Entering the fray
HEXUS has caught a few whispers of Corsair's plans for 2009, and we've every reason to believe those plans include the manufacturing and retail of solid-state drives (SSDs).
With SSDs slowly falling in price and gradually rising in popularity, we can expect the yet-to-boom market to grow considerably in 2009 and Corsair will no doubt be looking to claim its piece of the pie. It's a logical step forward for the company whose flash memory products are widely regarded as some of the very best, and given Corsair's high-performance history, we'd expect an enthusiast-orientated line up.
*Update 1* If there was ever any doubt, an image of what could be Corsair's first SSD has surfaced. Dubbed the S128, the 2.5in drive offers 128GB of storage but read and write speeds remain unknown. Stay tuned for further details, and an inevitable official announcement from Corsair.
*Update 2* Our sources tell us that Corsair's first generation of solid-state drives will utilise Samsung NAND flash memory and a Samsung controller - hopefully eliminating the stuttering problem plaguing drives using a JMicron controller. Read and write speeds are expected to reach a fairly-average 90MB/s and 70MB/s, respectively.
The second generation, which could be in the pipeline for later this year, will be enthusiast models that feature a tweaked version of existing high-performance drives (we're thinking Intel). Read and write speeds are expected to rise above 200MB/s for enthusiast models, and for the hardcore user there's word of 400MB/s read speeds further down the line.
*Update 3* The 128GB drive is now available to pre-order from Scan.co.uk for £326.54.
As always, UK-based HEXUS.community discussion forum members will benefit from the SCAN2HEXUS Free Shipping initiative, which will save you a further few pounds plus also top-notch, priority customer service and technical support backed up by the SCANcare@HEXUS forum.
