One of major design issues in laptops is the harddisk reliability. Since people can run around with laptops while the machine is on, it is very important to build some disk crash protection in laptops. Laptops typically handle this situation by switching off harddisk when it detects any movement.

Solid state drives are here (which don’t have any moving parts) which eliminates this problem! Today I came across an Alienware laptop advertisement which features a 64GB solid state drive! The good thing is that it consumes 50% less power and is supposed to be faster than an ordinary harddrive!!

Yeah, this thing comes with a price. The Alienware configuration section gives an additional $1100 for a 64GB solid state drive ($500 for 32GB). I think the best option will be to use 32GB solid state drive with a portable harddisk for your long term storage needs.

The main advantages of solid state drives are,

1. No moving parts and hence highly reliable.
2. Faster booting time (2x faster than fast harddisks)
3. Power efficient and increases battery life.
4. Quiet operation.

I think we can soon see other brands (dell, thoshiba etc.) coming up with solid state harddisks. Well, I won’t be buying this until the extra price comes below $100.