OCZ Reveals Ultra-Cheap Core Series SSDs

Tearing huge chunks out of the SSD price barrier, OCZ has released budget drives that significantly undercut the competition, including a $479 128GB drive.

The solid-state drive market has made huge strides in boosting capacity throughout the past few years, but for those without deep pockets, the lightweight and reliable drives still remain mostly out of reach. OCZ Technology is hoping to change that with its new Core Series of SSDs, announced Tuesday, which the company claims will be 50 percent cheaper than competing drives on a price-per-gigabyte basis.

The 32GB, 64GB and 128GB drives will sell for $169, $259 and $479, respectively. That puts them relatively close to newcomers like Transcend on the low-capacity side of things, but completely in a league of their own when it comes to 128GB prices.

OCZ claims that they’ll offer the same speed benefits as pricier alternatives, with 120-143Mbs read speeds and 80-93Mbs write speeds, making them roughly ten times faster than traditional 2.5-inch drives.  They’ll also be about 50 percent more power efficient, extending battery life when used in notebooks.

All four drives should be available immediately through OCZ retailers.