Sandisk launches solid-state drives for ultra-low-cost PCs

SanDisk introduced a line of flash memory-based solid-state drives (SSDs) that are designed for portable consumer electronics -- called Ultra Low-Cost PCs (ULCPC) or "netbooks." The SanDisk pSSD (Parallel ATA Solid State Drive) eliminates the need for a hard disk drive and can store both the operating system and application data for these devices.

The new SSD modules are being made available in 4-, 8- and 16-gigabyte (GB)capacities, with a streaming read speed of 39 megabytes per second (MB/S) and a streaming write performance of 17MB/s. It supports both Linux and Microsoft Windows XP operating systems. These drives are built using the company's Multi-Level Cell (MLC) and Single-Level Cell (SLC) flash memory.

SanDisk pSSD solid state drives are being shown this week at Computex Taipei, where SanDisk is exhibiting at Booth M320 in Nangang Exhibition Hall. The drives are expected to be available starting in August.