Samsung is beginning production of a special 4GB solid-state disk (SSD) it says will dramatically speed up notebooks and PCs when using Microsoft Windows Vista. Using a Vista feature called Windows ReadyBoost, Samsung says this little flash disk will eliminate hundreds of exasperating multi-second delays when working with the operating system. According to Samsung:

"The Windows ReadyBoost feature of the Windows Vista operating system will intelligently populate the SSD with the data a user needs before they ask for it. It readies a user's favorite applications and data in the background, accelerating everyday actions such as starting applications and switching users. When a user requests that data, rather than being limited to servicing 100-200 requests per second (as with a traditional HDD), Samsung's SSD can service up to 5000 request per second, virtually eliminating data seek delays. The 4GB SSD can work in tandem with a hybrid hard drive, coming into play as a secondary source of cached data."

Samsung says this little performance booster can be hooked up via the ATA port, and located pretty much anywhere on a motherboard. We're hoping this device will also make Windows Vista start up faster. Will we see this on Macs, too? – Charlie White

Press Release [Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.]

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