On the heels of Samsung’s 32GB SSD comes the same from SanDisk. They have released a 32GB drive to manufacturers with the expectation that notebooks equipped with the drive will start appearing sometime in the first half of the year. The drive comes in a 1.8-inch package and contains a controller and other electronics to reduce power consumption.
The solid state drive should add about $600 USD to the price of notebooks that come equipped with it. In return the drive promises improvements such as reduced power consumption, faster read and write speeds, reduced weight and improved reliability (due to the lack of mechanical parts).
Meanwhile, hard drive manufacturers are responding to the threat to their business. Currently, notebook drives are averaging about 80GB but that is expected to climb to 250GB by 2010.