Don't you hate it when you know a product exists, and you have the desire and the capacity to purchase it, but you simply cannot find one available for sale to mere mortals?
I'm currently feeling this way about a good solid-state disk (SSD) replacement for my notebook computer. I purchased a new notebook earlier this year with the primary goal of ultra-portability. I knew I would be sacrificing some performance, but I really wanted something light that wouldn't give me a sore back when traveling with it.
My new notebook is small and lightweight and easy to travel with, but it just doesn't feel snappy enough – and not even close to my old 8-pound clunker. The old clunker had benefited from an upgrade to one of fastest 2.5" drives around at the time (the Hitachi Travelstar E7K60, 7200rpm with an 8MB cache), and that made it feel just like a desktop. I spoiled myself, and now I can't bear this new system's slow disk!
To address that, I'm interested in upgrading the internal 1.8" hard drive to one of the new Samsung 64GB solid-state disks. They have been talked about for at least six months, and reviews by those who have tried one say they are very fast compared to traditional drives, and go easier on the battery too.
My notebook is good for CPU (dual core, and it hardly ever spikes to 100%), and it is also good for RAM (1.5GB), so the disk has got to be the major bottleneck. The disk seems to spin a lot, even with Vista's ReadyBoost enabled on 2GB of fast flash memory. So, I would like a faster replacement 1.8" drive, and the SSD seems to fit the need.
Samsung's 64GB SSD is purportedly "available" now. However, "available" seems to mean "available if you are a major computer manufacturer and wish to buy them by the hundreds or thousands to build into new systems." I just can't find them available online for sale like most other parts. A Google search for "Samsung 64gb ssd" gave me a lot of hits, but they just talk about the product:
- "Samsung unveils"...
- "Samsung has announced"...
- "Samsung is offering"...
- "Samsung now shipping"...
- "Samsung mass-producing"...
Usually when I can't find something obviously for sale at either large or small online retailers, I hop on to eBay and find somebody who discovered the lack of and is satisfying the need for a market, but I couldn't get a single hit on eBay for "Samsung 64gb". I think somebody could make a bundle selling these to individuals, at least in the short-term until they are more generally available.
As time passes, I do believe they'll become more generally available, but this just frustrates me all the same (I want one now!) and I thought I'd share my frustration with you. Of course, if you do know where I can buy one, please let me know! :-)
Update! A Response from Samsung:
Here's the response I recently got from Samsung after inquiring where I can get one.
Hello Chris W. Rea ,
Thank you for your inquiry to Samsung Semiconductor.
Samsung Semiconductor does not sell our product directly to end customers in World Wide.
We sell our product including SSD via Branch Offices which is located World Wide.
Please contact our local Branch Office for locating the samples and discuss in detail regarding OEM possibilities.
Deep apology for inconvenience.
I'll try Samsung Canada next.
Another Response From Samsung on 22-Oct-2007:
So, it appears there is no way right now for me to get one until one of Samsung's customers makes them more readily available:
Hi Chris,
Thanks for the follow up, after our discussion, Dell is considering the upgrade option for their existing customers though I don't have confirmation yet.
This market is just starting up...although Samsung is purely B-B, we are encouraging all of our customers who manufacture SSDs to be more proactive in their promotions and distribution locations.
If not Dell, SSDs will be coming your way soon. ;-)
If I ever do manage to get one, I'll post a final update.
8 comments:
Why not contact samsung.ca directly to voice your interest? They should be able to refer you to a resale partner if they have the product.
That's a /great/ idea. (That remark is kind of tongue-in-cheek :-)
For what it's worth, I just used Samsung Semiconductor's "Contact us" feature to ask where I can buy one. I'm not holding my breath, but I'd love to be pleasantly surprised.
I place the odds at:
90%: I get no response.
9%: I get a response telling me the product isn't available for individual purchase, or isn't available to my area.
1%: I get lucky.
We'll see! I'll follow up if I hear something.
I got a quick response from Samsung Semiconductor. They are directing me to a branch office. I'll try samsung.ca now.
Any news on the topic yet? I'm in the iwoot phase as well, but can only locate transcend in online stores.
(I had to look up 'iwoot', = I Want One Of Those. ;-)
No, I haven't heard anything more yet. I'll ping the guy at Samsung who emailed me back promising more info.
I got a response from my ping. It's been appended as an update to the original post.
Hey Chris,
Did you ever get the SSD? I can't seem to find them either.
Ebay has a few and there's some websites like dvnation and rocketfish that sell them.
I have a similar need (ultra portable laptop with slow drive)
Kam
kam.nagra@rogers.com
p.s. I did a google search for Samsung ssd toronto and your blog was the first hit!
No - I did not get one yet. Dell did start to carry the 32GB 1.8" drive for purchase, instead of having to buy it with the laptop. See
http://search.dell.com/results.aspx?s=gen&c=ca&l=en&cs=&k=SSD+D420&cat=all&x=0&y=0
... but that CAN$999 price is nuts.
I too saw the 64GB 1.8" model on ebay, where the prices are more reasonable (~US$650), but I haven't pulled the trigger yet since I started using a beefier laptop for general purpose work. I was able to put a 2.5" SATA-2 320GB 7200RPM 16MB cache Seagate Momentus drive into that one... and it feels as fast as a desktop.
I'll use the smaller laptop still when I *travel*, but since it will be used far less often than originally planned, I'll perhaps just put up with the slowness.
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