| Perhaps the biggest contribution of netbooks in the | | | | HDD would have a drive motor to spin the magnetic |
| mini laptop market is how it made the Solid State | | | | platters and the drive heads, storage on an SSD is |
| Drive (SSD) popular. Prior to that, the Hard Disk Drive | | | | handled by flash memory chips. Because of this, solid |
| (HDD) lorded over computer storage. But what is | | | | state drives use less power, can boot data faster |
| SSD netbook? | | | | (up to 20%) and are generally more reliable than |
| The term "solid state" is actually an electrical term | | | | traditional hard drives. |
| that refers to electronic circuitry that is built entirely | | | | The first netbooks to be sold in the market use solid |
| from semiconductors. The term originally | | | | state drives because they draw less power. |
| encompassed electronics like a transistor radio, which | | | | Netbooks thus have longer battery life. Netbooks |
| use semiconductors instead of vacuum tubes. When | | | | that use flash drives also tend to be shock-proof. |
| you talk about SSD, it only means that the storage | | | | Hard drive platters are very fragile and sensitive, |
| medium is built entirely on semiconductors rather than | | | | even small jarring movements from an impact can |
| a magnetic media like the hard drive. | | | | cause the drive to be completely unreadable. Since a |
| Flask disks Versus SSD | | | | solid state drive stores all its data in memory chips, |
| A flash disk, which can be plugged into a computer's | | | | there are fewer moving parts to be damaged in any |
| USB port, is similar to SSD in that both use | | | | sort of impact. |
| non-volatile memory chips that allow them retain | | | | Disadvantages Of SSD |
| stored information even when they have no power. | | | | Probably the only disadvantage of netbooks that use |
| They differ in form and storage capacity. A flash disk | | | | SSD is that they have low storage capacity. While |
| is meant to be an external device that should be | | | | hard drives can store up to 200 GB of data, most |
| plugged to a USB port. On the other hand, an SSD | | | | SSD netbooks can only hold up to 64GB of data. |
| resides inside a computer's chassis in lieu of the | | | | Apart from the low storage capacity, SSD-driven |
| traditional hard drive or HDD. | | | | netbooks are also more expensive than netbooks |
| On the surface, an SSD looks no different than a | | | | that use HDD. But all this is expected to change as |
| traditional hard drive because it comes in different | | | | the number of companies producing the solid state |
| standard sizes (1.8", 2.5" or 3.5") and also uses either | | | | drives and the capacity for producing the flash |
| an ATA or SATA drive interfaces so it can be used | | | | memory chips grows. Solid state drives cost less than |
| in a computer. | | | | half in 2007 than in 2006. |
| Why Use an SSD? | | | | Some netbook manufacturers like MSI are trying to |
| An SSD definitely has several advantages over a | | | | get the best of both SSD and HDD by manufacturing |
| traditional hard drive, and it has a lot to do with the | | | | mini laptops that have so-called hybrid storage |
| fact that an SSD has no movable parts. While an | | | | capacities. |