Posted on Friday, February 06 2009 @ 20:57 CET by Thomas De Maesschalck
The MLC based X-25M 80GB and 160GB drives are now available for $390 and $765, respectively, down from $595 and $945, respectively.
The faster SLC-based X-25E 32GB drive is now priced at $415, down from $575, and there's also a new 64GB X-25E with a price tag of $795. A 320GB MLC drive and a 128GB SLC drive is slated for later this year.
Lower sales due to the global economic slump are a key reason for the price cuts. However, declining NAND flash prices are lowering production costs for Intel's competitors, many of which are entering the market with a new generation of products. Intel launched their 160GB X-25M for $945 just under two months ago.
OCZ's Apex series of SSDs use an integrated RAID 0 controller to boost performance for a modest price premium over regular MLC SSDs. G.Skill's Titan series uses a similar design, as both use JMicron RAID and SSD controllers. However, OCZ has heavily optimized their firmware to provide extra performance. They are both available at retail.
