Korean chaebol Samsung said it has started sampling a S-ATA interface minicard aimed at the netbook market.
According to Samsung, the move expands the use of SSDs from being a primary storage device to a complementary drive.
The min0PCI Express size has a 3Gb/s interface and is around 80 percent smaller than a 2.5-inch had drive. It can also be used in printers that support the format.
The form factor and pin layout is now in the process of being ratified and revised by JEDEC and a standard may be availablke as early as the third quarter.
The SSD drive will be built using 40 nanometer process technology and available in 16GB, 32GB and 64GB densities and will provide a read rate of 200MB/s and writes of 100MB/s.
The unit is 30 millimeters wide and 51 millimeters high, weighs around 8.5g and is 3.75 millimeters thick. It consumes 0.3 watts of power.
