Intel&#39;s 310 Series SSDs Are an Eighth the Size of Their PredecessorsS

SSDs are great, and they're getting smaller all the time. A lot smaller. Intel's teeny new 310 Series SSDs deliver the same performance as the x25s that came before them, but they're just an eighth the size.

The new drives, intended for notebooks, tablets, and rugged industrial and military devices, are 51mm-by-30mm and a mere 5mm thick. AnandTech points out that it's Intel's first mSATA SSD: "physically a mini PCIe connector (similar to what you'd see with a WiFi card in a notebook) but electrically SATA." What that means is a super-compact drive that is distancing itself from the form factors of traditional hard drives.

Lenovo's signed the 310 up for their next-generation ThinkPads, and DRS Technology's planning on sliding the 310 in a tablet next year. Intel's shipping drives to OEMs in 1000-unit quantities in two capacities: 40GB ($99) and 80GB ($179). They say it's the first salvo in a wave of new solid state drives they'll be firing off next year, to which I say bring it on. The smaller and the faster the better. [Intel]