This week Intel added an 80GB model to its current line-up of 335 Series SSDs. The 2.5-inch 80GB drive is Intel's third and possibly final addition to the 335 family poised to sit alongside its two larger 180GB and 240GB siblings. The chip-maker's previous addition was a 180GB model announced in February.
Not much is known about Intel's 80GB variant. In fact, Intel still hadn't updated its 335 Series page to include the newly release model by the time of this writing. Even so, it should be reasonable to expect more of the same in terms of performance and features.
The chip-maker's family of 335 Series SSDs touts the first Hi-K/metal gate stack in NAND production, a 20nm design developed by IM Flash Technologies – a joint venture between Intel and Micron (Crucial).
Intel's 240GB flagship model pairs 500MB/sec and 450MB/sec sequential reads and writes with 4KB read and write IOPS measuring in at 42K and 52K, respectively.
Despite a solid design and good performance numbers, Intel's 335 Series offerings do tend to be pricier than that of their competitors, the likes of which OCZ and Crucial. Of course, Intel has a long history of charging a premium for its SSDs, although it has made some efforts in recent times cut those prices.
Although Intel's announcement failed to mention a price, it appears the 80GB SSD is available from a few e-tailers for just under $110 (after S/H). At that price, the SSDSC2CT080A4K5 hovers close to $1.30 per gigabyte. By comparison, the 180GB and 240GB models run close to $170 and $210, respectively.