WD unveils very first consumer-specific SSDs

by Stevie Smith - Mar 4 2010, 05:43

Looking to polish its consumer-friendly image while extending its reputation as a provider of quality data storage solutions, Western Digital (WD) has this week unveiled its very first line of solid-state drives (SSDs) specifically aimed at the general consumer.

According to Lake Forest-based WD, its new 2.5-inch SiliconEdge Blue SSDs are fast and rugged multi-level cell (MLC) drives that have been designed with conventional notebooks and desktop PCs in mind.

In terms of performance, the drives feature a native SATA 3.0 gigabits per second interface capable of pushing read speeds of up to 250 megabytes per second and write transfer speeds up to 170 megabytes per second; while, from a storage perspective, adopters can expect data capacities up to 256GB.

“Customers who demand the ultimate in performance will find the WD SiliconEdge Blue SSDs exceed all their requirements,” trumpeted Michael Hajeck, senior vice president and general manager of WD’s solid state storage business unit in an official statement.

Prices start at $279 USD for the 64GB model, ranging up to $529 USD for 128GBs and topping out at $999 USD for the upper-tier 256GB edition. All SiliconEdge Blue SSDs come with a three-year limited warranty and are available through select distributors and resellers.

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