Toshiba Ships Thin 256GB Blade X-Gale SSDs
Toshiba's new modules are for manufacturers only, however they should allow for thinner notebooks and tablets with bigger storage capacities.
Sunday Toshiba revealed that its new Blade X-gale ultra-thin series of SSD modules is available for manufacturers, offering maximum sequential read speeds of 220 MB/s and maximum sequential write speeds of 180 MB/s. The company said that the modules are ideal for mobile devices like tablets, laptops, netbooks and more. They were also previously revealed to be used by Apple in the new MacBook Air.
"Delivering a product that enables superior user experience in a smaller footprint is the ultimate goal," noted Scott Nelson, vice president, Memory Business Unit, Toshiba America Electronic Components, Inc. "The density of MLC NAND enables the creation of smaller form factor high density storage solutions, and Toshiba, as the technology leader for NAND storage solutions, will continue to innovate in this space."
According to the company, the Blade X-gale line will come in three capacities: 64 GB, 128 GB, and 256 GB. The first two capacities will have a thickness of only 2.2-mm, 42-percent thinner than the typical mSATA SSD. Toshiba added that its base design technology minimizes board warpage during thinning, allowing for 256 GB capacity by mounting on both sides. The 256 GB module measures slightly bigger than the other two at 3.7-mm.
There's speculation that manufacturers will use Toshiba's new SSDs to create MacBook Air clones running Microsoft's Windows platform. As seen in a recent MacBook Air teardown, the SSD was a major part of the computer's super-slim profile. Consumers will likely see thinner notebooks next year while tablet storage capacities climb into the 256 GB realm.
Toshiba said that it also offers designers a choice of mSATA and Half-Slim SSD modules in capacities up to 128 GB.
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Kevin Parrish has over a decade of experience as a writer, editor, and product tester. His work focused on computer hardware, networking equipment, smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles, and other internet-connected devices. His work has appeared in Tom's Hardware, Tom's Guide, Maximum PC, Digital Trends, Android Authority, How-To Geek, Lifewire, and others.
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nforce4max Took long enough and its a real shame that it is not in the normal retail market. >.>Reply -
Randomacts If they can make it cheap enough that places don't charge an arm and a leg for it in laptops I'm all for it.Reply -
iam2thecrowe good idea, hard drives you can slot in like ram. Would be useful to make a 3.5" or 5 1/4"drive bay for desktops that allows these to be slotted in.Reply -
User69 ReplyThere's speculation that manufacturers will use Toshiba's new SSDs to create MacBook Air clones running Microsoft's Windows platform.
Gotta love the bias! -
gramps Looks just like a couple of sticks of RAM (I suppose they're not really that much different).Reply
Might need a few SSD slots on my next motherboard...