Intel Releases Third Generation mSATA SSD

In February, Intel released the first in the line of mSATA SSDs.

Today, Intel released the third generation in this line of SSDs. Unfortunately, according to AnandTech, these SSDs have been released six months later than expected, and therefore still utilize the SATA II interface. Performance is also not quite up to par with the 510 Series, with maximum read speeds of 270MB/sec and maximum write speeds of 220MB/sec.

The big news is the use of 25nm memory that Intel says allows a 30 percent price reduction compared to the second generation X25-M SSDs.

“Intel designed new quality and reliability features into our SSDs to take advantage of the latest 25nm silicon, so we could deliver cost advantages to our customers,” said Pete Hazen, director of marketing for the Intel Non-Volatile Memory (NVM) Solutions Group. “Intel’s third generation of SSDs adds enhanced data security features, power-loss management and innovative data redundancy features to once again advance SSD technology. Whether it’s a consumer or corporate IT looking to upgrade from a hard disk drive, or an enterprise seeking to deploy SSDs in their data centers, the new Intel SSD 320 Series will continue to build on our reputation of high quality and dependability over the life of the SSD.”

The Intel 320 Series SSDs will be available in 40GB ($89), 80GB ($159) , 120GB ($209), 160GB ($289), 300GB ($529), and 600GB ($1069) capacities,come with a limited three-year warranty, and the Intel SSD Optimizer utility, which provides Windows users with a set of tools for managing and diagnosing drives.