Ultra Mobile PC (UMPC) maker Samsung to release a 64 GB solid state drive (SSD)

Earlier this year at CES, Samsung announced the release of the latest version of it's Q1: the Q1 SSD (SSD stands for solid state drive). From CES, we videotaped my interview of Samsung's manager of marketing communications Jason Redmond who showed us the Q1 SSD (pictured right) which, at the time, featured a 32 GB solid state drive. In fact, all of the ultra mobile PC makers that we interviewed said that in terms of an SSD option, 32 GB was the biggest they were prepared to go. SSD-based computers can benefit users in a number of ways. With no moving parts, not only do they peform better than mechanical hard drives (especially booting up), they also consume less power (which means more battery life), and they're more likely to survive a drop. In other words, SSD-based computers (UMPCs, notebooks, etc.) are able to take a lickin' and keep on tickin'. 

According to Digital Trend News' Geoff Duncan, Samsung is preparing to launch a 1.8 inch 64 GB SSD by the end of 2007Q2. Wrote Duncan:

The market for flash-based solid state disk drives which act as drop-in replacements for traditional hard drives used in mobile and portable devices is heating up: Samsung announced today that it plans to ship a 64 GB solid state drive in the second quarter of this year......Samsung claims the respective read and write performance on the drive have been increased by 20 and 60 percent: the 64 GB unit can read 64 MB/S, write 45 MB/s, and consumes just half a Watt when operating (one tenth of a Watt when idle). In comparison, an 80 GB 1.8-inch hard drive reads at 15 MB/s, writes at 7 MB/s, and eats 1.5 Watts either operating or when idle.

No word yet on whether the new drives will be an option in the Q1s and what sort of lettuce that'll set you back.