SSDs barely dint 2009 notebook market

Author: Gareth Halfacree
Published: 29th June 2009
Comments (20) Stumble
SSDs barely dint 2009 notebook market

Although the humble solid state drive has a lot to offer over its mechanical counterparts, manufacturers still aren't seeing great demand for SSD-equipped notebooks.

Solid state drives may offer a wide range of improvements over their mechanical counterparts – including far lower seek times, lower power draw, and improved resilience to shock and temperature – but it seems that the notebook industry still isn't convinced by their merits.

According to a report from DRAMeXchange – quoted by Fudzilla – it is predicted that notebooks equipped with SSDs as their main storage device will make up a paltry 1.5 percent of all notebook shipments in 2009.

The figures are improved somewhat in the netbook market, which the report treats as completely separate to laptops: there, a more impressive 10 percent of all devices shipped will be equipped with solid state storage – a near-must in a small, lightweight device designed to be as portable as possible.

The reason for the poor market penetration is thought to be most related to the higher price: as component prices increase thanks to the struggling global economy and manufacturers seek to increase their margins while offering cheaper units to the masses, it's clear that a 32GB SSD is a harder sell when compared to a 250GB mechanical drive that can often be had for the same price – or a 120GB drive that can be purchased for significantly less.

However, we're already seeing the prices of SSDs suitable for laptop use dropping even as we see peformance rise – which means that while 2009 might be a disappointing year for the SSD, 2010 could well see it poised to take over from the clunky mechanical drives to which we've become so attached.

Do you believe that SSDs are the future for the notebook market, or does the industry still have some major issues to address before you'll give up your spinning platters? Share your thoughts over in the forums.
Quote Veles 29th June 2009, 14:52
Right now for most people the cost and reduced storage space doesn't outweigh the benefits. Plus most people don't know what those benefits are.
Quote mrb_no1 29th June 2009, 15:07
first paragraph, should read far lower seek times, but reads as far higher!
Quote Carpet3 29th June 2009, 15:46
The only thing stopping me getting one is the cost of the drives. FOr what I use my laptop for a smallish drive wouldn't bother me, but they increased speed/reliability would be awesome.
Quote shigllgetcha 29th June 2009, 16:06
in my laptop price and capacity is most important to me. speed doesnt really bother me tbh

i think they dont realise that alot of people, maybe not as may here use their laptop as a primary computer
Quote ParaHelix.org 29th June 2009, 16:08
"Solid state drives may offer a wide range of improvements over their mechanical counterparts – including far higher seek times, lower power draw, and improved resilience to shock and temperature – but it seems that the notebook industry still isn't convinced by their merits."

Eh?
Quote lewchenko 29th June 2009, 16:09
People have a problem with the perceived value of these drives (myself included). They feel the price is still in 'new adopter' territory and will simply wait until the price becomes reasonable. (also myself included)

I do think that the companies who make these SSD's are charging a premium that the current market is not willing to bear (a bit like NVidia did when they used to sell 7800 GTX 512's for £500 !)

Also, there are potential questions still about how performance 'degrades' over time,poor drivers in the OS's, and stuttering or something which tainted the market a little bit.

I also have an issue buying a 128GB model say for XXX when I think the 256GB model will shortly be the same price... If I wait a little bit longer !
Quote oasked 29th June 2009, 16:31
Cost is the big driving factor here. As soon as it comes down, the market penetration will go up markedly.
Quote billysielu 29th June 2009, 16:58
Most laptop-buyers don't know what an SSD is, so why would they pay more for one?
Quote billysielu 29th June 2009, 16:59
Quote:
Originally Posted by billysielu
Most laptop-buyers don't know what an SSD is, so why would they pay more for one?

"Can I plug my printer into it?"
Quote Baz 29th June 2009, 20:16
£1/GB is the magic number - when we see an SSD that delivers faster performance than a HDD at that pricing, you'll really see them take off.
Quote capnPedro 29th June 2009, 20:47
Quote:
Originally Posted by shigllgetcha
in my laptop price and capacity is most important to me. speed doesnt really bother me tbh

I think for laptops and netbooks, power usage would also be a big issue (and definitely an advantage of SSDs, but how big of an advantage!?).
Quote Gareth Halfacree 29th June 2009, 21:01
Quote:
Originally Posted by mrb_no1
first paragraph, should read far lower seek times, but reads as far higher!
Heh - that's what you get when you start to write "far higher speeds" but change your mind part way through!
Quote dicobalt 29th June 2009, 23:04
Netbooks are cheap, which instantly rules out SSD because they are expensive.
Laptops are mostly cheap, which instantly rules out SSD because they are expensive.
Desktops are mostly cheap, which instantly rules out SSD because they are expensive.

Does anyone see a trend here?

SSD won't be commonplace for another couple more process shrinks. Even then it will be for system drives not media storage, and it will still cost significantly more then a HDD of the same size.
Quote metarinka 30th June 2009, 01:15
Quote:
Originally Posted by dicobalt
Netbooks are cheap, which instantly rules out SSD because they are expensive.
Laptops are mostly cheap, which instantly rules out SSD because they are expensive.
Desktops are mostly cheap, which instantly rules out SSD because they are expensive.

Does anyone see a trend here?

SSD won't be commonplace for another couple more process shrinks. Even then it will be for system drives not media storage, and it will still cost significantly more then a HDD of the same size.

my prediction is 1-2 years and we'll see them take off, price goes down performance goes up and the advantages over physical storage are there.

this is how it's been for all of life, blu ray drives didn't take off fast, neither did dvd or really any other new consumer electronic device
Quote The_Beast 30th June 2009, 04:36
It takes time for new tech to sink in, like metarinka said, blueray, DVD, VHS, beta-max......


They'll sink in soon enough
Quote docodine 30th June 2009, 07:53
I think the title should be dent instead of dint, unless if this is some British lingo that I don't know.
Quote storm20200 30th June 2009, 07:57
Lol I find it hilarious that you say 2009 might be a disappointing year for the SSD when a few weeks ago there was a blog post saying 2009: The year of the SSD or something like that :)

I really think the max I would pay for an SSD would be £1.50 per GB for a 128GB for both Windows and Linux then use a 640GB HDD for storage. If I did buy one now I'd only use it for linux but Ubuntu 9.04 being uber fast at boot up and everything with 9.10 supposedly even quicker why bother :P
Quote mi1ez 30th June 2009, 08:45
Quote:
Originally Posted by The_Beast
It takes time for new tech to sink in, like metarinka said, blueray, DVD, VHS, beta-max......


They'll sink in soon enough

Don't recall beta-max ever sinking in. Only sinking!
Quote TWeaK 30th June 2009, 13:41
Probably one of the reasons SSDs aren't being used in traditional laptops so much is because companies and buyers aren't focusing on them as much anymore. Performance enthusiasts tend towards desktops, and tech enthusiast who want portable devices would go for a smaller ultra-portable netbook. If you were in fact looking for a performance laptop, chances are it wouldn't be moved that much anyway and you wouldn't be that concerned about the power draw.
Quote Teknokid 30th June 2009, 21:10
Im not surprised tbh. Im about to buy a laptop, and there is no ssd version, so I will just add it in myself. I suspect most people just install them themselves, or they people that know enough about computers to know they are good will....
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