Samsung Breakthrough to Revolutionize Laptop PCs

Samsung Electronics, the world`s second-largest maker of computer memory chips, said yesterday that it has developed a storage device for mobile PCs that will revolutionize notebook computers.

The firm made the announcement at the 2008 Samsung Mobile Solutions Forum in Taiwan.

Samsung’s newly developed solid state drive (SSD) is an advanced NAND flash-based replacement for traditional hard disks that offers the advantages of high reliability, less weight and outstanding performance.

At the forum, Kwon Oh-hyun, head of Samsung’s semiconductor division, said the company’s idea of next generation mobile communication is "live connection" based on "content convergence."

"If existing hard-drive notebook computers are considered first generation, the next generation of laptops has been ushered in with the development of Samsung’s SSD,” he said. “This is like the evolution of listening to music from a CD player to an MP3.”

The performance of the SSD exceeds that of a similar-sized hard drive by more than three times. For example, the SSD is the size of 2.5-inch hard drive and has 256GB of storage capacity, but can read data at a rate of 200MB per second and achieves writing speeds of 160MB per second.

Moreover, the SSD’s speed lets PC users cut boot-up time to a third. Its thickness is just 9.5 millimeters.

Market researcher iSuppli said the new drive will replace the hard disk as the storage device of the future, with 18 percent of all notebook PCs to have the SSD by 2010 and 35 percent by 2012. The SSD market is projected to grow an average of 124 percent a year by 2012.

Samsung developed a 128GB SSD in January this year, following its 64GB model in March last year.

The company will make SSDs with 128GB from July and those with 256GB from year’s end to supply major laptop manufacturers.

In addition, Samsung said it developed a new single-chip radio frequency identification (RFID) reader for mobile devices. The chip enables viewing of mobile TV programs, including those from Korea, Japan and Europe.

“The chip receives TV waves and converts them into digital signals,” a company source said. “In theory, you can watch any TV program you want in the world on your mobile TV. If you carry such a device, you can see TV even on a bullet train going as fast as 280 kilometers an hour.”

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