14 DAY TRIAL // Netbooks have certainly become one of the most popular portable PC segments on the market, but these small-sized computer systems aren't built for speed, but rather for portability and Internet browsing. Fortunately, despite their small form factor, these systems are, essentially, smaller laptops, which means that they can be upgraded and configured to meet the user's preferences. On that note, Active Media Products has just announced that it has expanded its line of Mini PCIe solid state drives with the introduction of the new SaberTooth S4 series.
“We optimized the SaberTooth S4 for exceptional read performance,” Active Media Products Vice President of Sales Jerry Thomson explained. “But it also runs circles around the default SSD in write speeds, scoring about 2X faster than the default SSD in write tests.”
Designed to fit the Mini PCIe slot of any of ASUS' Eee PC 900, 900A, 901 and 1000 series of netbooks, the new solid state drives have been designed on a multi-level cell NAND flash memory technology and will be available in capacities of 16, 32 and 64GB, according to the company. Using the Jmicron JMF602B controller, these drives can improve the netbook's storage performance by providing users with speeds of up to 130MBs and 50MB/s for read and write, respectively.
With those read speeds, these SSDs should be an excellent choice for users looking to adopt Microsoft's Windows 7 operating system, which will consequently boost the overall responsiveness of the netbook. On the other hand, 64GB of space isn't a lot for a portable computer system, but should be enough if the said Eee PC model is used as a secondary laptop, which can be easily carried around.
On the bright side, these new SaberTooth S4 SSDs have already been made available via Amazon, with a promotional price tag of US$49.95, US$79.95 and US$135.99, for the 16GB, 32GB and 64GB models.
