A 16 GB SSD is combined with HDDs ranging from 320 to 750 GB in size and improve start-up and application loading times as the solid state drive is paired with Condusiv's ExpressCache caching software. Sandisk and Lenovo promise performance increases of up to 4X of a standalone HDD system.
Lenovo markets the SSD solutions to small-to-medium businesses that do not want to make the jump to expensive SSD mass storage media.
The mSATA upgrade for the Thinkpad Edge E430 and E530 is offered as a $60 option in addition to the $499 price of the base E430 notebook. The E530 starts at $509. Fully equipped notebooks with a quad-core i7 Ivy Bridge processor, 8 GB memory, a webcam and a 750 GB HDD top out at just under $1100.
