T420/520 - 4GB Solid State Flash Drive - where is it ?

[zzz]

The 420 & 520 Tech specs and some reviews mention the option of a 4GB SSD Flash Drive. I presume for putting the OS on it. To have a hybrid storage solution. I don't see this as an offering. Anyone know what happened to this feature?

I know Seagate has a hybrid SSD+mechanical drive that is 4GB SSD + xGig of mechanical storage - Momentus XT and I believe a new version with 8GB SSD is coming out soon. Perhaps the Lenovo Solid State Flash Drive is just this Seagate Momentus XT hybrid. Anyone know?

The concept certainly sounds interesting.

[ctkelly]

Maybe its just a vicious rumor....it was also rumored that the new macbook pro would be equipped in a similar fashion but that never happened.

[davidhbrown]

For me, I'm really hoping that by "Intel 80GB Micro Solid State Drive, Serial ATA", they mean the one like this that will leave room in the chassis for a regular hard drive for data. There was a message over at the Lenovo forum that suggested being able to boot from these slots might finally be coming.

[jdrou]

For me, I'm really hoping that by "Intel 80GB Micro Solid State Drive, Serial ATA", they mean the one like this that will leave room in the chassis for a regular hard drive for data. There was a message over at the Lenovo forum that suggested being able to boot from these slots might finally be coming.

Pretty sure that's exactly what it is. Dell had the same thing in its Precision line last year. I assume the online ordering system is just not yet set up for all the options. Note there is also no discrete/hybrid graphics option available.

[crashnburn]

For me, I'm really hoping that by "Intel 80GB Micro Solid State Drive, Serial ATA", they mean the one like this that will leave room in the chassis for a regular hard drive for data. There was a message over at the Lenovo forum that suggested being able to boot from these slots might finally be coming.

Pretty sure that's exactly what it is. Dell had the same thing in its Precision line last year. I assume the online ordering system is just not yet set up for all the options. Note there is also no discrete/hybrid graphics option available.

So did Dell actually introduce something like this or was it just air?

Also, when are the 8GB + SSD Hybrids expected from Seagate?

[davidhbrown]

So did Dell actually introduce something like this or was it just air?

Dell does advertise "Innovative optional SSD MiniCard for additional high-performance data storage" on their Precision Mobile Workstation M4500 but I can't tell whether you can boot from it. The phrase "additional storage" sounds like you can't, but their chat lines aren't open for another few minutes...

Edit: a rep says they *can* boot to windows from the SSD MiniCard. Still, they aren't listing any Sandy Bridge CPUs on the Precision Mobiles yet, so I'm not ready to defect

[jdrou]

Still, they aren't listing any Sandy Bridge CPUs on the Precision Mobiles yet, so I'm not ready to defect

I suspect M4600/M6600 will be available in the next couple of weeks. The new Latitudes are already up for ordering.

[davidhbrown]

The new Latitudes are already up for ordering.

Yeah, I asked a Dell chat rep about mini-SSDs in the Latitude E6520 on Wednesday, but haven't heard back yet. First she thought I meant the SD card reader, then she thought I meant their "ON FLASH" thing (had to google it: a minimal linux-based quick-boot OS for checking your webmail or listening to music -- totally separate from your main system; can't even write to the C drive).

[crashnburn]

The new Latitudes are already up for ordering.

Yeah, I asked a Dell chat rep about mini-SSDs in the Latitude E6520 on Wednesday, but haven't heard back yet. First she thought I meant the SD card reader, then she thought I meant their "ON FLASH" thing (had to google it: a minimal linux-based quick-boot OS for checking your webmail or listening to music -- totally separate from your main system; can't even write to the C drive).

Can you link to the Dell thing you mentioned here?
I'd like something like that on my Thinkpads.
Any thoughts and what would be a good quick & easy way of going that path?

[davidhbrown]

Can you link to the Dell thing you mentioned here?
I'd like something like that on my Thinkpads.
Any thoughts and what would be a good quick & easy way of going that path?

Here's an article describing the tech that I found this morning for you. Apparently their first version was a separate computer-on-a-chip OMAP-based solution (link to an earlier article near the top of the article).

If I wanted something like "ON FLASH" -- and these days, a smartphone might be a better solution -- I'd probably look at putting a linux live distro on a USB flash drive. Perhaps http://www.pendrivelinux.com/. Haven't tried it myself. But there's gotta be a thread for that somewhere else on this board

[TechDeals]

You have to give Lenovo some time. Every feature & option is not rolled out at once for a new model, you guys should know that by now

I do recall them mentioning that a PCIe based SSD option would be offered, but again this is something that will take a while to hit the web. Heck, they don't even have discrete graphics up yet!

[davidhbrown]

You have to give Lenovo some time. Every feature & option is not rolled out at once for a new model, you guys should know that by now

True enough... but my current impatience is related to a once-a-year video editing project, and exporting Flash movies from Premiere Pro CS5 runs at about 8x real-time on my T61 The MP4/m4v versions are about the same. Was hoping to have upgraded to Sandy Bridge by now. Hopefully before I finish the project...