back to article Samsung wins Apple MacBook contract, starts spitting out PCIe SSDs

Ask not for whom the bell tolls, third-party PCIe flash card suppliers, it tolls for thee. It looks like Samsung, Intel/Micron and SanDisk/Toshiba will be the only ones left standing when this whole PCIe flash clash is over. In the wake of its massive win with a contract to furnish Apple's upgraded MacBook Air as well as the …

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  1. robert_raw

    Be interested to see how much that Mac book air will cost.

    1. karlp

      We already know, 100$ cheaper than the last one.

      Karl P

    2. Richard Tobin

      You can see right now at http://store.apple.com/uk/browse/home/shop_mac/family/macbook_air. What Samsung announced is the non-Apple-specific version of what Apple already has.

  2. karlp
    Go

    Exit Strategies

    I am sure that one or two of these companies could, by showing some initiative, take their experience working with accelerating certain workloads and turn it more into a consultancy gig where they help companies with general app acceleration and workload efficiency tuning.

    That said, most of the these flash-repackagers+secret sauce would do well to start shopping their engineering talent to the same companies they have been buying the underlying dies from.

    Flash is growing up awfully quick right now, hopefully most of these people can avoid being caught-out.

    Karl P

  3. Steve Knox
    Joke

    El Reg storage desk is fairly confident this means 1TB capacity products are coming...

    The product is called the XP941 and comes in three capacity points: 128GB, 256GB and 512GB.

    ...

    [The XP941] occupies a seventh of the space of a 2.5-inch SSD.

    1TB? Why not 3.5TB for those of us with 2.5-inch drive bays (and ~5 grand to spend on an SSD)?

    1. JDX Gold badge

      Re: El Reg storage desk is fairly confident this means 1TB capacity products are coming...

      Ah, the Sleeper Service approach to laptop design... fill every cubic inch with SSD.

  4. Wang N Staines

    Apple's divorce from Samsung is going well I see.

  5. Herby

    Galaxy??

    Maybe the two of them are teaming up to squash those silly WP8's that the Redmond vendor is hawking via Finland.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Galaxy??

      I doubt it, Microsoft is doing a great job at that itself. Why lend a hand when Microsoft is doing a better job than anyone else could have hoped.

  6. f2458879
    Holmes

    Why can't I buy this for my workstation?

    Please will someone explain why these PCI-e devices are available for ultrabooks (at a presumably fairly low/affordable price) but unavailable in standard workstation PCI-e sizes for anything approaching sensible money. Thanks.

    1. annodomini2

      Re: Why can't I buy this for my workstation?

      Volume and market demand, less demand for PCI-E cards, 2.5" SSD's work in laptops and desktops.

      PCI-E you're stuck with full height desktops

      mini-pcie work in laptops (with the right connectivity), ultrabooks and netbooks.

      Desktop is a declining market so there is less incentive to invest.

  7. Geoff Campbell Silver badge
    Go

    Say what you like about Apple...

    ...but they don't hold a grudge, do they?

    GJC

  8. emv

    SSD business consolidation

    I hear people talk about how SSD vendors must be NAND supplier to be successful

    In the HDD business, my understanding is that it USED to be that the media (disk), heads, controller, and PCB suppliers were part of HDD OEM... but now WD/HGST, Seagate buy those from suppliers or subcons. HDD OEMs are now assembly, test, and marketing houses. they also design the HDDs but purchase materials and subcontract components

    is this true?

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