Samsung PM830 and optical multi-touch arrive

Samsung's more technical side started mass production on two key breakthroughs on Wednesday. Its micro SATA SSD line has received a major leap through a variant on the PM830 family. Although small enough to fit in the MacBook Air and Windows-based ultrabooks, it can hit fast read speeds of 500MB per second and writes of 260MB per second.

The speed is quick enough that it could boot a system in about 10 seconds and copy the equivalent of five DVDs in a minute. Assuming a typical rotating hard drive hits 80MB per second, it should be about six times faster in ideal conditions.

Every drive is based on a 20 nanometer memory process and supports 256-bit AES security. Regular versions will come in 64GB, 128GB, and 256GB capacities, but a special 32GB version will also be ready for systems where the SSD serves as a cache for a conventional disk. Customers haven't been named, although Samsung counts Apple as a customer and may supply itself or a company like Acer or ASUS.

The display group, meanwhile, has started mass-producing its 40-inch optical sensor in pixel LCDs. Each screen has its own infrared multi-touch sensor built into the panel and can detect much more accurately than having a separate layer or at the edge. It can recognize up to 50 points of contact and can detect the shape of the source, not just that it exists.

Samsung's screen is so far only lined up for the Surface SUR40, Microsoft's multi-touch display for stores and other commercial setups. It ships in January and has had its price bumped to about $8,400.

By Electronista Staff