Intel also promises a cheaper SSD

40GB value drive to rival OCZ's.

Intel has launched its own cheap-as-chips solid state drive (SSD) with its unveiling of the X25-V.

The X25-V Value is a 40GB SATA SSD priced at $US125, and it comes hot on the heels of rival vendor OCZ's announcement.

Pete Hazen, Intel's director of marketing for its NAND solutions group, reckons that SSDs are now starting to see significant levels of interest by general consumers and therefore demand for affordable entry level products is increasing.

According to Intel, the drive is aimed at value segment netbooks and dual-drive boot drive desktop set-ups.

The 2.5-inch X25-V is built using 34nm NAND flash memory and can handle sustained read and write data transfer speeds of 170MBps and 35MBps respectively. It also supports the Trim function via the Intel SSD Optimiser.

While you do get an extra 25 per cent more space than the OCZ counterpart and it is 25 per cent more expensive, Intel's $US125 price tag only applies when the drives are bought in 1,000 unit quantities, so it remains to be seen if the consumer price for capacity equation will become more attractive.