Solid State Drives: Already becoming Obsolete?
My prediction of why SSDs won't hit the mainstream market in time.
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It's just a fact of life. Whenever newer techonlogies come out, we like to think of them as "the next big thing". However, since the trend for technological advances has been accelerating at an alarming rate, i'd like to point out that SSDs may soon become obsolete. The reason? The masses won't want to invest in PC's anymore. They will all be migrating to tablets and smartphones, which have no drives for storage. Those devices only have built-in internal flash memory (similar to SSDs I guess) except those devices can not be upgraded to a larger capacity SSD. And this is just one reason why the promotion of SSDs will fail to hit the mainstream. By studying tech trends, I have come up with reasons as to why this is.
-> Not enough stores are promoting SSDs: If brick and mortar chains such as Wal-Mart or Best Buy started to promote and advertise SSDs and the benefits they have over hard drives, SSDs might have increased sales. But there is one problem with that now, SSDs are still too expensive. And the majority of Wal-Mart shoppers probably don't even know how to open their PC without breaking something inside.
->More PCs need eSATA ports for the inexperienced: The majority of consumer PCs sold at Wal-Mart, Best Buy, and the like aren't equipped with eSATA ports. And who in their right mind would run an SSD on USB 2.0? You might as well run a hard drive if you're going that route. If SSD makers decided to start reaching out to the mainstream market, they'll need to design somewhat larger and rougher, external SSDs that won't break if dropped, as the majority of typical soccer moms won't be opening up and fiddling around with the insides of a PC. Connecting an SSD should be as easy as connecting an external hard drive. And seeing how eSATA is only 3.0Gbps, they would only focus their simplicity on SATA II SSDs. Casual tech users wouldn't need SATA III speeds. And one more thing, make ALL SSDs bootable, whether internal or external. After all, what good would an SSD be if you can't boot from it?
->The low capacities would turn-off consumers: The inexperienced casual crowd wouldn't be able to tell much of a difference between a hard drive and solid-state drive, besides that an SSD is clearly smaller. Most people do know about drive capacity size; that 500GB is bigger than 250GB. Most people would not pay >$100 for a 60GB drive when they can get a 1000GB external hard drive for the same price, if not less. And lets not even get to read/write speeds.
->Integration with the Cloud would mean less localized storage: This is clearly happening already. As more people (casual and techies alike) are migrating to tablets & smartphones with syncing services, there will be less demand for localized storage, which includes SSDs. And Cloud-Based storage is significantly cheaper than buying and installing an SSD (and having to either install an OS or restore from a drive image). Five years from now only a small, niche market will still run PCs with localized storage. I'm pretty sure that as the years go buy, Cloud-based storage will become even simpler and more secure than it is now.
->Even if SSDs become affordable, it will be too late: The prices of SSDs are still going down, but they aren't down enough yet for retailers to put them on shelves. I would say if SSDs hit brick and mortar chains right now, they would flop, mostly because of price. Only a few techies here and there would actually invest in an SSD from a chain store. Most of us (like me) would buy them online. Whenever SSDs do become affordable, even if it's a year from now, it will be too late, because the demand for Tablets & Smartphones will skyrocket and those devices would become more affordable as well. Casuals would rather spend $300 on a device that can surf the web, e-mail, and chat rather than $300 on a device that only provides local storage (albeit, SPEEDY local storage) and can't do anything else. And seeing how most people today are so lazy, they won't even bother cracking open their PC box open. Heck, they're probably too lazy to lug their machines (even if it's a laptop) to their local Best Buy to have an experienced tech install it for them.
And i'm not going to even talk about businesses and SSDs. I'm only focusing on consumers this time.
My predictions of SSD obsolesce may be premature, but it just seems so sad that only a few of us are experiencing what next-generation computing SHOULD be like. Basically the same thing we're doing now, except a whole lot faster. Only niche markets, such as gamers, power users, and tech enthusiasts are enjoying the brilliance and wonder that is a Solid State Drive. I love SSDs and I have two of them now. In fact, i'm running my PC on my Vertex 3 as I write this article.
