Sandisk announces 32GB NAND flash laptop drive

Just yesterday we reported on Samsung's new 50 nm, 16GB NAND flash module. Not to be outdone, the folks at Sandisk have announced a 32GB, solid-state NAND flash drive, in advance of next week's CES show in Las Vegas. The drives will be sold directly to OEMs for use in laptops and other devices and come in a 1.8-inch housing--although Sandisk claims that the same technology could be used to make both larger and smaller drives. According to the company, laptops containing the drives could start shipping during the first half of 2007. In case you've somehow forgotten, solid-state drives are the future of portable storage: they're smaller than traditional hard drives, have no moving parts (and are thus, more durable), draw less power and have significantly faster write and read speeds. For example, Sandisk claims that their drive can boot into Vista in 35 seconds--a task that takes a conventional drive around 55 seconds. Just about the only downside at this point is price; the company expects that their 32GB drive will add about $600 to the final price tag of a machine. Still, with production ramping up and NAND flash prices continuing to plummet, it should be expected that NAND flash drives will become a serious contender during the next few years.

For more on the drive:
- read this ZDnet article