Some netbook makers use cheap flash for their “SSD” editions, turning them into pure marketing machines with lower read-write speeds than larger hard drive equivalents. This is not the case with Sony’s Vaio P, whose solid-state drives leave spinning disks in the dust.
You might want to hold off on that $300 upgrade, however, as some users report little difference in perceived performance in the real world.
Far more pressing, users report, is the lack of working drivers for the Intel GMA500 video chipset in the P: an almost incomprehensible failure resting somewhere between Intel and Sony. [Pocketables]
Fast SSDs are available for those other netbooks you’re mocking, and for far less than $300. Go to eBay and do a quick search…
Yes, it’s worth it. I got one for my Eee PC and it’s like having a whole new machine.
Re: GMA500
Looking forward to that Fedora Linux on Vaio P article.
I totally forgot about that! ON IT.
I thought “flash drive” and “solid state drive” were different terms for the same thing.
The post makes it sound like they are similar but not the same.
So, are the similar but different or are they the same thing?
But does it run OS X?
Imagine a Beowulf cluster of these!
Oh, wait… not /.
There is not much likelihood of worthwhile OSX on the vaio P, not least because of that video chipset.
#4:
Pretty much, it’s the same underlying technology but the solid state drives you see demanding eyewatering prices have been heavily optimised for use as a system drive, they’re faster, they’re built to last longer, wear levelling, caching, power saving etc.
I’m having trouble thinking of an analogy, but basically the flash drive came out and that was designed for cost and most people are ok with them as long as they don’t break too much and are reasonably fast if they’re cheap whereas SSDS are built to a higher standard and cost more because of that. You’re right to smell some marketing-speak though.
Standard flash is to “SSD” as a Ford Taurus is to a modern Jaguar. The latter is obviously faster and better, but yet unnervingly similar.
Rob: Drat. How about the “Vaino” then?