The Intel SSD 310: Honey, I Shrunk The Hard Drive!

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.anandtech.com/show/4078/intels-ssd-310-g2-performance-in-an-msata-form-factor' target='_blank'>http://www.anandtech.com/show/4078/...ata-form-factor</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"The 310 isn't about performance, rather form factor. The SSD in Apple's new MacBook Air is just the beginning - OEMs are beginning to shed the limits of traditional hard drive form factors as SSDs don't need to house a circular platter. The mSATA interface is physically a mini PCIe connector (similar to what you'd see with a WiFi card in a notebook) but electrically SATA. The result is something very compact. The full sized mSATA 310 measures 50.8mm x 29.85mm and is less than 4.85mm thick. Total weight? Less than 10 grams."</em></p><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/lpt/auto/1293645231.usr1.jpg" style="border: 0;" /></p><p>This is fantastic to see - one of the most impressive things about the <a href="http://www.laptopthoughts.com/news/show/101569/apple-s-macbook-air-13-2010-model-unboxing-first-impressions.html" target="_blank">Macbook Air that I was testing</a> is that Apple managed to cram a 50 Watt Hour battery inside that incredibly slim chassis. One of the reasons they were able to do that is because they crammed basically the entire laptop other than the battery in the upper-third portion of the bottom chassis; the rest was left for the battery. And how did they accomplish that feat? By taking the SSD out of the traditional 2.5" chassis and putting the chips into a small daughterboard. It looks like other laptop vendors are going to be following in Apple's path, which is great. Bring on the choice!</p>

[Kacey Green]

as long as I can use 2 or 3 of these or 1 and a traditional drive until prices drop more and capacities rise, just like my desktop.

I hate that on my tablet I had to choose between storage capacity or performance (1 bay, and a limited budget, or I'd have a 1TB ssd in that bad-boy)

[Rob Alexander]

It'll be great as long as manufacturers standardize on a common smaller form factor. (This one is fine.) the worst of all outcomes would be for each company to develop their own custom form for each device so that you either are held hostage to your manufacturer's exhorbitant prices for upgrades or, worse, can't upgrade it at all once the vendor has lost interest in that model.

I would also point out that, while the Macbook air is small and light, and while they used this form, it does not mean that you cannot be that small and light without doing this. There is a standardized 1.8" form factor that could be used. Also, Sony's Vaio Z is as small as the Air, and lighter, and more powerful, and with longer battery life, and I think they used a standard SSD form factor. But, of course, they aren't Apple so it's not amazing and revolutionary when they do it.

[Jason Dunn]

It'll be great as long as manufacturers standardize on a common smaller form factor. (This one is fine.) the worst of all outcomes would be for each company to develop their own custom form for each device so that you either are held hostage to your manufacturer's exhorbitant prices for upgrades or, worse, can't upgrade it at all once the vendor has lost interest in that model.

I agree with you there. I think that's basically what's happened with the Macbook Air, but when I look at the image above, I see the same connector type that mini PCI cards use, or some variation of it. So I'd hope we'd see that type of connector become an industry standard.

I would also point out that, while the Macbook air is small and light, and while they used this form, it does not mean that you cannot be that small and light without doing this. There is a standardized 1.8" form factor that could be used. Also, Sony's Vaio Z is as small as the Air, and lighter, and more powerful, and with longer battery life, and I think they used a standard SSD form factor.

Nope, Apple didn't use that form factor for their SSD. Theirs is long and skinny:

http://guide-images.ifixit.net/igi/ivM6hGouLp1gBOoH.huge

(if that link doesn't work, try this one (http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/MacBook-Air-11-Inch-Model-A1370-Teardown/3745/3))

If you look at the space they used, I don't think a standard 1.8" enclosure would have worked.

The Sony Vaio Z is indeed an impressive little machine - I was quite tempted to get one myself, but ultimately the $2300+ price point for one with a 256 GB SSD and the forced 1920 x 1080 resolution was enough to drive me away from it.

You're right though, Sony did something interesting (http://translate.google.com/translate?js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=1&eotf=1&u=http://chinese.engadget.com/2010/03/04/vaio-z-explained-by-project-leader/&sl=zh-CN&tl=en&swap=1) with the SSD chips in the Vaio Z - the end result looks a bit thick, but two SSDs in RAID is pretty sweet. :D Note that it's not a standard form factor for hard drives though either.