My suggestion to you is that if you haven't done so already, and have the money to afford it, buy a Solid State Drive. Not only because you'll have a much faster PC, but because you'll support the drive makers putting much effort into making such drives, and that increased sales will mean more competition. And more competition will lead to newer, faster, and better technology. It doesn't even have to be an expensive SSD. Tell your friends and show off your new configs so they too will buy SSDs. The age of the PC hard drive is over (for boot drives anyway), but the age of the PC should always live on!
Long live SSDs!
-> Not enough stores are promoting SSDs: If brick and mortar chains such as Wal-Mart or Best Buy started to promote and advertise SSDs and the benefits they have over hard drives, SSDs might have increased sales. But there is one problem with that now, SSDs are still too expensive. And the majority of Wal-Mart shoppers probably don't even know how to open their PC without breaking something inside.
->More PCs need eSATA ports for the inexperienced: The majority of consumer PCs sold at Wal-Mart, Best Buy, and the like aren't equipped with eSATA ports. And who in their right mind would run an SSD on USB 2.0? You might as well run a hard drive if you're going that route. If SSD makers decided to start reaching out to the mainstream market, they'll need to design somewhat larger and rougher, external SSDs that won't break if dropped, as the majority of typical soccer moms won't be opening up and fiddling around with the insides of a PC. Connecting an SSD should be as easy as connecting an external hard drive. And seeing how eSATA is only 3.0Gbps, they would only focus their simplicity on SATA II SSDs. Casual tech users wouldn't need SATA III speeds. And one more thing, make ALL SSDs bootable, whether internal or external. After all, what good would an SSD be if you can't boot from it?
->The low capacities would turn-off consumers: The inexperienced casual crowd wouldn't be able to tell much of a difference between a hard drive and solid-state drive, besides that an SSD is clearly smaller. Most people do know about drive capacity size; that 500GB is bigger than 250GB. Most people would not pay >$100 for a 60GB drive when they can get a 1000GB external hard drive for the same price, if not less. And lets not even get to read/write speeds.
->Integration with the Cloud would mean less localized storage: This is clearly happening already. As more people (casual and techies alike) are migrating to tablets & smartphones with syncing services, there will be less demand for localized storage, which includes SSDs. And Cloud-Based storage is significantly cheaper than buying and installing an SSD (and having to either install an OS or restore from a drive image). Five years from now only a small, niche market will still run PCs with localized storage. I'm pretty sure that as the years go buy, Cloud-based storage will become even simpler and more secure than it is now.
->Even if SSDs become affordable, it will be too late: The prices of SSDs are still going down, but they aren't down enough yet for retailers to put them on shelves. I would say if SSDs hit brick and mortar chains right now, they would flop, mostly because of price. Only a few techies here and there would actually invest in an SSD from a chain store. Most of us (like me) would buy them online. Whenever SSDs do become affordable, even if it's a year from now, it will be too late, because the demand for Tablets & Smartphones will skyrocket and those devices would become more affordable as well. Casuals would rather spend $300 on a device that can surf the web, e-mail, and chat rather than $300 on a device that only provides local storage (albeit, SPEEDY local storage) and can't do anything else. And seeing how most people today are so lazy, they won't even bother cracking open their PC box open. Heck, they're probably too lazy to lug their machines (even if it's a laptop) to their local Best Buy to have an experienced tech install it for them.
And i'm not going to even talk about businesses and SSDs. I'm only focusing on consumers this time.
My predictions of SSD obsolesce may be premature, but it just seems so sad that only a few of us are experiencing what next-generation computing SHOULD be like. Basically the same thing we're doing now, except a whole lot faster. Only niche markets, such as gamers, power users, and tech enthusiasts are enjoying the brilliance and wonder that is a Solid State Drive. I love SSDs and I have two of them now. In fact, i'm running my PC on my Vertex 3 as I write this article.
My suggestion to you is that if you haven't done so already, and have the money to afford it, buy a Solid State Drive. Not only because you'll have a much faster PC, but because you'll support the drive makers putting much effort into making such drives, and that increased sales will mean more competition. And more competition will lead to newer, faster, and better technology. It doesn't even have to be an expensive SSD. Tell your friends and show off your new configs so they too will buy SSDs. The age of the PC hard drive is over (for boot drives anyway), but the age of the PC should always live on!
Long live SSDs!
