Intel has yet to announce its new "Postville" solid-state drives based on a 34nm manufacturing process, but rumors circulating for the past few weeks suggest a launch is imminent. In fact, listings for the upcoming drives have already made their way onto a handful of European sites - along with hope for reduced prices.
On one site, where current 80GB and 160GB X25-M SSDs start at around 277€ ($394) and 519€ ($738) respectively, Potsville products with the same capacities are priced at just 184€ ($262) and 364€ ($518). Conversely on Materiel.net, Postville parts have a 10€ price increase over their predecessors, so the pricing aspect is still a bit sketchy for now. The lineup will reportedly include a 320GB drive, though there have been no leaks on that model's MSRP.
In terms of performance and other specs, the new 34nm-based drives are both supposedly rated for 250MB/s read speeds, but the 80GB model is upped from 70MB/s write speeds on its predecessor to 90MB/s and the 160GB version hits 100MB/s. They will also feature 32MB of wear leveling buffer, AES 128-bit Encryption, advanced NCQ features and Advanced Smart Support to monitor drive life.