Intel SSD 310 enables dual-booting notebooks

Intel on Wednesday rolled out a new solid-state drive that could make for widespread dual-drive notebooks. The SSD 310 is as fast as some of the chip designer's full-size X25 drives but an eighth the size. They can reach up to 200MB per second in sequential writes and 70MB per second in similar writes, improving the responsiveness by as much as 60 percent compared to a 5,400RPM conventional drive.

At 0.2 inches deep and 0.35 ounces, the micro SATA drive is small and light enough that it can be used as a boot drive to speed up the OS itself but still leave room for a second drive that provides the bulk of the storage. Intel specifically singles out all-in-one and mini desktops as well as notebooks, all of which could both start the OS and apps faster but still have as much space as they need for everything else.

Shipments have already started for the drives, which in bulk quantities will cost $99 for a 40GB drive and $179 for an 80GB edition. Lenovo is one of the first companies to identify itself as using the SSD 310 and will have it across the ThinkPad line as well as the upcoming IdeaPad Y560.

The news comes just as rumors have surfaced that Apple might make broader use of SSDs in its notebooks. It already uses SSDs exclusively in the new MacBook Air and has options for SSDs in MacBook Pro and Mac Pro systems, but dual drives in non-tower Macs has so far been limited to the most recent variety of 27-inch iMac, where the large size allows for a regular-sized SSD card. CNET's frequent contact for inside Apple information, Rob Redmond recently told the site's Buzz Out Loud podcast that the only real tips he had heard so far for 2011 pointed to MacBook Pro systems with both SSDs and regular hard drives inside at the same time.

Other as yet unverified rumors Electronista has heard also support the claim. Apple made clear at its special event this October that the MacBook Air represented the "next generation of MacBooks" and thus a sign of where its other portables would go in the future.

By Electronista Staff