Intel SSD make way for MacBook Air with more storage

New sizes go up to 160GB

20 August 2008 10:58 GMT / By Stuart Miles

Intel has announced it will be producing a new range of Solid State Drives as it moves to offer more than just processors.

The news could mean that we are likely to see laptops like the MacBook Air get even more storage capabilities in the very near future.

Announced at the Intel Developers Forum, the new drives will, rather than concentrate on the small sizes currently available on the market, go "Big" offering, intel says, up to 160GB of storage without any moving parts.

Intel says the new High Performance SATA Solid State Drives will be available in either a 1.8-inch or 2.5-inch standard hard drive form factor.

Promising to save up to 30 minutes in battery life the chip maker says the new speed and efficiency of the drives will "deliver compelling performance to enhance your overall computing experience".

No word as yet as to when we are likely to see the drives in a commercially available machine, but with an Apple laptop announcement rumoured to be happening in September, some are already suggesting that like the specially designed intel chip in the first MacBook Air, these drives could find there way into a second generation version soon.

Intel says the new drives will go into production in the next 30-90 days.