SanDisk Providing SSD for World’s Lightest 14-Inch Ultrabook
Lenovo's ThinkPad X1 Carbon is using SanDisk's X100 SSD.
On Tuesday during the Flash Memory Summit 2012, SanDisk said that Lenovo has selected one of its SSDs to be the storage solution of choice for the just-launched 14-inch ThinkPad X1 Carbon Ultrabok. Deemed as the "world's lightest" 14-inch Ultrabook, the ThinkPad X1 Carbon comes packed with a 128 GB or 256 GB SanDisk X100 SSD for incredibly responsive, small form factor storage.
According to the specs, SanDisk's X100 SSDs connect via an SATA 3 (6 Gb/s) interface, and offer up to 500 MB/s sequential read speeds, and up to 430 MB/s sequential write speeds. The drive can also reach 76,000 IOPS random read and 43,000 IOPS random write speeds.
SandDisk's X100 SSD -- a MLC NAND flash drive -- uses tiered caching technology to direct data streams to the appropriate layer for maximum performance, greatly improving responsiveness and extending the life of the flash drive. It also features an extreme endurance of 80 TBW under 128 GB/day workload.
"The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon is stunning both in terms of its aesthetics as well as its capabilities," said Kevin Conley, senior vice president and general manager, Client Storage Solutions, SanDisk. "Our custom version of the SanDisk X100 SSD helps Lenovo deliver high-capacity and high-performance storage for this innovative Ultrabook product."
As for Lenovo's Ultrabook, the ThinkPad X1 Carbon launched on Tuesday, August 21, packing a 14-inch display within a 13-inch form factor. Forged from carbon fiber, it features a backlit keyboard, a multi-gesture glass surface touchpad, an HD face-tracking camera, dual array microphones and Dolby-tuned audio.
Starting at $1,299, the Ultrabook offers up to 3rd-generation Intel Core i7 processors, up to 6.3 hours of battery life, up to a 256 GB SanDisk X100 SSD, and up to 8 GB of RAM, depending on your budget. There are also options for a fingertip reader, TPM and BIOS encryption, mobile hotspot network sharing, and various ports including one USB 3.0 port, one USB 2.0 port, a mini-DisplayPort with audio, and a 4-in-1 SD card reader.
"Lenovo’s leadership pioneering the X1 Carbon pushes the envelope in terms of bringing ‘no compromise performance’ to an extremely thin, light and connected form factor,” said Tom Butler, director Worldwide ThinkPad Product Marketing, Lenovo. "Collaborating with SanDisk has helped us enable the ThinkPad X1 Carbon’s design."
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For more information about Lenovo's new ThinkPad X1 Carbon Ultrabook, head here. SanDisk's range of consumer-based SSDs can be accessed here, whereas its Lightning series of SSDs for the enterprise sector can be found here. SanDisk, as seen with the Lenovo Ultrabook, also sells SSDs directly to OEMs.
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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kcorp2003 the base line price starts at $1,249.00 with this tiered pricing, you can't upgrade to 8GB, the CPU is i5-3317U with 1600x900 & 128GB SSD. However with 6 hours of battery, can't cut it for me. I need at least 9 solid hours. I have a 12 hour work schedule.Reply -
crisan_tiberiu kcorp2003the base line price starts at $1,249.00 with this tiered pricing, you can't upgrade to 8GB, the CPU is i5-3317U with 1600x900 & 128GB SSD. However with 6 hours of battery, can't cut it for me. I need at least 9 solid hours. I have a 12 hour work schedule.Reply
12 hr on battery? i dont believe that ^- you do what? keep PC @ idle? maybe check facebook every 3 hrs?
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kcorp2003 crisan_tiberiu12 hr on battery? i dont believe that ^- you do what? keep PC @ idle? maybe check facebook every 3 hrs?Reply
i didn't say 12 hours of battery. i said 9 hours. i go to school and work. DBA and a java programmer for con edison. + other work loads from school.
Anyways Acer S7 promises about 9 hours. -
livebriand kcorp2003i didn't say 12 hours of battery. i said 9 hours. i go to school and work. DBA and a java programmer for con edison. + other work loads from school. Anyways Acer S7 promises about 9 hours.The Thinkpad T430 gets 15 hours with the 9-cell battery, and 30 if you add in the sheet battery.Reply -
romansky Meh, no IPS no thanks!Reply
Plus, memory is not upgradable, and so is the SSD, lenovo droped the ball on this one. -
kcorp2003 livebriandThe Thinkpad T430 gets 15 hours with the 9-cell battery, and 30 if you add in the sheet battery.Reply
thanks, yeah i saw a co-worker with one. I think i may have to do the same. I can handle 4.77 lbs :) -
danwat1234 kcorp2003the base line price starts at $1,249.00 with this tiered pricing, you can't upgrade to 8GB, the CPU is i5-3317U with 1600x900 & 128GB SSD. However with 6 hours of battery, can't cut it for me. I need at least 9 solid hours. I have a 12 hour work schedule.Yea I'd rather take a Asus U24E small laptop with a 2.8GHZ/3.5GHZ regular CPU for $800..Reply -
techcurious These 2nd Generation ultrabooks have extremely frugal sleep modes. And they come out of sleep mode incredibly fast! I doubt you need your PC active for 9 hours do you? If not, just reduce the delay for entering sleep mode to save more power. The only thing I find really disappointing is that these latest high end portable computers still do not offer at least a single thunderbolt port. Considering how virtually impossible they are to upgrade, a single thunderbolt port would be perfect to dock your ultrabook to an external storage device and other external upgrades like monitors, etc.Reply -
southernshark 6 hours does not take a student through a school day.Reply
Bottom line its all fail.
Rant all you want about how students can do XYZ to keep their laptop alive. None of that makes a damn bit of difference in the real world.