OCZ Everest Finds Its Way Into Ultrabooks – CES 2012 Update

OCZ has announced that Everest based SSDs will find their way into LG’s new Z330 Ultrabook.

To refesh your memory, OCZ’s Everest controller, which is utilized in their Octane SSD, has read/write speeds of 535/270MB/s respectively for the 256GB variant, which is the same capacity being used in LG’s products.

The Everest controller has been shown to hold it’s own against Sandforce’s solution, though it is a little behind when it comes to writes.

One peculiar aspect is that OCZ recently had their Sandforce based Deveva 2 line certified for use in Intel’s new platform, albeit at lower capacities than the Everest based drive. It will be interesting to see how this type of controller segmentation for different parts of the market plays out in the long run given the newly acquired status of both Indilinx and Sandforce.

Fortuitously, OCZ’s SSD will be standard equipment in the new laptops, and if LG follows in the same vein as other manufacturers, buyers will see only a minimal price increase or maybe none at all.

Given the increased uptake of SSDs in new computers and in the marketplace in general, I wouldn’t be surprised if drive prices began falling even more. This alone is enough reason to hope that ultrabooks succeed, as it looks like the vast majority of the products released will be using an SSD in lieu of mechanical storage.

Being that they will be using much higher performance hardware than their netbook forebearers the situation looks relatively bright for this burgeoning market, though they will have to stand up against tablet PCs, which have seen an unexpected surge in popularity over the last year and a half.

Let’s hope that adding more capable hardware with only a nominal price increase will help bolster the Ultrabook market’s momentum to a point where consumers will choose an arguably more practical notebook over a tablet. The best scenario, though, would to be one in which both markets coexist and compete in terms of pricing. Given the widespread use of flash memory in tablets, this could create a snowball effect in the SSD market, pushing prices down even further.

Whatever happens, it’s going to be an interesting time for those looking to invest in an ultraportable. With any luck, lessons learned from the netbook era will make market success that much more likely.

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