Intel has launched two MLC-based Solid State Drives, the 1.8-inch X18-M and the 2.5-inch X25-M SSDs offering numerous advantages over hard drives. With no mechanical parts, the X18-M and X25-M SSDs run more quiet and cooler compared to a mechanical hard drive. They also remove the I/O performance bottleneck associated with traditional hard drives which results in faster overall system response, boot and resume times.

“Validated by our rigorous testing and OEM customer feedback, we believe that we have developed an SSD that delivers on the promises of SSD computing,” said Randy Wilhelm, Intel vice president and general manager of the NAND Products Group. “By combining our experience in flash memory design with our processor and computing expertise, we have added advances such as our parallel 10-channel architecture, proprietary controller, firmware and memory management algorithms that address write amplification and wear leveling issues to redefine SSD performance and reliability for computing platforms.”

These two new SSDs are available in 80GB capacity and the 160GB versions are reported to arrive this fourth quarter. The 80GB drive achieves up to 250MBps read speeds and  up to 70MBps write speeds with 85-microsecond read latency for fast performance. The 80GB now available at $595.

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