Apple Released New 13.3, 11.6 Inch MacBook Air
Apple has finally released the new Apple MacBook Air that is smaller at 11.6 inch and cheaper too. As we have predicted in earlier post, Apple is going to lower boot times on the MacBook Air and use all-flash storage SSD to gain this speed.
The redesigned MacBook Air comes in 13.3 and 11.6-inch flavors with complete unibody construction, second USB port, SD card reader and FaceTime camera instead of iSight camera.
Price list from Apple press release:
The 11-inch and 13-inch MacBook Air are immediately available through the Apple Store® (www.apple.com), Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers. The 1.4 GHz 11-inch MacBook Air with 2GB of memory and 64GB of flash storage starts at a suggested retail price of $999 (US) with a 128GB model for $1,199 (US). The 1.86 GHz 13-inch MacBook Air with 2GB of memory and 128GB of flash storage starts at a suggested retail price of $1,299 (US) with a 256GB model for $1,599 (US). Configure-to-order options and accessories include faster processors, 4GB of memory, MacBook Air SuperDrive® and a USB Ethernet Adapter.
Apple New 11.6 Inch MacBook Air
Photos have surfaced of the new Apple MacBook Air that is smaller at 11.6 inch and cheaper too. It is also being rumoured that Apple is going to lower boot times on the MacBook Air. It points to using SSD default option to gain this speed.
Seagate Enters SSD Market With Pulsar 200Gb Drive
Seagate is entering the solid state market with the Pulsar single-level cell (SLC) flash drive with SATA (serial ATA) interfaces and are available in 50GB, 100GB, and 200GB capacities, all on a 2.5-inch card.
From Seagate, the drive features:
- Single-level cell (SLC) technology optimizes SSD reliability and endurance
- 0.44 percent AFR for high reliability and endurance
- Up to 200GB capacity in a 2.5-inch form factor and 7mm z-height
- Power loss data protection to ensure against data loss upon power failure
- 5-Year Limited Warranty
- SATA 3Gb/s interface to support current blade server chipsets
- Leveraging industry-leading, global enterprise support
- Industry-leading SSS and SSD standards development through JEDEC and SNIA
Samsung Reveals 256GB Solid State Drive
Samsung started mass production high capacity 256GB SSD. With sequential read rates of 220MB/s and sequential write rates of 200MB/s, it can rewrite data faster with erase cycles of 100GBs a minute.
The 256Gb SSD can store 25 HD movies in just 21 minutes, a significant advancement over a 7200rpm HDD, which takes about 70 minutes. It will launch applications ten times faster than the fastest 7200rpm notebook HDD.
Tthe 2.5-inch Samsung 256GB SSD retains the standard 9.5 mm drive thickness and weighs 81 g.
Samsung 256GB Flash SSD With High-Speed Interface
Samsung will release the world’s fastest 2.5 inch 256GB solid state drive (SSD) using SATA II interface. The prototype has read speed of 200M bytes per second and a sequential write speed of 160M bytes per second. This SSD will be available end of this year.
Jim Elliott, vice president, memory marketing, Samsung Semiconductor, Inc. said “With development of the 256GB SSD, the notebook PC is on the brink of a second stage of evolution. This change is comparable to the evolution from the Sony Walkman to NAND memory-based MP3 players, representing an initial step in the shift to thinner, smaller SSD-based notebooks with significantly improved performance and more than ample storage”.
Source: Samsung Shows 256GB SSD, Plans Launch This Year
