Are SSDs in netbooks on the way out?
Analysts in Asia have reported that the usage of SSDs in netbooks has fallen dramatically in 2008 and will continue to do so next year. This matches our own observations where we find more netbooks available today with HDDs in place of the SSD. The first netbooks that appeared on the scene all had SSDs and the popular outlook was that SSDs would proliferate and dominate the market.
That is clearly not the case and there are probably a number of simple reasons we can cite. Capacity would be the biggest reason as SSDs that are cheap enough to be installed in netbooks are much lower capacity than their HDD counterparts. SSDs are also much more expensive when produced in capacities that rival that of cheap HDD as are being used in netbooks and in the low-margin world of netbooks cost is everything. Lastly a lot of the SSDs that have been used in netbooks so far have been really slow compared to HDD competitors. This is no doubt a cost thing and it is easy to find comparisons of netbook models that show the HDD version outperforms the SSD version, especially when Windows is the operating system used.
The numbers thrown around by the Asian analyst DRAMeXchange are quite telling. They show that in Q1 of this year 70% of all netbooks shipped with SSDs. This figure dropped in Q2 to 66% and then plunged to only 30%. They predict that this trend will continue and that in Q1 of next year only 10% of shipping netbooks will contain SSDs. A year ago no one would have figured that would happen. It goes to show what we say often, netbooks have become simply small notebooks and consumers are demanding similar capabilities they get with “regular” notebooks.
(via Register)
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this is really quite interesting. i hope you follow up on this nearing the end of next year. it would be intriguing to see ssds in netbooks drop below the 10% margin.
Until they can make sure of how good SSD they use in netbook, SSD netbook will be gone forever. Asus Eee PC is such a good example; very good and bad SSD are used randomly–we have to depend only luck to get a good one. Who want to take that risk?
Another thing to consider is that possibly the most popular netbooks don’t come with, or offer, SSDs. Unless all netbooks are offered with SSDs, it is difficult to draw accurate conclusions about why there aren’t more SSDs being sold.
If a netbook that comes with an SSD has a poor keyboard design or gets poor reviews, that can cause a model to become less popular. If that analysis is disregarded, it can appear that SSDs are not desirable components.
I would say that availability, price, capacity, speed, and true power consumption all have affected the market share. Since netbooks are viewed as small, low-cost notebooks, the inclusion of an expensive component in them is probably not the best way to go. If SSDs mature and the aforementioned factors become comparable to conventional HDDs, I think they could do extremely well in the netbook segment.
To keep the prices down at the netbook level, it looks like the SSD might be one of the big things that gets cut first. As the prices for them come down, I could imagine they would be reintroduced to the machines. But for now, I’m happy to see that the netbooks of today are affordable and not creeping back into the $600-700 range, especially those with the capability to easily upgrade that drive.
It does seem a little overkill to have a 120 or 160 gig drive and be living in the cloud though.
Capacity is the issue certainly. I’m using a Samsung NC10 at the moment and certainly think of it as a small notebook/laptop rather than a netbook.
I think that many users do buy ‘netbooks’ to replace, or instead of, a regular laptop.
Actually you’re wrong about no one saying this would happen. I remember when the Asus first came out, I turned to my dog and said: ‘These SSDs aren’t going to be very popular. In less than a year people are going to realise that they’re not good enough to replace a nice big HD.’ He nodded and went back to licking his balls. (If that’s not a sign of agreement, I don’t know what is).
I think that capacity isn’t all that much of an issue for people who use a netbook as a secondary PC. However it seems that if you want a netbook with an SSD, you’re stuck with the lowest possible battery/RAM/screen specification. I see that the Eee’s avoided this trend and the Mini 1000 is also bucking it, but I really want a 6-cell Aspire One with an SDD for maximum battery life, and they just don’t make it.
I bought the original EEE and loved it. I still use it for its convenience as a quick web browser. BUT. I bought an Aspire One with XP because to be really useful as a throw in my bag and use anywhere PC I needed XP for the software. XP needs more than a small SSD. When a decent sized SSD is cheap enough for the original EEE I’ll put one in there, and probably XP too.
I really don’t care if the drive is an SSD or hard drive. I care it it is fast enough, if it is big enough, and if it works.
The SNIA Solid State Storage Initiative (SSSI) site has a lot of useful information about SSD technology.
http://www.snia.org/forums/sssi
Check it out.
I guess there are two netbook markets. One as a companion device where an SSD would suffice and one for the budget market (students, soccer mums etc) where it’s their primary machine. These people want to be able to store music and videos, download pictures from their digital camera. They want to have their itunes library with them. Even the people who have one as a companion device want to have a movie or two on the hard drive.
Gordon