Verbatim 240GB SATA III Review

Verbatim's SATA III (6GB/s) solid state drive is quite different than the SATA II version. In fact, build quality aside, the Verbatim 240GB SATA III is nearly identical to the Kingston HyperX 3K.

This SSD distinguishes itself from the others with an extremely thick and heavy aluminum enclosure that acts like a giant heat sink for the internal components. In fact, out of all four SSDs in this roundup the Verbatim SATA III was the only one that didn't develop a hot spot that was too hot to touch after hours of repeated benchmarking.

This drive still generates heat, but the heat is spread across the entire surface of the drive rather than being concentrated in a single spot near the center of the drive.

The specifications for the Verbatim 240GB SATA III SSD are as follows:

• Model: 3SSD240 (47379)
• Form Factor: 2.5" (9.4mm thickness)
• Capacity: 240GB
• Memory Type: MLC
• Interface: SATA III
• Controller: SandForce
• Weight: 97g
• Advertised Max Sequential Read: Up to 550 MB/s
• Advertised Max Sequential Write: Up to 510 MB/s
• MTBF: 2,000,000 hours
• MSRP: $200
• Average Retail Price: $180

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Report: SSDs Are “No Threat” to Hard Disk in Notebook Sector

The death of Hard Disk-based notebooks in favour of Solid State Drives has been greatly exaggerated, according to analyst group IHS iSuppli.

The research group’s main argument about the lack of market dominance by SSD devices? Price. On average, the price of a notebook with 500 GB HDD is between $450 and $550 while an SSD based device with far less storage capacity — such as the MacBook Air with a 64 GB storage — comes in at the $999 price point.

IHS said that in the first quarter of 2012, notebooks with SDD storage and high-end hybrid HDD devices had only three percent of the market share. Below is a chart that outlines market share based on storage medium and capacity.

“The market-share rankings show that SSD-based notebook PCs like Apple Inc.’s MacBook Air presently pose no threat to the much larger universe of HDD-based mobile PCs,” explained Fang Zhang, IHS’ resident storage analyst, in a statement. “SSD-equipped notebooks are faster, more lightweight and sport a thinner profile—some of the characteristics that make them popular and desirable to consumers—but they are also more expensive and feature less overall storage space. The price of a MacBook Air with just a 64GB solid state drive can reach $999, while an HDD-based notebook PC at that price can boast significantly larger storage space.”

To summarize IHS’ findings, until the price premium on SSDs are reduced, and the drives offer comparable storage to hard disks, domination by the mechanical drive isn’t going to end any time soon.

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