Western Digital intros consumer SSD drives

Western Digital finally introduced its first solid-state drive aimed at the consumer market, publicly stating that its SiliconEdge Blue SSDs will offer higher storage capacities and faster read/write speeds than SSDs currently available to the consumer market.

The new WD consumer SSDs range in storage capacities from 64GB up to 256GB, and each product is available to consumers immediately. The 64GB and 128GB SSD models support up to 240MB/s read and 140MB/s write speeds, while the 256GB SATA 2 model has up to 250MB/s read and 170MB/s write speeds.

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As expected from SSDs -- even in the consumer market -- WD said it has ensured its SiliconEdge Blue product lineup will withstand abuse in part due to the company's wear-leveling.

The 64GB is available for $279, with the 128GB MSRP available for $529, and the 256GB is $999.

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"The WD SiliconDrive N1x SSDs are the newest addition to our SiliconDrive product family, which has shipped several million units since the first products were introduced," said Michael Hajeck, WD SSD business unit GM, in a statement.

WD is well known for its Velociraptor 10,000 rpm HDD storage products, but they doen't want to be left behind in the growing SSD market. The company launched its first batch of SSDs last June, after the release of its SiliconDrive III SSD, but this is their first foray into consumer SSDs.

As WD, Seagate, Maxtor, Corsair, Plextor, SanDisk, and other companies continue to solidify their product lineups, consumers may finally be able to expect lower prices. Several recent announcements had more expensive products, but companies are expected to begin announcing lower-cost SSDs in the future.

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