14 DAY TRIAL // Emerging from a period of relative silence, storage and PC memory maker Team Group is once again trying to hitch a ride on the train known as the ultrabook market, however slow it may happen to be.
The company has revealed the Team Ultra L1 SSD, measuring 7 mm in thickness and, thus, suitable for notebooks in general and ultrabooks in particular.
The new storage unit is fairly common, all things considered. At least as far as high-end SSDs can be common.
The problem with such drives is that they are very expensive, and there aren't many ways to reduce their prices.
And since sacrifices to performance don't really cut the price by much, companies like Team Group just do the best they can and settle for the high-end market, where customers have the money to spare.
The thickness of the Team Ultra L1 SSD is just one important asset. The others are the read speed of 550 MB/s and writing speed of 520 MB/s.
The transfer rates vary according to capacity though, which are 60 GB, 120 GB, 240 GB and 480 GB.
All SSDs read at 550 MB/s, except for the 480 GB one that is limited to 540 MB/s.
The writing speed is the inconsistent one though. In the same order as above, it touches 480 MB/s, 500 MB/s, 520 MB/s and 450 MB/s.
There are other relevant features, like support for S.M.A.R.T. (self-monitoring and reporting technology), Dura Write, RAISE (Redundant Array of Independent Silicon Elements) and Windows 7 TRIM support.
Finally, the random write-in speed for small files of 4K reaches up to 80,000 IOPS. Not the fastest speed, but stable.
Team Group did not say what price the new SSDs have, or when they will start selling. Those interested will have to check in with their local retailers or look them up online.