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If you haven’t already dropped a solid-state drive into your computer, Intel just gave you a not-so-subtle nudge in that direction. Its entry-level SSD 320 has jumped in capacity from 180GB to 240GB, saving a few diñeiros for anyone who would rather not leap to the SSD 520 just to land a primary system drive. Either end of the price spectrum is also becoming a little more reasonable: the official reseller pricing has been slashed on the 320, 330 and 520 lines, even if Intel hasn’t said by how much just yet. Intel’s changes should be in immediate effect for those among us who just can’t endure spinning storage one moment longer.

Filed under: Storage

Intel pumps SSD 330 capacity up to 240GB, trims other drives’ prices to match originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 17 Jul 2012 02:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You know how some philosophical folks say that great things always come in pairs? Well, as it turns out, sometimes that is indeed the case. Not content with handing its fans a free trip towards the promised Ivy Bridge land, Origin PC’s kicking off its 2012 back-to-school promotion with a couple of solid-state goodies to help you save some time during your every-day computer activities. The deal is quite simple: shell out some cash on one of the outfit’s qualifying machines and you’ve got yourself a gratis 128GB or 256GB SSD — this, naturally, includes the EON11-S, EON15-S, EON17-S and that beastly GENESIS, just to mention a few. As Origin PC points out, the worldwide deal’s limited to one per customer, can’t be combined with any other offer and it’ll run until there’s no more supplies to give. If all that sounds good, then head over to the company’s site to get in on it, as well as check out the full list of units involved in the BTS promo.

Continue reading Origin PC wants to put you ‘in the fast lane’ with back-to-school promo, hands you a free SSD

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

Origin PC wants to put you ‘in the fast lane’ with back-to-school promo, hands you a free SSD originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 09 Jul 2012 15:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Got a Macbook Air from 2010 or 2011 and want to upgrade the storage without dropping its pre-existing SSD module all together? Well, you’re in luck, thanks to OWC’s new Mecury Aura Bundles. After upgrading your Air with one of the company’s Mercury Aura Pro Express SSDs, the included Mercury Aura Envoy lets you re-purpose the factory SSD as a bus-powered, USB 3.0-compatible external drive. Better yet, the Envoy is made of aluminum, matches the Air’s tapered design and weighs just 1.5 ounces. Owners of the 2010 Air can opt for a 180, 240 or 480GB 3Gb/s drive, while those with the 2011 model can bump up to 6Gb/s bus speeds with the same storage allotments and a 120GB option. Pricing for the bundle starts at $200 for the 120GB variant, maxing out at a hefty $780 and $800 if you want to move up to the spacious 480GB offerings. Thankfully, like the SSDs, the Mercury Aura Envoy is available as a stand-alone enclosure, and it’ll cost you just under $50 bucks. Hit up the press release after the break for the full details if this dual-drive setup piques your interest

Continue reading OWC Mercury Aura Bundles let you replace your MacBook Air’s SSD, use it as external storage

OWC Mercury Aura Bundles let you replace your MacBook Air’s SSD, use it as external storage originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 01 Jul 2012 10:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s an understatement to say that Seagate started off on the wrong foot in its attitude towards solid-state drives: the company only slowly came around to embracing flash memory, and then mostly for the enterprise crowd and hybrid drive lovers. A newly-struck partnership between Seagate and controller maker DensBits is signalling a more serious attempt to offer SSDs to everyday users. Along with catering to the business folk, Seagate wants its new teammate’s help on building “low-cost, high-performance” consumer SSDs. Most of the drives for the plebeians will use slower but denser 3-bits-per-cell memory made on a process under 20 nanometers, while the suits will get faster 2-bits-per-cell flash for their servers. The deal doesn’t have any timetable attached, although Seagate’s decision to pour equity cash into DensBits suggests it’s not just a one-time fling.

Continue reading Seagate and DensBits team up on solid-state drives for the home, call truce in the HDD versus SSD war

Seagate and DensBits team up on solid-state drives for the home, call truce in the HDD versus SSD war originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 25 Jun 2012 23:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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