SanDisk 64 GB SSD flash drives by year end

Finally, we have an SSD capacity that might get me to crack open my UMPC one last time! SanDisk made an announcement at Computex today stating that their 2.5- and 1.8-inch SSD drives will be bumped up from 32- to 64-GB this year. We’ll have to wait and see how the engineering samples pan out in the third quarter of this year, but if all goes well, mass production will start before the year is over.

While 64 GB doesn’t compare to some of the higher capacity, perpendicular recording hard drives currently available, I’d consider it the tipping point for UMPC and small Tablet PC adoption. Let’s face it: 32 GB, which is currently available, isn’t going to get you far and isn’t really a capacity upgrade over the 30- and 40-GB drives which are common in this form factor. Although we’ll see a price premium for faster data access and lower power consumption, I’ll be watching for availability to swap out my current 60 GB drive for a 64 GB solid state disk.

(via Engadget)

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