All I can say is that it’s about time Intel lowered their prices on SSDs and got with the program here. Yes Intel SSDs are fast, but they’re prohibitively expensive for the average user. Now though Intel has finally released their versions of the Boot drive. Their small SSDs that are to be paired with a standard hard drive, the idea is that you use the SSD for your operating system and a nice fast mechanical hard drive for your main and for your writing to drive. They’re called the Intel X25-V, and they’ll be starting at a capacity of 40gig, they’ll be TRIM enabled of course. Pricing is listed as $125 each, and I just checked NewEgg and they’ve got them in stock with free shipping for $124.99. The X25-V should get read speeds up to 170mb/s and write speeds up to 35mb/s, which is on par with other boot drives out there today..
“The Intel X25-V features 40GB of 34nm NAND flash memory. This non-volatile memory retains data, even when the power is turned off, and is used in applications such as smartphones, personal music players, memory cards or SSDs for fast and reliable storage of data. SSD benefits over a traditional HDD include higher performance, battery saving and ruggedness. "Adding the Intel X25-V to our existing family of high-performance SSDs gives our resellers a full range of high-performing, quality SSDs for notebook upgrades, dual-drive desktop set ups or embedded applications," said Pete Hazen, director of marketing for the Intel NAND Solutions Group. "SSD adoption continues to be one of the more exciting trends in personal computing, and this entry-level product enables users to enjoy the productivity and performance benefits of Intel SSDs at a new price point."
[Via Intel] –Full Press Release