Big Price Cuts in Store for Intel Brand SSDs, Are They Enough?
As the dog days of summer come into view, Intel is apparently getting ready to chill out with its high solid state drive (SSD) pricing and roll out "significant price reductions" on its consumer SSDs, it's being reported. Intel's 320 Series will bear the brunt of the price cuts, though even after the reductions in end-user cost, some may find them too expensive when other SSD makers have started dropping down to around $1 per gigabyte. Come August, here's how things are reportedly getting ready to shake out:
- Intel 320 Series 600GB: $879
- Intel 320 Series 300GB: $464
- Intel 520 Series 480GB: $594
- Intel 520 Series 240GB: $259
- Intel 520 Series 180GB: $199
- Intel 520 Series 60GB: $99
Intel is also said to be dropping the price of its recently introduced 330 family of drives, which will run $69 for 60GB, $104 for 120GB, and $154 for 180GB. The 330 Series certainly looks to be the best value of the bunch, dipping well below the $1 per gigabyte mark for higher capacity drives. On the performance side, these drives are rated at up to 500MB/s sequential read and up to 450MB/s sequential write transfers.
We're not sure what Intel is thinking with its 320 Series, however, which offer the highest capacity of the bunch at 600GB, yet all capacities are saddled by a SATA 3Gbps interface. The 320 Series is going to be a tough sell when both the 520 and 330 families offer superior performance and lower price tags.
