Samsung's 256GB SSD offers capacity, speed

also 180MB/sec. The burst speed was 229.4MB/sec and the random access time was .1 milliseconds. Not surprisingly, the only other random access time I'd ever seen that low was on Intel's X25-M. The CPU utilization on the Samsung SSD was notably higher than Intel's X25-M at 11%, but low enough that it does not tax the system and slow other applications.

By comparison, the 10,000-rpm spindle speed Velociraptor had a 250.2MB/sec. burst speed and 105.6MB/sec. average read through HD Tach.

Boot up time was remarkable using the Samsung drive. The laptop was up and running in about 25 seconds. Samsung also claims the drive launches applications 10 times faster than the fastest 7,200-rpm laptop HDD. With the Fujitsu 7,200-rpm 160GB drive that comes standard with the Dell laptop I was using, boot up took exactly one minute. For the fun of it, I ran HD Tach tests on the native Fujitsu drive and found an average read speed of 51.3MB/sec, a burst speed of 148.5MB/sec, a random access time of 18.4 milliseconds and a CPU utilization of 4%.

Like all SSDs, this is an extremely light drive at only 2.8 ounces, or 81 grams. While Samsung hasn't yet released a price for this drive, the one I received came with loan agreement that valued it at a suggested retail price of US$500. Ultimately, Samsung's reseller partners will decide how much this drive adds to the price of their laptops. Alienware, a Samsung reseller, said an upgrade to the 256GB SSD on its M17 laptop would indeed be $500. (By way of comparison, upgrading to a 256SSD in Apple's 17-in. MacBook Pro costs $750).

Intel slapped a $595 retail price on its X25-M, but you can easily find it for under $400 on sites such as Pricegrabber.com . Still, Samsung has Intel beat by a mile on price, given the 256GB storage capacity.

You can also find 256GB SSDs from Super Talent Technology Corp. on sites such as Newegg.com for $489, but read/write rates are substantially lower on that drive.

Suffice it to say, no matter which model you choose, you'll be paying a hefty price tag for the speed and reliability of a high-capacity SSD. But when it comes to bang for the buck, if that $500 MSRP holds true, Samsung's newest model -- at $2 per gigabyte -- wins the fight of SSD titans handily.