First Notebook With NAND Solid State Disk Announced

The days of notebooks with spinning hard disk drives are going to come an end. Samsung hopes to start the demise of hard disk drives this June when they launch the first solid state disk in their Q30 notebook this June.

What is a Solid State Disk (SSD)?

Solid state disks are NAND flash-based memory drives. This concept isn't entirely new. Digital cameras use flash memory to store pictures, as do many MP3 players to store songs. The main problem with flash-based drives is larger capacities are very expensive and they have limited write cycles. These issues are being overcome though and flash memory has several advantages over hard disk drives like lower power consumption, more durability, more compact size, less heat dissipation, quieter operation and faster speed.

The SSD reads 300 percent faster (53MB/s) and writes 150 percent quicker (28MB/s) than normal hard drives. As a result, multiple application programs can operate simultaneously and large volumes of data can be edited and reproduced more efficiently. Microsoft Windows XP will boot up 25-50% faster on the SSD than on other drives. Moreover, the typical 1.8-inch hard disk drive weighs around 50 grams; whereas the SSD is 20 to 30 grams lighter, depending on the package type.

More on the Q30

Since the Q30 will leverage this new type of data storage, beyond the benefits listed above, it will be dead silent. Since there are no moving parts outside of the optical drive. The full specs are listed below:

Samsung NT-Q30-SSD Specifications 

• Processor: Intel Celeron M 753 (1.2GHz)
• Memory: 1 SODIMM Socket, DDR2 400 MHz, 512 MB
• LCD: 12.1" WXGA (1280 x 768) TFT-LCD
• Graphic: Intel GMA 900
• Video Memory: DVMT
• Storage: 32GB SSD
• External ODD: Ultra-slim (9.5mmH), Super-multi Drive (Red)
• Communications: Modem/Lan Combo, WLAN (802.11 b/g)
• TV/DMB: Embedded DMB
• Keyboard: 83-key Korean Keyboard
• Audio: SRS 3D Sound Support, 16-bit Stereo, SB Pro compatible, Internal Stereo Speaker (2W x 2)
• Power: 60W AC adapter (110-240 free volt)
• Battery: Li-ion Battery - Standard 3-Cell, Extended 6-Cell 
• Dimension: 287.7 x 197.5 x 18.0 ~ 23.8 mm (without battery)
• Weight: 1.14 kg (HDD onboard notebook: 1.16kg)

The Q30 won't be sold in the US, it looks to be a Korean release only in the short term. Based on current conversion rates, the Q30 would come out to about $3700 US, a heft premium for a flash-based disk.