Q: Which markets are
appropriate for SSDs?
A: The markets first to adopt SSDs are those who
can most enjoy the benefits of SSDs over HDDs - Ruggedness,
reliability, performance and power consumption are most crucial to
mobile PC users, high-power users such as gamers and corporate
users.
- The business laptop market in particular, is a prime target for
SSD adoption. Not only will SSD benefits increase employee
productivity, business efficiency and reduce IT costs (as they
require less repair and maintenance), but when the TCO (total cost
of ownership) is taken into account, this clearly justifies the
investment.
- As for corporate and private mobile user- those users who are
frequently on the road will value the ruggedness and reliability of
the SSD compared to the fragile mechanical components of the HDDs.
Their crucial data will be safely stored without risking data loss
as a result of disk drive failures and crashes..
- Enthusiatics, DIYs and Gamers - The Do It Yourself (DIYs) and
Enthusiastic consumers are the early adopters consumers that are
keen on owning the latest technology out there. The Gamers are
consumers who use their PCs for gaming and are looking for the most
efficient PC performance to enhance their gaming experience. Both
are expected to have a keen interest in SSDs as it symbolizes a
step beyond the traditional HDD storage technology as well as
provide an enhanced user experience.
Q: Why should I pay more
per GB of SSD storage when I can pay less and get much more storage
with an HDD?
A: The issue is not the cost per GB, but the cost
per device. How much is a particular user willing to pay for a
storage device to get a particular job done? We have learned from
corporate CIOs that they are willing to pay a 10-20% premium for a
laptop with an SSD. Not all users are storage hungry. Corporate
users such as road warriors, for instance need capacity of about
100GB to get their work done, and then are much more concerned with
productivity and user experience. Flash addresses these concerns
directly by offering durability, fast computing* and
power efficiency. As SSDs continue to make their way into
mainstream adoption, prices will become more attractive and SSDs
will be available at higher capacities to a growing population. The
question is no longer if SSDs will be adopted in computing
applications, but how quickly such adoption will take place in the
various sub-segments.
*Based on SanDisk internal testing using Microsoft
Windows Performance Tool Kit. Performance varies depending upon OS
and application. Platform: Dell Optiplex 760, Intel Core 2
Processor E8400, 2GB DDR2; OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate;
HDD:Seagate HDD 7200.4 RPM 250 GB; SSD: RC304 60GB.
Q: Why would anyone spend
more money on a laptop with a solid state drive than one with a
hard disk drive?
A: The benefits of flash - durability, faster
computing*, and power efficiency - are worth their cost
to mobile PC users who put a price tag on productivity, data
accessibility and their personal user experience. They can't afford
to lose their data or compromise their productivity when their hard
drive crashes. Their laptop's speed is critical to them. Their time
is literally worth money.
*Based on SanDisk internal testing using Microsoft
Windows Performance Tool Kit. Performance varies depending upon OS
and application. Platform: Dell Optiplex 760, Intel Core 2
Processor E8400, 2GB DDR2; OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate;
HDD:Seagate HDD 7200.4 RPM 250 GB; SSD: RC304 60GB.
Q: When do you expect the
mainstream consumer market to endorse SSDs and how big will this
market be?
A: Analysts predict that by 2013 the cost of a
unit of storage will be attractive enough to interest the mass
market and will be adopted instead of HDDs in 20% to 30% of client
computers. By then market education of flash benefits will have
penetrated from the early adopters to the mainstream.
Q: Will SSDs completely
replace hard disks the way flash products replaced 35mm film and
floppy disks? Or will SSDs and HDDs live
side-by-side?
A: Today, we see SSDs living side by side with
hard drives. Hard drives are not going to disappear anytime soon,
though SSD technology has the potential to encroach on certain
traditional hard drive territories at a growing rate.