Storage Effect

SSDs in notebooks show little to no benefit vs. disk drives

Bill O’Brien at Computerworld asked the same question I did in February.  He conducted some pretty comprehensive head-to-head testing between a pair of SSDs and Seagate’s Momentus and Barracuda disk drives. 

The results surprised him:

So forgive me for being contrarian, but while I recognize the exotic and alluring nature of solid state disks as a technology — and have certainly fallen victim to their potential “wow factor” on occasion — after spending 12 days with a pair of them and a pair of mechanical drives, I’m, convinced that SSDs have yet to live up to their true potential.

I disagree that his conclusions are contrarian - although they would have been not long ago.  SSD for notebooks has peaked on the hype curve and is accelerating its slide into disillusionment. 

Someday flash storage will rock in notebook PCs.  But not today, not for a $1000+ premium, not as a standalone replacement for a disk drive. 

Hybrid drives that combine the two technologies…that’s a story for another day.

Who’s using SSDs in their notebook today?  Are you satisfied?