games just fine and have perfectly normal GPUs. I'm not a hardcore gamer and a NV 9600GT is in my PC.
Windows 7 is a massive improvement and I love it. It is still terribly flawed in usability. OSX shines there. Sure, you have to do it their way but that is the tradeoff. I'd love to see Meego or Ubuntu Unity really take off.
Like I said initially, you are arguing with the wrong person. I'm not a fanboy. I use what is best for the job at hand. I have no problem admitting some things Apple does drive me damn insane, they also get some things really right. None are perfect, use what you like. However, your assessment of Macs and Apple are horribly tainted and in some cases wrong. But that's fine, you are entitled to your opinion.
http://teasphere.wordpress.com - A little spot of tea
If you honestly believe windows is more secure then, I don't know what to tell you.
It's been accepted now by security experts (not so-called geeks spouting the same FUD since 1999) for a good year or two now. Go look it up. Also, there are a lot of new security technologies in place that OSX doesn't have.
I do a ton of photo work and iPhoto has a ton of features that no other program I have used has or has as elegantly or usable. Sorry. (and I play guitar and enjoy the simplicity of Garageband since I'm not a pro, I don't own a Mac but that is something I would dig.)
We can argue this until you're blue in the face. iPhoto is regarded as a poor application. There are a myriad of better alternatives. And millions of people don't need Garageband.
HP Envy is essentially the same price as a MBP and very close in hardware at those prices.
Not this again. Just... no.
The 13" MBP doesn't even have an OPTION for a 7200 RPM HD or a Core i3/5/7. And the other envy is a 17". Even fully decked out with a Core i7, 8GB of RAM, Blu-ray, and a 500 GB 7200 RPM HD, it's about $200-400 cheaper than a MBP 15" and $1,500 cheaper than the MBP 17"
Most of the tech you mentioned is for benchmarks or gaming on a home PC. Not average userland. The MBP and iMacs play modern games just fine and have perfectly normal GPUs. I'm not a hardcore gamer and a NV 9600GT is in my PC.
No problem. Let's expand the list. In just 5 seconds, I could name no USB 3.0. No blu-ray. No e-SATA ports. No HDMI ports. That not useful to you?
And sure they play modern games fine. At the lowest settings, lowest details, and they can only play about 10% of the games out there! Good example!
Windows 7 is a massive improvement and I love it. It is still terribly flawed in usability. OSX shines there. Sure, you have to do it their way but that is the tradeoff. I'd love to see Meego or Ubuntu Unity really take off.
You really think usability is superior? You really think that?
The incredibly small buttons used in most applications are easy to hit quickly?
Itunes and Quicktime are good at useability and interface?
That the inconsistant look of applications are good?
That half of the time you hover over an application, there is no tool-tip, so you're left wondering what the hell you press?
Only being able to resize a window from one *tiny* little corner, forcing you to take like 5 minutes to hit it and find it, is good?
I think Win 7 is excellent is usability. But I won't argue, like you, that it's superior because it's subjective. And OSX you can't say follows the HIG anymore. If anything, Gnome is more true to the HIG and is usable as an interface and more consistent. And you're making Unity the example of usability? The thing is practically alpha software and to date the most it does is a re-invented program launcher. Seriously?
Can we install more than one of these in a system and then configure them like a RAID 0 array?
I'd like to connect four 250GB SSD modules together to form a 1TB portable RAID 0 SSD.
I am certain you are the kind of person Secunia wishes would stop visting their site. You clearly do not understand what you are reading. Please send me a link where Secunia says anything like OSX is more vulnerable than windows (Note they do not actually make judgement statements like that and their site clearly states that you should not compare number of vulnerabilities on a platform for anything, because it is a meaningless comparison).
So provide a link, or stfu and stop misrepresenting what other people are saying to try and make your own confused point.
If you honestly believe windows is more secure then, I don't know what to tell you.
It's been accepted now by security experts (not so-called geeks spouting the same FUD since 1999) for a good year or two now. Go look it up. Also, there are a lot of new security technologies in place that OSX doesn't have.
Just because you keep saying it does not make it true. You have made the same assertion four times now without a single link. You mentioned Secunia who would not even make a statement like that. Link someone, anyone that is a mildly credible security expert.
Same form factor, are you high? Seriously?
Is 2-7 times thicker depending where you measure. (1.5" - .8" for Lenovo, .68" to .11" for MBA) .59lbs is quite a bit of weight in this class.
The Lenovo machine has Intel graphics.
They do not even offer an SSD in their standard builds...It would cost you 1259 to build a machine with an i3, 2GB RAM, intel graphics and 128GB SSD. So there is no price advantage.
If it works like every other Lenovo laptop I have seen (and I have witnessed this happen to 3 and seen the aftermath on 6 or 7 more) picking it up by one of the front corners will snap the plastic.
I wont even jump into security (at the end of the day, a platform that has more attacks and is slightly more secure may still net to be more vulnerable than one that has less security and less attacks.)
I will say due to experience (that I posted in another point off this conversation) that macs seem to be extremely durable.
HP, Toshiba, Acer and Asus computers I have worked with have proven to be disapointingly breakable. I have not worked with a Sony laptop nor talked in person with anyone that has, so I can't comment on those. I had a Thinkpad Lenovo from work that was very durable. Overall that one was a worthwille machine, but also had a chasis that made it feel as if I was moving national secrets in the thing, it was bulky and square. Looking at it made me think the thing should had been bulletproof. But has been one of the few pc laptops that didn't overheat nor did it break by father time winking at it. Macs, so far, have been extremely durable.
I do hate the magnetic power cord in the mac-minis. It's too easy to unplug it while poping in a USB drive and unlike laptops, the thing has no battery.
iLife is not a thing I would buy a mac for, but it's a nice thing to have. I find Picasa has a better face recognition than iPhoto, but that's about it. iPhoto has a lot of cooler features. iWeb is amazingly easy to use, my wife has made cool looking webpages in the thing and she is the type that attempts to align text in Word by spamming spaces at the left of certain words! iMovie kicks Windows Movie Maker's ass all the way to the stratosphere. Window's offering is just an afterthought. iMovie is a blissful experience in video editing.
As for usability, well, my wife has not asked me once how to do anything on the Mac since she got it (well other than the few apps she think she can install but gets the windows version by accident, something she has slowly learned to avoid, can't wait for the Apple App Store for Mac.) Despite having used windows for much longer, she still constantly bugs me to help her with this or that when she works on a PC. So yea, I'd say Apple has managed to make Mac OS X very usable. Exception: iTunes syncing, although I find it easy she has a hard time trying to sync music into her iPod.
BTW, on the Unity thing, how come Ubuntu is jumping into Unity if it's considered alpha software? I am guessing it is not really as crude as you take it to be.