Samsung Announces mSATA SSDs for Ultrabooks

Samsung is adding mSATA SSDs to its PM830 line, slated for ultrabooks and similar form factors.

Wednesday Samsung said that it entered volume production of new 20-nm PM830 solid state drives (SSDs) that support the Mini-Serial ATA (mSATA) interface. The drives are slated to be used in ultra-slim notebooks like Intel's ultrabook form factor, measuring just 2 x 1.18 x 0.149-inches and weighing a mere 0.282 ounces.

"Samsung's compact mSATA SSDs will provide performance of the highest quality in helping to deliver the advanced ultra-slim PCs that consumers have been wanting," said Myungho Kim, vice president of memory marketing, Device Solutions, Samsung Electronics. "Samsung plans to continue providing timely delivery of advanced SSD solutions, while preserving its leadership position in the SSD market for notebook PCs."

According to Samsung, the drives will arrive in 256, 128 and 64 GB densities as main storage devices, and also at 32 GB for caching. Using a SATA 6 Gb/s interface, the drives will offer up to 500 MB/s sequential read speeds and up to 260 MB/s sequential write speeds. They'll also enable faster system boot-ups (in the 10-second range) and will transmit five DVD files "in about a minute."

"In addition, the Samsung mSATA SSDs feature an advanced hardware-based security solution including 256-bit Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) protection, which will prevent unauthorized access to data on a lost or stolen notebook PC," the company said.

Samsung may be planning to only sell the PM830 drives to OEM partners, so don't expect to see these in Best Buy.