Digital Trends

Larger Image | More Images

The latest drive in Samsung's arsenal should boost storage capacity while cutting price.

With OCZ Technology creating a stir by rolling out affordable 128GB solid-state drives earlier this month, Samsung finally sprang into action and got its own 128GB line into production on Wednesday. The company promises the multi-level-cell (MLC) technology in the new drives will cut price even lower than previous offerings.

Unlike OCZ’s drives, which will only be available in a 2.5-inch form factor, Samsung will offer both 1.8- and 2.5-inch drives with the same 128GB capacity. Performance will take a slight dive due to the cost-cutting MLC technology, but still remain snappier than a conventional drive with 70MB/s write speeds and 90MB/s read speeds. Power consumption will also be superior, with the drives consuming a maximum of 0.5 watts when active, and only 0.2 when idling.

Although the company has promised that its 128GB line will be more affordable, it hasn’t yet mentioned specific numbers, meaning we’ll still have to wait to see if it can compete with OCZ at the sub-$500 price level.

Samsung hopes to hang onto its position as the largest SSD producer in the world with a quickly expanding product line, the most recent addition to which was an enormous 256GB SSD that will launch in September.