SSD DEALS : BEST SSD PRICES 2012

NAND flash Solid-State drives are delivering astounding performance in 2012. With current 6GBps SATA III SSD's clearly outpacing ANY spinning platter drive, they're the single best computer performance upgrade you can buy. 128GB is the sweet spot in SSD prices and delivers unprecedented Read-Write Speeds and decent capacity at just over $1 per GB. Larger 240GB and now up to 600GB drives are still beyond wallet's reach for most, but have had significant price drops recently.

Solid State Drive Deals

Offering Peak Performance and backward compatibility - Forward Thinking SATA III interface 6GBps SSD's are where your money's best spent. Even if your current computer only has a SATA II or I drive controller, you'll be glad you bought a SATA III interface drive to future-proof your disk upgrade investment. These new SSD's offer cutting edge performance at the lowest price per Gigabyte ever:
           

120GB OCZ Vertex 4 Indilinx Controller	Intel SSD Value *NEW* 330 Series	SATA III SSD 6GBps Interface
OCZ's Fastest SSD Ever Reads & Writes ~ 500MBps	Intel 60 to 180GB High Performance SATA III	Fantastic Price-Performance 128GB SSD @ $128

Of note: Amazon's SSD Drive Selection keeps growing and prices are getting ALOT more competitive - especially their 3rd-party sellers often undercutting NewEgg's prices. Recently the Intel X25M-G2 120 GB SSD has dipped below $220 - coming in close to $2/GB for a reliable overall performer.

NewEgg.com has a large range of SSD Drives -- Once the Go-To place for SSD hunting Geeks, they're not always as cut-throat competitive as they used to be as demand for flash memory and its commodity pricing levels the playing field. You really have to watch thier newsletters, SSD rebates and promos closely to snag deep discount and rebate deals. The SSDs on rebate at NewEgg typically are for OCZ, Corsair and others - but expect 2+ month waits on rebate SSD checks at the soonest.

Now Shipping: Intel 510 G3 SSD

SATA III - Marvell Controller

NEW 120GB SSD Price Low

OCZ Technology revamped their drive lineup with the new '4' series: OCZ is also changing the size of thier drive capacities with the new line: in 120GB, 250GB and 400GB sizes to replace their previous 60/120/250GB models. It seems they're allocating more 'spare' flash memory space for reliability and performance reasons. There's notably improved performance in the value-priced Vertex and Agility Series by utilizing newer generation Indilinx and SandForce controller chipsets.

SSD Price Bargains

TigerDirect.com has recently expanded their inventory of SSDs - and like NewEgg.com are rather fond of SSD rebate promos if you're willing to play the game by the rebates rules. See what SSD deals they've currently got by searching here:

Search at TigerDirect.com:

Top-Performing SSD Disk Deals

> Single-Layer SLC drives once provides the best Read-Write speeds and longevity - at a premium price. In the Multi-Layer MLC arena, Intel's custom chipset, Indilix 'Barefoot' chip and SandForce controllers lead the pack. If I were to buy a high-perfomance SSD today, it could be easily narrowed down to three choices: Intel 330 series for overall value, OCZ's Vertex 4 for top performance, or a Crucial M4. These SATA III drives deliver peak performance - even if you're using it on a slightly older computer with a SATA II or I controller.

BEST SSD PRICES & REBATES

A few pricing quirks recently: Amazon OCZ Price Check Snafu? For around $130 you could have any variants OCZ Vertex 3, Agility 3, or Onyx. But you wouldn't anything other than the Vertex 4 or Agility 3 with its superior read-write performance and Sandforce or Indilinx controller chips for the money. Amazon is generally very price competitive - but pricing can change from day to day depending on competition from it's own 3rd party sellers. Any way you slice it: comparison shop for SSD's carefully. There can be significant performance differences in drives with only a few dollars difference in the cost.

Best Tech Analysis Articles:

For those seeking ultimate disk performance, check out this nerdy yet informative in-depth analysis of SSD drive controllers and chipset design by Anand at www.anandtech.com. His extensive take on the current Solid-State storage market in his "Final Thoughts" section is a must-read for Top-SSD-Performance Geek Freaks. Keep in mind, Anandtech and other deep-geek sites fret over nanaosecond differences that the average consumer wouldn't even perceive - or care about.

Low-Cost Bargain SSD Deals

Several previous-generation drives were recently removed from this section. Some were JMicron chip SSDs which were just not optimal for smooth WRITE performance in particular. Revised JMicron controllers with far more onboard cache are now available in 2012 - and may be found in some low-end 'VALUE' series SSD drives. Unless you can find discontinued models at an absolute bargain-bin closeout price, focus on an Indilinx, Sandforce or Intel chipset flash drive for best overall performance.

2.5 Inch To 3.5 Inch Drive Adapter Case

For easy mounting a small 2.5 Serial-ATA solid-state laptop drive in desktop computers with a full size drive bay:
Convert your 2.5" SATA disk to standard 3.5" mounts w/an ICY DOCK SATA II ADAPTER CASE

Smart design: just plop a 2.5"drive in - tension springs hold it in place - and slide the cover shut. 4 standard drive-rail mount screws are all thats needed to complete the SSD installation in your computer.

Low-Cost SSD Drive Options on eBay

eBay lists an interesting selection of solid-state drives - tho beware of discontinued, previous generation, and used drives:

SSD Price Trends In 2012

Like hard drives, SSD's are rapidly becoming high-volume COMMODITY ITEMS. But unique to the solid-state market is the insane demand for flash-memory chips - not just for SSD's - but in digital cameras, iPods, MP3 players and ever more intelligent consumer electronic devices. Apple's demand for flash chips for the iPod, iPad and iPhone alone is staggering, and directly influenced rather STEADY flash prices in 2011. SSD drive prices . With much higher production and efficiencies of scale - solid-state drive manufacturers have finally allowed SSD cost per Gigabyte to drop signifincantly. Performance has made significant strides as well. The 2013 Consumer Electronics Show will gave a good indication of next-generation SATA III SSD disk products in the pipeline that will shape where storage is headed. External USB 3.0 SSD and ThunderBolt SSD Drive options will be delivering the fastest backup drives ever.