As promised back in May, Samsung has begun mass production of its 256GB solid-state drives for notebook and desktop PCs, complementing their lineup which ranges from 8, 16 and 32GB for low-density designs and 64, 128 and now 256GB alternatives for the higher densities.

The new drive is not just bigger, but also much faster. More specifically, its sequential read speed is slightly lower than that of its Intel rival at 220MB per second but is faster for sequential writes, recording data at a whopping 200MB per second. To put things into perspective, Samsung says the new drive quick enough to store 25 HD movies in 21 minutes and open basic applications 10 times faster than the quickest 7,200RPM notebook drive.

Other specs include a rated power consumption of 1.1W under load and an optional encryption feature for corporate users. Unfortunately, the price for this new 256GB SSD hasn't been announced yet.