Computer maker Dell is putting its foot in the solid-state drive arena, announcing the immediate availability of 32 GB SanDisk solid-state drives as an option in its Latitude D420 ultraportable notebook, as well as its Latitude D620 ATG semi-rugged notebook.
"A solid state drive is an excellent storage technology for our mobile users," said Kevin Kettler, Dell’s CTO, in a statement. "We are committed to leading the industry in delivering these new drives and will offer them across Dell’s next generation of Latitude products."
The 1.8-inch solid-state drives from SanDisk offer 32 GB of flash-based storage. Because the drives have no moving parts, they offer greater reliability than traditional hard drives while consume less power—both key points for storage systems used in mobile devices like notebook computers. Dell says the solid-state drives can also increase system performance by up to 23 percent, and help the Latitude systems start up as much as 34 percent faster.
The solid-state drives come at a cost: the SSD drive option adds $300 to the price of the Latitude D620 ATG and $450 to the price of the Latitude D420. But for true road warriors—and anyone who has lost data to a failed portable hard drive—just knowing the option is there might be some comfort.
